That's because of the 4 x-class solar flares that blasted us and are going to hit us this weekend: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8tMmg6jHak
That's because of the 4 x-class solar flares that blasted us and are going to hit us this weekend
Solar flares don't give us much warning. The electromagnetic energy from an electromagnetic/radiational burst moves at the speed of light and we get about 8 minutes before it reaches Earth. The events that take longer and give us several days between occurring and arriving at Earth are Coronal Mass Ejections of charged particles. The particles move much slower than the speed of light and the Earth's magnetosphere does a good job of protecting the planet from harm. X-class CMEs are fairly common and the sun is heading towards the Solar Maximum where sun spot activity increases a lot. We should be fine. We have been through a lot of them after all.
The earth's magnetic field has weakened significantly in the last 50 years, and the decay is accelerating.
The earth's magnetic field has weakened significantly in the last 50 years, and the decay is accelerating.
Even a weak magnetic field can influence charged particles to change course. Old CRT televisions used weak magnetic fields to steer an electron beam around. A refrigerator magnet could distort the display massively too. The Earth's field is still able to protect us very well. That's while we'll see aurora rather than have bigger effects.
I agree, you are right on. The only detail I'd argue is that, as our shield does protect us and we are in solar maximum (of this 11 year solar cycle), we are in a solar minimum in the grand scheme. As a result, our magnetic shield is in a weakened state. The prediction is an M4-M6 event, which will give us a pretty good aurora display at southern latitudes.
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