On May 10 and 11, strong storms generated in space by AR13664, a highly active region on the Sun, were coming towards Earth. Solar flares in this active region (AR13664) were set into four highest intensity categories and one moderate intensity category.
You can see in the picture how the flames emanating from the sun look. The special thing is that these were the strongest solar flares to reach the Earth since November 2003.
It can be seen in this picture that this glowing area of the Sun looks like the Carrington incident that happened in 1859. The intensity of that storm was so high that it created a series of auroras in the highlands in the north. Some of its aurora is visible in the lower regions of Ladakh, India.
Indian areas were not much affected by the May 11 space storms. Due to being in lower latitude, India did not suffer much damage.
The impact of these storms originating in the space formed by the Sun was more visible in the Pacific and American regions than in India. ISRO had said on Tuesday (May 14) that these areas were not fully developed.
ISRO says that even though the intensity of solar flares reported on May 10 and 11 was high, all its 30 spacecraft are operating properly. Due to these storms, INSAT-3DS and INSAT-3DR onboard star sensors used by IMD were shut down to avoid any damage.
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured these photos of solar flares. It can be clearly seen in these photos that a group of purple lights is visible around the Sun.
Published at : 15 May 2024 11:35 PM (IST)
