Multiple solar flares all erupted from a single sunspot in space recently, according to Space.com According to the site, solar flares originated from a hyperactive sunspot called AR2975, which appears to have been emitting flares since March 28. This stellar event could potentially cause the aurora borealis in the skies over North America and Europe.
“Strong G3 geomagnetic storms are possible during the early UT hours of March 31 when the cannibal CME is expected to hit the Earth’s magnetic field. During such storms, the aurora borealis with the naked eye can descend as far south as the United States, such as Illinois. and Oregon,” says SpaceWeather.com, a space news and information website authored by professional astronomer Tony Phillips.
Sunspots are areas on the Sun that appear darker than the rest of its surface. They appear when magnetic lines wrap around the Sun and suddenly realign near the visible surface.
These magnetic fields are so strong that they prevent some of the heat inside the Sun from reaching the surface, making the sunspots cooler and therefore darker than the rest of the surface.
Sometimes, these sunspots are associated with coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which are mass ejections of plasma and magnetic fields from the sun’s corona (the outer atmosphere). These coronal mass ejections travel outward from the Sun, typically between speeds of 250 km/s (kilometers per second) and 3,000 km/s.
But satellites, space stations, astronauts, flight systems, GPS, and even power grids can be affected by very powerful solar flares. On March 12, 1989, intense solar storms caused by several small and medium-sized blocks destroyed the entire Quebec (Canadian province) power grid for more than nine hours.
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