July 2012 solar storm
Date | July 23, 2012 |
---|---|
Type | Coronal mass ejection |
Outcome | Missed striking the Earth by nine days |
Part of Solar cycle 24 |
The solar storm of 2012 was a solar storm involving an unusually large and strong coronal mass ejection that occurred on July 23, 2012. It missed Earth with a margin of approximately nine days, as the equator of the Sun rotates around its own axis with a period of about 25 days.[1]
The region that produced the outburst was thus not pointed directly towards Earth at that time. The strength of the eruption has been predicted to be comparable to the 1859 Carrington Event that caused damage to electrical equipment worldwide, which at that time consisted mostly of telegraph systems.[2]
Overview
At 02:08
Based on the collected data, the eruption consisted of two separate ejections which were able to reach exceptionally high strength as the interplanetary medium around the Sun had been cleared by a smaller CME four days earlier.[2] Interaction between the primary CME and the preceding CMEs as they traversed the interplanetary medium also led to amplification of the magnetic field of the ejecta that continued by the time the primary CME reached Earth's orbit.[5]
The event occurred at a time of high sunspot activity during solar cycle 24.
Predicted effects
Had the CME hit the Earth, it is likely that it would have inflicted serious damage to electronic systems on a global scale.
Historical comparisons
The record fastest CME associated with the
See also
References
- ^ Williams, David R. (July 1, 2013). "Sun Fact Sheet". NASA. Retrieved January 13, 2015.
- ^ a b c d e Phillips, Tony (July 23, 2014). "Near Miss: The Solar Superstorm of July 2012". NASA. Retrieved January 10, 2015.
- ^ .
- S2CID 255074482.
- ^ S2CID 11999567.
- ^ Lloyd's (2013). Solar Storm Risk to the North American Electric Grid (PDF) (Report). Archived (PDF) from the original on February 19, 2021. Retrieved September 16, 2023.
- ^ Sanders, Robert (March 18, 2014). "Fierce solar magnetic storm barely missed Earth in 2012". UC Berkeley News Center. Archived from the original on March 19, 2014. Retrieved January 10, 2015.
- Gopalswamy, N.; S. Yashiro; N. Thakur; P. Mäkelä; H. Xie; S. Akiyama (2016). "The 2012 July 23 Backside Eruption: An Extreme Energetic Particle Event?". Astrophysical Journal. 833 (2): 216. .