14 DAY TRIAL // Scientists with the National Space Science Center in Beijing led by physicist Ying Liu have just published a new study explaining how a massive solar storm occurred in 2012. The event was very intense and powerful, and solar physicists found it difficult to figure out how it developed. The new work suggests that three coronal mass ejections (CME) may have been responsible for the storm.
CME are massive bursts that rise above the solar corona or are released into space. They are usually triggered by interactions between solar winds and magnetic fields and accompany other events, such as solar flares. However, no clear causal relationship has been established between the two. The NSSC team determined that three CME merged to cause the 2012 solar storm.
This result is very important because it could potentially help solar physicists better understand solar phenomena, which could in turn allow them to improve their space weather forecasting abilities. Space weather is a general term that refers to conditions around our planet. The Sun has the greatest influence on space weather, most notably through the radiations and charged particles it releases.
The 2012 storm was produced when a CME that erupted on July 19 merged with two others, produced on July 23, just 15 minutes apart. All three events originated in the same active region on the Sun, but the area was fortunately on the far side of the star at the time. Had the event been aimed at Earth, it would have fried satellites and power grids and endangered the International Space Station, Nature News reports.