Coronal Mass
Ejections is a term that could sound us slightly strange, but if we listen or
read the word solar blazes, there comes to the mind the image of a Solar explosion.
Thanks to the mass media, this term has received an importance place at
present, especially in the year 2012, when a maximum in the solar cycle was
waited, provoking one of these ejections that would come to our planet.
Although for some of
you these articles are similar to science fiction, we must know why they are produced and the
consequences from our planet and our life too.
On September 1st
of middle of the 19th century, was possible to observe a snap of white light from
the Earth that was associated with a solar explosion. For that reason, it was
one of the first events that motivated this study. However we had to wait until
the 20th Century to study the solar crown as we know it today,
thanks to help of the satellites. It is important to emphasize that the study
must be done during the eclipses.
The explosions happen in the mass external cap of the Sun, exactly in the solar crown, and they are one of the most energetic effects in the space. These contain Sun´s matter, principally plasma (composed by some of the periodic table elements like the Hydrogen or Helium, which are expelled to great speed. To have an idea of the speed , we can cross the distance between Tenerife and Russia during the interval of three seconds and three minutes (2000 Km/s and 50 Km/s))
These explosions
have a shape of waves and hit against
the magnetosphere; to understand it better, on having thrown a stone in
the water, we can observed small waves that it produces, so this it is the same
idea, but on a large scale.
Some studies are
associating the blazes with the variation of the solar spots (dark zones of the
same one) during the solar cycle, which duration is 11 years approximately.
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| Image caught by the satellite SOHO by means of the instrumentation LASCO (Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronograph) .The opaque circle corresponds(fits) to the coronógrafo and the white circunference corresponds(fits) to the surface of the Sun. |
On having hit with our exterior atmosphere, the
energetic particles, which contain the solar eruptions, provoke a visual effect
in the terrestrial atmosphere: these are the northern lights. This
phenomenon indicates that our atmosphere is being bombarded by energetic
particles of the interstellar way. Though not always they remain in a
simple visual effect, but it can cause a major consequence.
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We must not be ignoramuses with our environment, and for
that reason there are big investigations groups that are centering on the
detection and prediction of this phenomenon, which has always
happened. Because it can cause not only electrical blackouts (in the local
network, as on a worldwide scale), but also erroneous reading in GPS, fall of
internet, etc.... This is due to a network saturation, which complete
reestablishment might last from months to years.
The main question is: Will we be able to avoid the
serious consequences in case of suffering a geomagnetic storm?. A rapid
detection facilitates us the power of extinguishing the electricity generating
equipments and to avoid the overload, due to the fact that the plasma contains
neutrons and electrons. These two last are the managers of generating
electricity and to overload the electrical network, provoking the burning of
generators and other consequences.
The storms have always existed and they will exist,
owning that fact that it is natural process and we have a magnetic field that
protects us. It is of emphasizing the blackout of March 13th , 1989
in Quebec (Canada), which city remained without electrical net for 24 hours
because it was fused several generators that supplied the city.
Nowadays these effects are more notable thanks to the technological
advance, due to the fact that we can feel the effects of the storms; because we
were not as dependent on technology as we are now.
Bibliography:
http://bit.ly/1gRUEmL
http://bit.ly/1iyQfX0
http://bit.ly/1QB6M7O
