A geomagnetic storm that slightly missed the Earth

On July 23, 2012, the Sun released two powerful clouds of plasma, which completely missed the earth’s atmosphere. According to NASA physicists , these were the most powerful coronal mass emissions over the past 150 years. If the plasma hit the Earth, most likely it would cause widespread blackouts and damage to satellite communications.

Modern people would have to remember how to survive in the absence of electricity. According to the assumption of the US National Academy of Sciences, the total economic damage to the global economy could be $ 2 trillion, and it could take years to restore transformers that failed. In other words, we would still be restoring the power system.

After damage to the power system and satellite communications, world trade, the transport system, agriculture, water supply, the health care system, military systems, etc. would have suffered direct damage. We can say that people's daily lives would also change for the worse.

The video shows coronal mass emissions from July 22, 2012 22:00 EDT to July 23, 2012, 2:00 EDT. The shooting was made at the Solar Terrestrial RElations Observatory-Ahead (STEREO-A), the video is repeated three times.



Experts calculated that the ejection of the coronal mass could have hit the Earth if it had happened a week earlier, when the corresponding portion of the Sun was opposite our planet.

The previous discharge of such power happened in 1859 , it is known as the “Carrington event”, by the name of the astronomer who recorded it. At that time, the northern lights were visible at the latitude of Cuba and Hawaii, and the storm led to the failure of telegraph systems throughout Europe and North America.

The plot of NASA on the ejection of the coronal mass July 22-23, 2012