One of the strongest known solar storms blasted Earth in 660 B.C.
Alice Bazyar
March 14, 2019
Gateways
One of the strongest known solar storms blasted Earth in 660 B.C.
One of the strongest known solar storms blasted earth in 660 B.C., based on traces of storm that was preserved both in ice cores and tree rings. As the sun’s magnetic field moves through space while rotating, it releases bursts of charged particles in space. In solar proton events (most dangerous solar storms), these particles speed up their interactions with other solar missions; solar flares or coronal mass ejections. Even earth’s own magnetic field can’t deflect these kinds of energetic particle streams. This kind of radiation based particle is hazardous towards earth’s technology and astronauts. It’s scary how these horrifying and extreme events are so common- satellites and many ground made machines have tracked them down for the past 70 years. 
In 2017, scientists explored and found a tree ring carbon-14 dating to about 660 B.C. that might hint a solar proton event; but carbon-14 can also signal a supernova or solar flare. A geologist by the name of Paschal O’Hare, at Lund University in Sweden, examined two Greenland ice cores. A couple of years later, he found the meaning behind his examination and found spikes in beryllium-10 and chlorine-36 dating to the same time. This was, later on, discovered that the ice suggested to a 660 B.C. event, which was 10x more powerful than one of the events that occurred in 1956. The only known solar storm to compete against the ancient storm’s power occurred in A.D. 774–775, an event also recorded in tree rings and ice cores.
This traumatic event can, later on, be solved by many researchers and scientists. We can study it more and possibly find a possible way to protect the earth's magnetic field. This can be a huge step to modern day society and our future because we can even stop a way for the earth to encounter any other problems since we will be able to protect ourselves from such extreme event.
Comments
Post a Comment