What if solar physicists could predict sun storms with the same accuracy and efficiency that meteorologists predict hurricanes?
In much the same way that satellites allow forecasters to see the inner workings and development of a hurricane from its origins until the moment it reaches shore, NASA’s STEREO spacecraft are now capturing images of solar storms and making real-time measurements of their magnetic fields from the moment they lift off the sun until the moment their pressure waves reach Earth’s shores. Eruptions from the sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona, can wreak havoc on earthly technology. These solar hurricanes, known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs), spew billions of tons of plasma into space at thousands of miles per hour and carry some of the sun’s magnetic field with it. These solar storm clouds create a shock wave and a large, moving disturbance in the solar system. The shock can accelerate some of the particles in space to high energies, a form of “solar cosmic rays” that can be hazardous to spacecraft and astronauts. The CME material, which arrives days later, can disrupt Earth’s magnetic fie
