In May 2024, a powerful geomagnetic storm of the highest level, G5, hit Earth. It caused damage to power grids, disrupted radio communications, and threatened satellites. The source of the disaster was an active region on the Sun designated NOAA 13664. Scientists have published the results of their unprecedented 94-day observation of this region.
A team of researchers from NASA and ESA used the Solar Orbiter spacecraft to track the life cycle of an active region. Thanks to the probe’s unique orbit, scientists obtained, for the first time in history, an almost continuous sequence of images of a single solar region over three complete turns of the Sun — from April 16 to July 18, 2024.
Dangerous active areas
Active regions on the Sun are areas of extremely strong and complex magnetic fields. They are the source of powerful solar flares and coronal mass ejections. If such ejections are directed toward Earth, they can cause severe geomagnetic storms that threaten modern technological infrastructure.
The storm in May was caused by emissions from NOAA 13664. It not only disrupted technology, but also caused bright auroras around the world. The upper layers of the atmosphere expanded, which even led to changes in satellite orbits.
Breakthrough in understanding the Sun
It is usually impossible to observe an active region for more than 14 days due to the Sun’s rotation. But the Solar Orbiter provided a “different perspective,” allowing us to see the region from its birth on the far side of the star to its dissipation.
For the first time, scientists recorded a complete evolutionary cycle and observed how the magnetic field became more complex, forming an intertwined structure. This process directly preceded the most powerful solar flare in 20 years.
“We live close to this star. Therefore, it is very important for us to understand how it works and how it affects Earth,” Kontogiannis notes.
Earlier, we reported on how a real hurricane 2 million km long occurred on the Sun.
According to phys.org
