A shock wave barreled toward Earth last night that cracked its magnetosphere, the region that shields our planet from harmful radiation.
The origin of the shockwave is unknown, but astronomers believe it came from an ejection of energetic and highly magnetized, superheated gas released from the sun - also known as a coronal mass ejection (CME).
The ejection may have been released from sunspot AR3165, which launched at least eight solar flares into space on December 14 that caused blackouts over the Atlantic Ocean, according to Space Weather.
While scientists are not sounding the alarm just yet, a crack can stay open for hours and let solar winds flow through.
The sunspot was observed crackling on December 14 and then released an M6-class explosion that hit Earth.
M-class flares are categorized as medium-sized. These events, however, can cause brief radio blackouts - and the one last week did so over the Atlantic.
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, a probe studying Earth's sun, captured the eruptions from the sunspot – a dark region cooler than other parts of the surface – that shot out streams of plasma, one after another.
Bright flashes of light were seen coming from the sunspot, the likely culprit that sent the shock wave toward Earth.
STACY LIBERATORE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
Scientists have made a shocking discovery – the Earth's magnetic field is weakening.
The magnetic field is vital for life on our planet, as it shields us from cosmic radiation and charged particles emitted from the sun.
A large region of reduced magnetic intensity has been observed between Africa and South America, called the South Atlantic Anomaly, and it has formed a center of minimum intensity in just five years.
Researchers are speculating that the weakening is a sign that Earth is heading to a pole reversal, which is when the north and south poles switch places - and the last time this occurred was 780,000 years ago.
The anomaly is wreaking havoc on satellites and other spacecraft flying through the area, as many are experiencing technical malfunctions.
The discovery was made by a team at the European Space Agency (ESA) who pulled data from the agency's Swarm constellation, which is a cluster of satellites.
The satellites are specifically designed to identify and measure the different magnetic signals that make up Earth's magnetic field, allow experts to spot areas that have weakened.
ESA has been studying the magnetic field since the end of 2013.
The mission is comprised of three identical satellites that provide high quality measurements of field in three different orbital planes.
Jürgen Matzka, from the German Research Center for Geosciences, said: 'The new, eastern minimum of the South Atlantic Anomaly has appeared over the last decade and in recent years is developing vigorously.
'We are very lucky to have the Swarm satellites in orbit to investigate the development of the South Atlantic Anomaly.
'The challenge now is to understand the processes in Earth's core driving these changes.'
The weakened field has been on the radar of experts for years - they know that it has lost nine percent of its intensity over the last 200 years.
However, an even larger area of weakness has recently developed between Africa and South America...what is more puzzling is that is that the anomaly has grown and moved westward at a pace of around 12 mph.
One theory for the weakened field is that the Earth may be heading into a pole reversal, which has happened in the past and the researchers say 'we are long overdue,' as it takes place 'roughly every 250,000 years.'
A mysterious shock wave in a gust of solar wind has sent a barrage of high-speed material smashing into Earth’s magnetic field, opening up a crack in the magnetosphere. The barrage of plasma could lead to a geomagnetic storm today (Dec. 19), according to spaceweather.com.
Geomagnetic storms occur when energetic solar debris (mostly consisting of electrons, protons and alpha particles) gets absorbed by, and subsequently compresses, Earth’s magnetic field. The solar particles zip through the atmosphere near the poles where Earth's protective magnetic field is weakest and agitate oxygen and nitrogen molecules — causing them to release energy in the form of light to form colorful auroras such as the northern lights.
The storms can also create cracks in the magnetosphere which remain open for hours at a time, enabling some solar material to stream through and disrupt satellites, radio communications, and power systems.
1 comment:
Don't believe this as being assessed, IMO!
Probably more like either deliberate disruption of satellites being done, or divine intervention, or more of, "The Sky is Falling" propaganda?
After all most scientist's have done to go along with Globalist's Agenda's, who trust a real concept being used for another possible made-up occurrence?? Push for finding reasons Earth isn't cooperating with man, and now, the man must be monitored nonsense by money backer's, leaves most folks skeptical, IMO!
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