by Solar storms are becoming more frequent and more powerful as the Sun approaches the peak of its 11-year solar activity cycle, which will occur in 2025. As a result, 2022 produced an abundance of fascinating solar storm stories. From surprise storms and massive sunspots to vivid aurora explosions and other weird phenomena, here are some of our favourites.
Surprise ‘potentially disruptive’ storm
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Scientists were left scratching their heads after a “potentially disruptive” solar storm smashed into Earth without warning.
The storm was a G1-class event – meaning it was strong enough to create weak power grid fluctuations, cause minor impacts on satellite operations, disrupt the navigational abilities of some migrating animals and cause unusually strong aurora borealis. Storms like these usually come from a coronal mass ejection (CME) — an outburst of plasma with an embedded magnetic field that burps out from a sunspot — but in this case, the researchers could find no evidence that a CME occurred.
Instead, scientists believe the storm originates from a much rarer co-rotating interaction region (CIR) of the Sun. CIRs are “transition zones” between fast and slow-moving zones of the solar wind, which can cause accumulations of plasma that are eventually released in a CME-like event. The only difference is that no sunspots form on the sun’s surface.
The unexpected solar storm coincided with the peak of a extremely rare five-plane alignmentwhere Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn lined up in the sky in order of their proximity to the Sun (something that had not happened since 1864).
Read more: Surprising solar storm with ‘disruptive potential’ slams into Earth
Explosion of pink northern lights
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An explosion of extremely rare pink aurora borealis was seen in the night sky over Norway after a solar storm slammed into Earth and tore a hole in the planet’s magnetic field.
The G1-class storm caused a small, temporary “crack” in the magnetosphere—an invisible magnetic field surrounding Earth generated by the planet’s liquid metal core—that allowed charged solar particles to enter Earth’s atmosphere deeper than normal.
Normally, the storm particles react with oxygen atoms high in the atmosphere, which give off a bright green hue. But in this unusual storm, the particles collided with nitrogen atoms closer to the ground, giving off stunning pink colors.
“These were the strongest pink auroras I’ve seen in more than a decade of leading tours,” Markus Varik, who photographed the vibrant northern lights, told LiveScience. “It was a humbling experience.”
Read more: The solar storm breaks holes in the Earth’s magnetosphere, triggering extremely rare pink auroras
Massive plasma torch
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An astrophotographer captured this hauntingly beautiful image of a massive plume of plasma ejected from the Sun after a CME. The burning filament was about 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) long.
The plasma was initially contained in a large loop connected to the Sun’s surface, known as a prominence, and then broke off and flowed into space at about 100,000 mph (161,000 km/h).
The image is a composite time-lapse image in false color that stacked hundreds of thousands of images taken over a six-hour period.
The ethereal ejection was “the biggest CME I’ve ever witnessed,” said photographer Andrew McCarthy.
Read more: 1 million kilometer plasma plumes shoot out of the sun in a stunning image
Radio blackout in the Southern Hemisphere
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A surprise solar flare caused temporary radio blindness in parts of Australia and all of New Zealand.
The flare originated from a CME that was directed away from Earth. But X-rays and ultraviolet radiation emitted by the torch-ionized atoms in the planet’s upper atmosphere make it impossible to bounce high-frequency radio waves off them, creating a radio blindness. Anywhere on the planet facing the Sun can experience radio disruption from solar flares.
Blackouts are classified from R1 to R5 according to their severity. This flare caused a moderate R2 blackout. An R5 blackout has the capacity to disrupt half the planet for several hours.
Read more: Unexpected solar flare slams into Earth causing radio outages in Australia and New Zealand
Powerful ‘proton aurora’
New research showed that during a solar storm in 2015, an unusual type of aurora borealis tore a 400-km-wide (250-mile) hole in the upper ozone layer.
These events, known as isolated proton auroras, occur when solar particles strike Earth’s magnetosphere and travel down magnetic field lines. The result is weak and mottled green northern lights located further from the poles than normal northern lights.
These aurora borealis create nitrogen oxides and hydrogen oxides, which react with ozone.
Fortunately, during this storm, the aurora borealis occurred in the mesosphere, the third layer of the atmosphere, rather than the stratosphere, the second layer of the atmosphere. This meant that the lowest part of the ozone layer remained intact and continued to provide an effective barrier against ultraviolet radiation.
Read more: Massive “proton aurora” blasted a 250-mile-wide hole in Earth’s ozone layer
One of the largest CMEs ever discovered
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Venus experienced a bout of extreme space weather after being struck by one of the largest CMEs ever detected. The CME, which was spotted by the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter, was the second solar storm to hit Venus in a week, but was at least an order of magnitude larger than the first.
The high-energy particles released by the storm caused problems with the Solar Orbiter, which persisted after the CME had passed. Mission scientists believe Venus experienced a “very rapid and powerful interplanetary shock” that caused the heliosphere to fill with the particles, causing long-lasting interference to the spacecraft.
Read more: One of the largest solar storms ever discovered just erupted on the other side of the sun
‘STEVE’ appearance
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Another surprising solar storm triggered a rare cameo from a mysterious celestial phenomenon known as STEVE.
STEVE (short for “strong thermal emission velocity enhancement”) is a long, thin line of hot gas that has been superheated by a solar storm. It appears as a huge band of purple light, which can hang in the sky for an hour or more, accompanied by a “picket fence” of green light that usually disappears within a few minutes.
STEVE is often misinterpreted as the northern lights and normally only appears after strong northern lights during solar storms. However, it is not actually an aurora. Auroras occur when high-energy particles collide with gas molecules and heat them up, creating an instantaneous release of energy. But STEVE is caused by a prolonged increase in kinetic energy from the aurora that heats the surrounding gas.
Read more: ‘STEVE’ descends on North America after a surprising solar storm
Back to back storms
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A pair of geomagnetic storms slammed into Earth on back-to-back days after a moderate solar flare blasted the Sun’s atmosphere.
The first explosion, caused by a G2-class storm, was followed by a smaller G1-class storm the next day. Authorities warned that the storms could cause radio outages and disrupt power grids at high latitudes, but both storms passed without causing any real disruption.
Another G2 storm had grazed past Earth just days before the back-to-back storms. Scientists say this kind of repeated bombardment of small solar flares could become more common in the coming years as the sun ramps up toward solar maximum.
Read more: 2 geomagnetic storms will whip the earth today, but don’t worry (too much
Giant sunspot doubles up
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A massive sunspot, about the size of Earth, suddenly doubled in size over a 24-hour period earlier this year. The massive sunspot, called AR3038, grew to about 19,800 miles (31,900 km) in diameter.
Scientists warned that the giant black spot, which was located near the Sun’s equator, had the capacity to spit out several strong M-class flares – medium-intensity flares with the capacity to cause large regional blackouts. But even though the sunspot was aimed at Earth for about a fortnight, our planet managed to avoid a direct hit.
Read more: The giant sunspot doubled in size in 24 hours and is pointing straight at Earth
“Canyon-like” hole in the sun
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A huge, elongated hole in the sun’s corona, or outer atmosphere, stretched vertically across the star’s surface like a dark scar.
Coronal holes are regions in the Sun’s upper atmosphere where the star’s plasma is less hot and dense than in other regions, making them appear black in contrast. In these regions, the Sun’s magnetic field lines point outward into space instead of going back in on themselves.
Experts warned that the hole could belch out solar material at up to 1.8 million mph (2.9 million km/h), but ultimately Earth was not in the direct line of fire for this eruption.
Read more: Solar storms from a “gap-like” hole in the Sun could hit Earth
Want to learn more about solar storms and their potential impact on our planet? This year, we’ve answered some pressing mysteries about solar storms, including whether they can wipe out the internet, trigger tsunamis or destroy the entire planet.
