Solar storms can cause ‘space weather’ near Earth

Solar storms — powerful eruptions of material from the Sun and magnetic fields into interplanetary space — can cause “space weather” near earth, scientists have found. The space weather results in hazards that range from interference with communications systems and GPS errors to extensive power blackouts and the complete failure of critical satellites, researchers said. New study increases our understanding of Earth’s space environment and how space weather develops. Some of the energy emitted by the Sun during solar storms is temporarily stored in earth’s stretched and compressed magnetic field. Eventually, that solar energy is explosively released, powering Earth’s radiation belts and lighting up the polar skies with brilliant auroras, researchers said. While it is possible to observe solar storms from afar with cameras, the invisible process that unleashes the stored magnetic energy near earth had defied observation for decades. Researchers repo-rt that they have measured the release of this magnetic energy close up using an unprecedented alignment of six Earth-orbiting spacecraft.