Solar Flares, How They Affect Our Planet and Sun Spot predictions February 2019

Solar flares are explosions of huge amounts of energy that periodically erupt from the Sun.

Solar flares can wipe out communications, power grids, affect short wave communication and alter the orbit of satellites. Heightened solar activity brings with it risks for military and airline communication, GPS signals and cell phones.

Because of the affect solar flares can have on our planet, scientists are working on ways to predict solar activity. Solar flares develop around the raging storms on the Sun's surface; these explosions of energy and magnetic force generally originate in magnetically active regions of the Sun around Sun spot groupings. There remains much to be asked about what causes them but some believe they are related to the Sun's magnetic field, others link solar flares to other celestial phenomenon such as planetary alignments.

Sunspots are dark blotches on the sun. The average size of a sunspot is about the size of our planet; some are much larger. They aren't static; they appear and disappear all the time; a typical sunspot lasting just a few days.

In March 1989, a solar storm left six million people in Canada without power for almost nine hours. In 2003 the biggest solar explosion ever recorded erupted; this caused no damage to the earth.

In December 2006 a violent explosion in the Sun's atmosphere sent a solar flare hurling past the earth at over one million kilometers an hour. This solar radio burst caused widespread problems on GPS receivers.

According to Sten Odenwald in the Washington Post (March 1999) space weather varies with the eleven year sunspot cycle. "The more sunspots, the more storms and the more voluminous the solar wind."

We are now at the end of the current sunspot cycle (cycle 24) which began in 2008 and ends in 2019.

In January 2008 came evidence of the first sunspots in this recent cycle, appearing in the sun's Northern Hemisphere. Solar physicist Douglas Biesecker of NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Centre described this as "like the first robin of spring ... It's an early omen of solar storms that will gradually increase over the next few years." - Over the following ten years, there were actually fewer dark sunspots visible on the Sun’s surface than was expected. It has turned out to be one of the weakest cycles of the century. With the next cycle now due, the Sun is starting to flare up again, producing more sunspots.

Early indications that space weather is worsening are usually the dramatic and increased aurora display in Arctic regions. This past 11 year cycle built up very gradually and, as mentioned, was one of the weakest solar cycles recorded.

How do solar flares affect the earth? In September 1859 skies all over the earth erupted in red, green and purple auroras, telegraph systems worldwide went crazy with sparks being discharged and telegraph operators receiving electric shocks after a huge solar flare. Many believed these kind of events were to be repeated over the past ten years.

Sun Spot cycles usually overlap for around four years. As cycle 24 wanes, cycle 25 begins to emerge.

This week (26 February 2019) a huge hole has opened up on the Sun’s surface leading to experts predicting a solar storm they have labelled ‘the Big One’. They are expecting this solar storm to hit the earth tomorrow. Solar winds can affect satellites in orbit, mobile phone signals, satellite TV and GPS navigation. Surges can lead to higher activity in power lines.

As well as affecting the earth, solar flares can have a deep effect on us at a personal level. In astrology, the Sun shapes our personality, our moods and behaviour so at times when there is high solar flare activity, this can affect us all on a mental, spiritual and physical level. We are likely to feel more emotional, more spiritually aware and more sentimental. Memories will come to the surface. We might feel our dreams are more meaningful.

Events that are outside of our control may have a sudden impact on our own lives, creating forces of change on a massive scale that affect us personally. Life might start to move very rapidly, knocking our sense of time as plans change, our lives are turned upside down and our agenda becomes unpredictable.

It is believed that Cycle 25 will be less hostile than the previous Cycle which was much weaker than predicted at the start, while solar cycle prediction as well as why the Sun even has such cycles continues to be a challenge for scientists.