If a huge solar eruption in 2012 had hit the Earth, the effects would have been so devastating that we'd still be recovering two years later, scientists working on several new studies conclude.A huge coronal mass ejection — a large cloud of hot plasma sent into space — There would have been three waves of damage associated with the extreme solar storm. How do Earth, the planets, and the heliosphere respond?Weather and Atmospheric Dynamics Focus Area Publications and Research HighlightsCarbon Cycle and Ecosystems Focus Area Publications and Research HighlightsIndia overtakes China as top emitter of sulfur dioxideLocal land subsidence increases flood risk in San Francisco BaySea surface salinity could provide new insight into severe stormsSeeing the connection between neighboring volcanoes at depthWarm ocean waters off Greenland put glaciers at more riskDevelopmental, Reproductive & Evolutionary Biology ProgramExperiments - Developmental, Reproductive & Evolutionary Biology ProgramHardware - Developmental, Reproductive & Evolutionary Biology ProgramPublications - Developmental, Reproductive & Evolutionary Biology ProgramWhat We Study - Developmental, Reproductive & Evolutionary Biology Program "To my knowledge, nothing serious happened to the spacecraft. Also cell phones, GPS, weather satellites and many other electronic systems that depend on satellites could stop working. SDO observed the solar storm in extreme ultraviolet light.The American Physical Society (APS) is a nonprofit membership organization working to advance the knowledge of physics. The solar storm, which happened on July 23, 2012, was the strongest one ever recorded -- more than twice as powerful as any solar storm recorded in the last 15o years. Usually the magnetosphere, a protective shield created by the earth’s magnetic field, blocks most of the solar particles keeping damage to a minimum. Moving only slightly slower than light itself, electrons and protons accelerated by the blast can electrify satellites and damage their electronics. Solar Storm 2012 In January 2012, solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CME) erupted in various regions on the sun as part of the strongest solar storm in nearly a decade. In short, STEREO-A was in a good place to ride out the storm.If Riley's work holds true, there is a 12% chance we will learn a lot more about extreme solar storms in the next 10 years—when one actually strikes Earth.A ScienceCast video recounts the near-miss of a solar superstorm in July 2012. X-rays and extreme UV radiation reach Earth at light speed, ionizing the upper layers of our atmosphere; side-effects of this "solar EMP" include radio blackouts and GPS navigation errors. Zur Klassifizierung wird unter anderem der Disturbance storm time index ... Juni 2011 wurde unter anderen vom Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) beobachtet, einem für die Sonnenbeobachtung konzipierten Satelliten. The second part would have seen satellites fried by energetic particles like electrons and protons, which arrived only minutes to hours later. "Out in interplanetary space, however, the ambient magnetic field is much weaker and so those dangerous currents are missing." In 1958 you couldn't tell that a solar storm was underway by looking at the bars on your cell phone; cell phones didn't exist. "If the eruption had occurred only one week earlier, Earth would have been in the line of fire.Extreme solar storms pose a threat to all forms of high-technology. The "impactor" was an extreme solar storm, the most powerful in as much as 150+ years. Solar storms could stop Earth's electric pulse, snuff its lights out and shut down the internet. A report by the National Academy of Sciences details the consequences of extreme solar storms. "A similar storm today could have a catastrophic effect. The SDO is the first mission to be launched for NASA's Living With a Star (LWS) Program, a program designed to understand the causes of solar variability and its impacts on Earth. The storm that could have changed life as we know it: On July 23, 2012, a plasma cloud or 'CME' rocketed away from the sun as fast as 3000 km/s, more than four times faster than a …

Analysts believe that a direct hit by an extreme CME such as the one that missed Earth in July 2012 could cause widespread power blackouts, disabling everything that plugs into a wall socket. Baker, along with colleagues from NASA and other universities, published a seminal study of the storm in the December 2013 issue of the journal "I have come away from our recent studies more convinced than ever that Earth and its inhabitants were incredibly fortunate that the 2012 eruption happened when it did," says Baker. "I have come away from our recent studies more convinced than ever that Earth and its inhabitants were incredibly fortunate that the 2012 eruption happened when it did," Daniel Baker at the University of Colorado, who led a study of the storm in Space Weather, STEREO-A wasn't hurt by the blast because it travelled safely outside the Earth's magnetosphere, a zone above our planet that carries magnetic currents and can short out satellites.

Recent advances in technology have given scientists a look at what goes on inside the sun. Some of the solar particles from the explosion could hit earth at about a million miles an hour. Solar storms of different types are caused by disturbances on the Sun, most often coronal clouds associated with coronal mass ejections (CMEs) produced by solar flares emanating from active sunspot regions, or, less often, from coronal holes.Solar filaments (solar prominences) may also trigger CMEs, trigger flares, or occur in conjunction with flares, and the associated CMEs can … "If it had hit, we would still be picking up the pieces," says Daniel Baker of the University of Colorado. Other Solar storms in 1989 and 2003 caused major blackouts in Canada and United States.If a major solar storm were to occur, power grids could be knocked out leaving millions of people without electricity. The solar storm of 2012 was an unusually large and strong coronal mass ejection (CME) event that occurred on July 23 that year. NASA says the next solar storm cycle will peak in 2012. (Image credit: Solar Dynamics Observatory/NASA)