The US Oceanic and Atmospheric Observation Agency (NOAA) revealed that the planet was hit by a severe geomagnetic storm on Friday, which could extend for two days.
The storm was classified as level five on a five-magnitude scale, making it the most severe of its kind since 2003, and was caused by a series of coronal mass emissions from the sun that reached Earth.
In April, astronomers recorded an exceptional phenomenon of four simultaneous explosions on the surface of the sun, which rarely occurs.
These explosions released three sunspots and magnetic threads in the form of rings of plasma that exploded within minutes, causing violent reactions over vast distances of hundreds of thousands of kilometers.
NOAA pointed out that the recent emissions lead to a geomagnetic storm, and the strength of these emissions is rated as M3.4., where the symbol “M” indicates a medium-strength class of solar flares, and the number that follows expresses the intensity of the glow.
Connections that rely on high-frequency radio waves are likely to be affected, meaning that mobile phones or car radios, which rely on low-frequency radio waves, are unlikely to stop working.
Power outages can happen, but for most people on the planet, they won’t have to do anything, and the warnings are meant to give agencies and companies running infrastructure time to put in place protections to mitigate any impacts.
Geomagnetic storms can also lead to spectacular displays of aurora borealis seen from Earth.
The Moon will lengthen Earth’s day by 25 hours in 200 million years