One of the strongest solar storms ever detected by NASA has Erupted! Terrifying storm to hit Earth?

On Monday, September 5, the NASA STEREO-A sun-watching spacecraft, a technological marvel, spotted something unusual and terrifying! A massive solar storm, larger and stronger than anything we have seen on Earth recently, erupted on the Sun. This solar storm was comparable to the other historic solar disruptions experienced on our planet. The event has not only shocked the scientists but also made them very concerned about the destructive capabilities of the fireball in the sky. But is there a risk that this solar storm can strike the Earth and cause havoc? Read on to find out.

The STEREO-A solar observatory by NASA spotted a massive burst of coronal mass ejection (CME) on September 5, according to a report by SpaceWeather.com. George Ho of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab said, “This is no run of the mill event. Many science papers will be studying this for years to come. I can safely say the Sept. 5th event is one of the largest (if not THE largest) Solar Energetic Particle (SEP) storms that we have seen so far since Solar Orbiter launched in 2020. It is at least an order of magnitude stronger than the radiation storm from last week’s CME”.

NASA spacecraft detects one of the largest solar storms ever

Luckily for us, this solar storm was not directed at the Earth. The gigantic CME burst came out on the far side of the Sun and struck Venus head-first. Venus has become the new target for Sun’s wrath and in just one week it has suffered from the strike of two major solar storm events.

These solar storms were captured by an instrument called magnetometer on the NASA spacecraft. A magnetometer is a sophisticated machine with sensitive parts that measures the strength and direction of the magnetic field in its vicinity. As it does not need to visually observe the solar storm, it is capable of even observing the eruptions taking place on the far side of the Sun.

There was still a concern that the solar storm could have struck the NASA Solar Orbiter which revolves around the Sun to collect data from it. However, the team handling the magnetometer on the STEREO-A spacecraft has confirmed that the CME burst has entirely missed the orbiter.