Massive Coronal Hole: Solar Wind Will Hit Earth June 29th-30

credit:SDO/AIA

A massive coronal hole straddling the Sun’s equator is sending out a highly charged solar wind that will hit the Earths magnetic field square  on.

Solar winds are a continuous stream of ions, charged particles. The coronal hole allows the particles to escape instead of looping back down to the Suns surface. The winds from coronal holes take a few days to reach Earth and due to the Suns rotation they emanate out in a ‘pinwheel’ fashion as they pass through the solar system.

It’s the buffering of the Earths magnetic field that gives rise to auroras, usually in the high northern latitudes but strong winds can cause huge auroras that can be seen much further south.

The larger the amount of ionized particles that escape from the hole the more chance there is of disruption to spacecraft communications and to electronic communications on Earth. Solar winds are far less likely than coronal mass ejections to affect the power grid. With speeds of up to 1-2 million miles per hour, the magnetosphere is buffeted and deformed by the stream of particles that hit it. This deformation, the magnetic flux, is what can knock out satellite and electronic communications on Earth. (source)