Earth is expected to face powerful solar storms as scientists predict the arrival of ‘solar maximum’ in 2024, Daily Mail reported. These flares are projected to be potent enough to disrupt the world’s internet for weeks.
Indian researchers predict solar maximum could arrive in 2024 and cripple the world’s internet for weeks
Roughly every 11 years, the sun experiences something called ‘solar maximum.’ During this time, peculiar dark spots, called ‘sunspots,’ show up on its surface.
These sunspots, sometimes grouping together like islands, happen due to big shifts in the sun’s magnetic field. They can release powerful bursts of energy, leading to ‘solar storms’ that might harm satellites and mess with the internet.
The latest prediction is from a group of Indian researchers, and it differs from NASA‘s recent forecast, which expects it to happen in late 2025.
Dr. Dibyendu Nandi, a physicist from the IISER Kolkata Center of Excellence in Space Sciences in India, led the new study. According to him, it’s too soon to tell how strong and what effects the solar storms might have, but we’ll likely find out more as the new year gets closer.
“The most…
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