MOSCOW, 24 MarchThe solar plasma ejected after a major flare on the morning of March 23 has reached the Earth, and a powerful magnetic storm is observed, the solar astronomy laboratory of the Institute of Space Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences reported.
«The release has reached the Earth. There is a storm of the fourth level out of five possible,» said a representative of the laboratory.
It is specified that the speed of the solar wind in the vicinity of the Earth has almost doubled and is about 800 kilometers per second. The temperature of the plasma cloud surrounding the Earth is about one million degrees, while before the arrival of solar matter, the gas surrounding the Earth had a temperature of about 100 thousand kelvins.
«»It is almost impossible to give a forecast for the duration of the storm at the moment. According to model estimates, field disturbances may continue throughout the next day. The strength of the storm is almost equal to the maximum. A stronger magnetic storm, level 5 out of 5, was last observed in 2005 , September 11, that is, almost 20 years ago,” the laboratory said.
Earlier, the laboratory reported a flare of the highest grade X on the Sun, which began at approximately five in the morning Moscow time and lasted several hours. The explosion on the Sun occurred almost exactly on the Sun-Earth line, that is, in the area of maximum impact on the planet. Scientists predicted that plasma clouds would approach Earth's orbit late Sunday or early Monday.