Intense ‘solar storms’ that can damage telecommunications satellites and disrupt the internet are expected to hit Earth much earlier than expected – possibly as early as 2024!

Contrary to NASA’s prediction, which expects the phenomenon to occur at the end of 2025, Indian researchers announced that solar storms will hit the planet within the first months of the new yeareven affecting telecommunications for weeks.

The phenomenon

About every 11 years, the sun passes what is known as “solar maximum”, when many strange dark spots appear on its surface. These “sunspots” are caused by massive changes in our star’s magnetic field. They also shoot violent bursts of energy towards Earth, thus causing so-called ‘solar storms’.

According to the lead author of the new study, Dr. Dibyendu Nandi, a physicist at the IISER Kolkata Center of Excellence for Space Sciences in India, “the most intense storms can sometimes lead to catastrophic orbital decay of satellites in low Earth orbit and disrupt satellite services such as communications and navigation networks.”

“They can also cause strong disturbances in the geomagnetic field that knock out power grids located in high latitude areas’.

And the bright side…

“Solar storms also create beautiful auroras, so we can expect 2024 to be a good year for aurora hunters,” added Dr Dibyendu Nandi