By SIMON CONSTABLE
Look into the sky and much of the time you’ll see the Sun, at least during the daytime. And much of the population is aware that humans, animals, and plants couldn’t survive without the Sun’s presence. This massive star, central to our solar system, with a circumference of 2.7 million miles, provides our tiny planet with warmth and vitamins, plus it’s crucial to growing our food. Five thousand years ago, humans knew the Sun mattered, so many routinely prayed to the Sun god. We still use that name for the seventh day of the week: Sunday.
But the Sun isn’t always kind to the Earth. Sometimes the solar surface is very active, with many dark spots. The really bad news is that when there are a large number of spots, there is an increase in solar flares, aka explosions, which cause disruptions on Earth. “Sometimes after a big solar storm, there can be power outages,” says Arnab Rai Choudhuri, a professor at the Indian Institute of Science and an expert on solar activity. Indeed, the events often don’t make big headlines, but the last major solar storm, in May 2024, created various disruptions on Earth to GPS, radio, and power grids, particularly in the midwestern United States. Farmers there reported “possessed” tractors going in circles, with the GPS mayhem causing a reported $500 million in damage. READ MORE HERE.
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