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Last Post 10/16/2020 6:15 AM by Terry Kucera

solar activity

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Deron

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10/15/2020 10:54 PM
Does ALL solar activity affect Earth? Or just some of it?

Terry Kucera

Basic Member

Posts:328

10/16/2020 6:15 AM
No, just some of it. One of the tricky aspects of space weather prediction is figuring out which events are likely to affect us and how. Things like the strength of the event, how a coronal mass ejection (CME) moves through space, and the magnetic field variations at Earth are all important. Also, activity can happen all around the Sun and if it occurs on the far side there are generally not major effects on Earth. This is something studied by the STEREO mission which sent two spacecraft around to the far side of the Sun. Back in 2012 there was a series of coronal mass ejections including one that was directed right at the STEREO-A spacecraft. Based on the STEREO-A data we could tell it was a major solar storm that would probably have had big effects at Earth, but because it was directed away from us the effects at Earth were minimal. You can read more about that here: https://science.nasa.gov/...14/23jul_superstorm/ Terry