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A <keyword id="18136270" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="falcon-9-rocket-launched-by-elon-musks-spacex" source="Orion">Falcon 9 rocket launched by Elon Musk's SpaceX</keyword> earlier this month has made a temporary hole in Earth's ionosphere, American space physicist Jeff Baumgardner has claimed. Falcon 9, a reusable two-stage rocket designed for safe and reliable transportation of payloads and people into Earth's orbit and beyond, was launched from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on July 19. Baumgardner studied pictures of the sky over Arizona, after the launch, which showed a faint red glow in the wake of the rocket, which according to him confirms the rocket punched a <keyword id="18136271" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="hole-in-the-ionosphere" source="Orion">hole in the ionosphere</keyword>. "This is a well studied phenomenon when rockets are burning their engines 200 to 300 km above Earth's surface," Baumgardner was quoted as saying to spaceweather.com. "I reviewed footage from the July 19th launch. It shows the second stage engine burning at 286 km near the F-region peak for that time of day. So, it is quite possible that an ionospheric 'hole' was made," he added. <keyword id="6360409" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="NASA" source="Orion">NASA</keyword> defines the ionosphere as the layer of the atmosphere where space begins, filled with charged particles called ions. It spans between roughly 50 to 400 miles above the surface. Ionosphere is the ionised part of the upper atmosphere of Earth, and also the reason that geomagnetic storms cause auroras, with solar plasma reacting with the ions to create the spectacular colours seen in the sky. Last year, a SpaceX rocket created a 'space jellyfish' fireball above South Carolina. Misty lights in the sky have been spotted many times previously, just after the launch of SpaceX rockets. Musk had also posted such a picture of the lights over Los Angeles last year. It is because fast-moving rockets and their exhaust fumes alter the ionisation of the ionosphere. Rockets spray out water and carbon dioxide as they travel, which can decrease local ionisation by up to 70%. The signature red colour of the hole in the ionosphere is a result of oxygen ions reacting with the rocket exhaust, releasing light in the same wavelength as red auroras, Newsweek reported. In 2017, the trajectory of the Falcon 9 rocket created a 560 mile-wide hole that lasted two to three hours because of the added effect of shockwaves due to the rocket climbing vertically, rather than travelling parallel to the Earth's surface, Ars Technica reported in 2018. The hole in the ionosphere also had some impacts on GPS systems, altering location accuracy by a few feet.

Did Elon Musk's SpaceX rocket make a hole in Earth's ionosphere? A US space physicist claims it did

<ul class="summary-list"><li>SpaceX rockets are ripping brightly colored holes in the Earth's ionosphere.</li><li>These phenomena have been studied for over 40 years. </li></ul>SpaceX rocket launches are punching holes in part of Earth's atmosphere, called the ionosphere, and it's a beautiful sight to behold.The holes appear as bright red blobs in the sky. Some are spherical while others appear like a bright smudge across the sky.Recently, these spherical red blobs have been popping up over MacDonald Observatory in Texas, which has astronomers slightly worried for the future.The first blob over the observatory was detected in February, but in the following months, sightings have grown, Stephen Hummel, an astronomer at McDonald Observatory, told Spaceweather.com."We are seeing 2 to 5 of them each month," Hummel told Spaceweather.com.One such case of these atmospheric phenomena was observed in July after <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-launch-hole-ionosphere-earth-atmosphere-physicist-2023-7">SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket</a> from a base in California. Previous instances have been recorded in 2017 and 2018.<h2>SpaceX isn't the first to punch a harmless hole in the atmosphere</h2>While a hole in the atmosphere sounds dramatic, this phenomenon is temporary and harmless to life on Earth, Jeffrey Baumgardner, a senior research scientist at the Center for Space Physics at Boston University, told Business Insider.He explained that scientists have been studying ionospheric holes for decades."During the beginning of the space age when they started launching rockets, through the Earth's atmosphere into space, it was observed that they made a disturbance in the atmosphere," Baumgardner said.In fact, the holes a rocket burns into the ionosphere are basically just a concentrated version of what naturally happens across the entire globe, every night, Baumgardner explained.In May 1973, researchers recorded a "large-scale hole" in the ionosphere caused by NASA's launch of the Saturn V Rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, according to a study published in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.187.4174.343">Science Magazine</a>. The impacts were seen 1,000 km or about 620 miles from the "burning engines" of the rocket.<h2>The ionosphere is constantly in flux</h2>Each day, the ionosphere is created when the sun's rays hit a part of our atmosphere about 185 miles above Earth, exciting mostly oxygen and nitrogen atoms, Baumgardner said.Then, each night, when the sun's rays are absent, those excited atoms recombine with molecules in the ionosphere. As a result, the ionosphere naturally decays away. This recombination creates a faint emission of light — an effect called airglow — Baumgardner said.Similarly, when a rocket enters the ionosphere, the chemicals in its exhaust, like carbon dioxide and water vapor, recombine with those excited oxygen and nitrogen atoms more rapidly, and that recombination can show up as red blobs in the sky, Baumgardner said.While just about any rocket may have this effect on the ionosphere, SpaceX rockets' impact is two-fold: First, when the rocket flies to space and then, again, when the rocket descends toward Earth.For example, the bright spherical balls that astronomers at McDonald Observatory are witnessing are from Falcon 9 boosters firing their engines to return to Earth, per Spaceweather.com.<h2>How ionospheric holes could disrupt astronomical observations</h2>These bright red blobs don't last long. Some of the recent ones that have appeared over Texas last for one to two minutes, Baumgardner said.However, if an astronomer just so happens to aim a telescope at the same part of the sky where one of these blobs appears, it could mean a very bad day for an astronomer."It could ruin somebody's time on a telescope," Baumgardner said. "They sometimes wait a year to get two or three nights on telescopes. So that would be a bad outcome for them if that actually happened."SpaceX announced earlier this year that the company plans to launch a record 144 rockets to ramp up its <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-plans-record-rocket-launches-starlink-cell-service-elon-musk-2023-10">Starlink satellite internet service</a>. This may cause an issue for ground-based astronomers if SpaceX utilizes its reusable <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-spacex-goal-60-falcon-rocket-launches-this-year-2022-3">Falcon 9 rocket</a>, which could tear holes in the atmosphere not only on the way to space but when it returns to Earth.SpaceX did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

SpaceX rockets are burning bright red holes in Earth's atmosphere and they're becoming too common for astronomers' comfort

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A physicist says a SpaceX rocket may have punched a temporary hole in the ionosphere.</li><li>The ionosphere is where Earth's atmosphere meets space.</li></ul>A space physicist has said it's "quite possible" that a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-history-biggest-moments-elon-musk-2022-12">SpaceX rocket</a> launched earlier this month made a hole in the Earth's ionosphere.The ionosphere is where Earth's atmosphere meets space and stretches roughly 50 to 400 miles above Earth's surface, <a href="https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/1127/10-things-to-know-about-the-ionosphere/#:~:text=The%20ionosphere%20is%20where%20Earth's,and%20the%20vacuum%20of%20space." target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nasa said</a>. Jeff Baumgardner, a senior research scientist from Boston University, made the comments to <a href="https://spaceweatherarchive.com/2023/07/23/spacex-punched-a-hole-in-the-ionosphere/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Spaceweather</a>. Ionospheric holes have become more common as record numbers of rockets are launched, the report said. The holes are temporary as reionization occurs when the sun rises.A picture of the incident was captured by photographer Jeremy Perez on July 19 after <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-launches-falcon-9-rocket-booster-for-record-breaking-9th-time-2021-3">SpaceX launched a Falcon 9</a> rocket from a base in California. SpaceX's Falcon 9 is a reusable, two-stage rocket designed to reliably transport people and cargo into orbit.The photograph, which was featured in the article, showed a red fluorescent glow that Perez said "expanded southward and crossed over the Milky Way." He said the glow was visible for around 20 minutes after the launch.Baumgardner said the phenomenon was "well-studied" and can occur when "rockets are burning their engines 200 to 300 km above Earth's surface.""The red glow appears when exhaust gasses from the rocket's 2nd stage cause the ionosphere to recombine quickly," he said, referring to a photograph.Representatives for SpaceX did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, made outside normal working hours.SpaceX has experienced the phenomenon before, in 2017, <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/03/spacex-launch-last-year-punched-huge-temporary-hole-in-the-ionosphere/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an Arts Technica report said</a>. In 2018, the outlet reported that another Falcon 9 launch caused a 560-mile-wide hole in the Earth's ionosphere that lasted for two to three hours.

A physicist says it's 'quite possible' a SpaceX launch punched a hole in parts of the Earth's atmosphere

<ul class="summary-list"><li>SpaceX failed to apply for an environmental permit for its "flame deflector" system, CNBC reported.</li><li>The technology was meant to reduce the "heat and force" of its Starship rocket launches.</li></ul>SpaceX failed to apply for the permits needed to use its "flame deflector" system used in rocket launches, potentially breaking environmental law, CNBC reported.The company <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1685042643531923456" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweeted Friday</a> that it ran a full pressure test of the water deluge system aimed at combatting the "immense heat and force" of a Starship launch, <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1685048326213828608?Roofstock=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1685048326213828608%7Ctwgr%5E45043bb7c7bf64bfe76b7918795f5a4f104a5959%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnbc.com%2F2023%2F07%2F28%2Fspacex-is-testing-a-flame-deflector-for-starship-without-permits.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">per CEO Elon Musk</a>. However, according to a <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/28/spacex-is-testing-a-flame-deflector-for-starship-without-permits.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CNBC report</a>, SpaceX failed to apply for the environmental permits needed to use the technology.The water used for the flame detector may contain pollutants that could enter ecosystems around SpaceX's Starship Super Heavy launch site, including those in the Gulf of Mexico.A representative for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality told CNBC that as of Thursday SpaceX hadn't obtained the Texas Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit needed to permit such runoff at the launch site."No determination" about whether SpaceX had broken environmental law had been made, the representative added.SpaceX could be fined by the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/criminal-provisions-water-pollution" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Environmental Protection Agency</a> for any violations. The company didn't provide a comment to CNBC or immediately respond to a request from Insider, made outside normal working hours. The Texas commission didn't immediately respond to Insider either. Last week, physicist Jeff Baumgardner told Spaceweather that a SpaceX launch earlier in July briefly <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-launch-hole-ionosphere-earth-atmosphere-physicist-2023-7">punched a hole</a> in the Earth's ionosphere.

SpaceX 'flame deflector' system for Starship launches may breach environmental regulations, report says

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The sun is entering a period of peak activity that will last several years, an expert said.</li><li>This means the sun will produce more solar flares, powerful bursts of energy.</li></ul>The sun is waking up after almost a decade of relative calm and could reach peak activity by the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/solar-maximum-could-sooner-than-expected-2023-6">end of this year</a>, scientists say — and that could <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/2012-solar-storm-almost-ended-life-on-earth-2014-7">cause problems on Earth</a>.As more <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronal-hole-on-sun-blasts-solar-wind-toward-earth-2023-3?r=US&amp;IR=T">sunspots</a> appear on the surface of our star during its <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-video-footage-shows-sun-solar-activity-increasing-2023-5">active period</a>, it may prompt more <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/solar-storms-flares-dangerous-effects-earth-sun?r=US&amp;IR=T">solar storms</a>, creating bursts of electromagnetic energy that can affect everything from the power grid to GPS signals.These so-called <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/next-solar-maximum-2025-what-expect-cycle-2023-4">solar maximums</a> occur roughly every 11 years, and they haven't been much of a problem in the past.Scientists, however, fear that our reliance on electricity and interconnectivity could mean we're <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/solar-flare-from-sunspot-caused-widespread-radio-blackouts-earth-2023-5">far more vulnerable</a> to their effects this time around.<h2>The sun's poles are flipping</h2><div type="image" title="Photo of the sun 'smiling'" height="768" width="1024" msid="98307418" hostid="261"></div>The sun is a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sun-images-reveal-creepy-threads-holes-light-bridge-solar-surface-2023-5">big ball of plasma</a>, heated at its center. The plasma, which is made of charged particles, boils toward the surface, cools down, and sinks back toward the core again.That motion, called convection, is what creates strong magnetic fields at the poles and smaller, local magnetic fields at the surface of the sun.Every 11 years or so, the sun becomes "convectively unstable," meaning its magnetic fields become so unstable that the magnetic north and south poles abruptly flip, throwing our star's polarity out of whack, said Mathew Owens, a professor of space physics at the University of Reading.That instability causes havoc in the magnetic fields at the surface of the sun, which become much more active. That's when the solar maximum happens.<h2>We'll see more sunspots and they might get bigger</h2><div type="image" title="A video from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the massive hole in the sun's atmosphere." height="768" width="1024" msid="98912033" hostid="261"></div>As the magnetic fields become more confused, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-see-sunspot-four-times-size-of-earth-2023-5">bigger sun spots</a> can appear on the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photo-international-space-station-hidden-passing-sun-2023-4">surface of the sun</a>. "We're already seeing a lot more <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-iss-nasa-astronauts-spacewalk-sunspot-big-enough-swallow-earth-2023-6">big sunspots</a>," Owens said in late February. "There's a few this last week or so that were visible to the naked eye," he said, though he cautioned you shouldn't look straight to the sun which can damage your eyes, and only see these through strong filters.He wasn't wrong. A huge "hole" the size of 30 Earths, pictured above, was spotted on the sun by <a href="https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/assets/img/latest/latest_1024_0193.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory</a> on Monday. <h2>Solar storms could ground planes</h2><div type="image" title="A video feed from the ISS shows the ionosphere glowing green under red auroras as the Earth turns below it." height="360" width="720" msid="98307421" hostid="261"></div>The sun is much more likely to throw energy our way during its maxima.As the sun's local <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/solar-storms-timelapse-video-sun-chaotic-peak-activity-noaa-2023-6">magnetic fields get more tangled</a> and crash into each other, they can explode. Energy and charged particles from the sun are then ejected into space.That energy can affect communication by messing with the ionosphere, a layer of charged particles in our upper atmosphere. That could cause problems for air travel."Space weather can ground flights," Owens said, adding that the Federal Aviation Administration "won't allow flights if they don't have both radio and satellite communications."A 2023 study looking at flight records over 22 years found that <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=8e26d9ff6e66f84cefbfeefdbced737cfc1cea9d00c54bc32fab88e9e3d96541&amp;postID=63f485eda5f1ba4d124c8483&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticles%2Fs41598-023-30424-2">planes were 21% more likely to be delayed</a> by at least 30 minutes when the sun was very active.The rays can change the magnetic fields in the ionosphere, which can affect GPS signals that have to pierce through that layer to reach Earth.Radio signals sent from Earth also need to bounce off the ionosphere to get from one point to the other — that's less efficient in rough space weather.Granted, radio signals are much less important to basic communications today. But several industries use radio signals to back up their other communications systems in case of failure.<h2>There may be power outages</h2>As the geomagnetic storm messes with the ionosphere's magnetic charge, it creates currents in the ionosphere. Those currents in our upper atmosphere interact with the particles in the ground. The interaction between these particles creates strong electrical currents that can flood infrastructure on Earth.This can trigger some bizarre phenomena. In one example, in 1972, US military pilots flying south of Haiphong harbor in North Vietnam <a href="https://www.colorado.edu/today/2018/11/12/1972-solar-storm-triggered-vietnam-war-mystery">saw two dozen sea mines explode in the water</a> without any apparent cause. A 2018 study looking at space weather at the time concluded that the cause was a huge solar storm.If the currents flood the electrical grid, they can blow up transformers.One damaged transformer won't cause much of an issue. But a huge geomagnetic storm heading toward Earth — a storm so big it would "probably give us aurora down to the equators" — could cause several transformers to go at once, or overwhelm other transformers that could then blow up, knocking out the whole grid, Owens said.In that case, Owens said, restarting the grid "could be a matter of weeks or even months.""Then you lose refrigeration, you lose power to hospitals — things get quite serious quite rapidly," Owens added.So far, we've been lucky. The <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/massive-1859-solar-storm-telegraph-scientists-2016-9">worst solar storm we've seen happened in 1859</a>. But we didn't rely as much on electricity back then as we do now; the only thing it knocked out were telegraph lines.Still, a space-weather event in 1989 shows just how vulnerable we've become: A <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/nmp/st5/SCIENCE/effects2.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">huge geomagnetic storm</a> on March 13 cut power for 6 million people <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/sun_darkness.html">in Quebec</a> for nine hours.<h2>Auroras may become bigger and brighter</h2><div type="image" title="green and red aurora lights stream across earth horizon against black space" height="1500" width="1999" msid="98307424" hostid="261"></div>As these geomagnetic storms crash into the ionosphere, they can make auroras shine big and bright."The aurora oval that sits up over the northern and southern poles is a result of currents flowing in the Earth's atmosphere," Owens said. "And they're nearly always there, but they become very much stronger when we've got a geomagnetic storm going on."We're starting to see some of the effects of these solar flares. The BBC reported that <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-64782372">auroras were seen in the southern UK on Sunday night</a> and that more were expected in the coming days.The sun itself might be erupting in more beautiful formations. NASA <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sun-polar-vortex-video-from-solar-plasma-break-2023-2?r=US&amp;IR=T">spotted a rare polar vortex</a> this month.<div type="image" title="video shows sun rotating ball of red plasma with a filament emerging from the top then breaking away and swirling around the north pole" height="400" width="800" msid="98307425" hostid="261"></div><h2>Astronauts will become more vulnerable to lethal space radiation</h2><div type="image" title="An artist's rendering shows a Starship landing on the moon in the future. SpaceX has been contracted to send Starship to the moon." height="1255" width="1674" msid="98307428" hostid="261"></div>The sun also lets off radiation in the form of solar energetic particles that can be dangerous to astronauts.Humans on Earth are shielded from that radiation, as most of it bounces off the ionosphere and the rest is absorbed by the atmosphere. Even the International Space Station is still under the protection of the ionosphere.But if the radiation hits an astronaut in outer space, it can be very dangerous, Owens said."If you are trying to send a crew to the moon or Mars, you really need to worry about these things, because that is a serious, potentially fatal radiation dose," Owens said.So far, astronauts have been lucky. <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/stereo/news/stereo_astronauts.html#:~:text=The%20solar%20storm%20of%20August,a%20moon%20landing%20in%20December." target="_blank" rel="noopener">Two Apollo crewed missions narrowly escaped a huge solar storm</a> in August 1972: Apollo 16 had landed back on Earth in April, while Apollo 17 launched in December."They missed it purely by chance, and it could have been fatal for the astronauts at the time," Owens said.But as <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-spacex-is-planning-starship-launch-moon-artemis-2023-2">SpaceX and NASA aim to ramp up missions</a> in the coming years, they'll need to prepare for solar storms — the issue is that there's no good way to shield astronauts in space, Owens said.<h2>We're likely not prepared for rough space weather</h2>Owens said that if the 1859 solar storm were to happen today, we'd be "far more susceptible."With each decade, we become more dependent on electrical infrastructure, he said. And the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/2013-solar-max-is-weakest-in-100-years-2013-7?r=US&amp;IR=T">latest solar cycle</a>, which peaked around 2010, was particularly quiet and may have lulled us into a false sense of security."It was the smallest we'd had for about a hundred years," Owens said, adding, "The danger of going from a small cycle to a slightly bigger one is that you then realize where all the vulnerabilities are."Still, we're not in immediate danger. Physicists predict that this cycle will not be the biggest we've ever seen, and we're getting better at spotting storms <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/solar-flare-coronal-eruption-geomagnetic-storm-effects-safety?r=US&amp;IR=T">to be able to prepare for them</a>.Scientists are also learning more and more about our sun. NASA's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-parker-probe-detected-strange-radio-signal-venus-atmosphere-2021-5?r=US&amp;IR=T">Parker Solar Probe</a>, for instance, is heading for the sun and is likely to provide unprecedented images and exciting new data in December.Correction March 24, 2023 — An earlier version of this story mischaracterized the particles coming from the sun. They were wrongly described as radioactive, when in fact the particles themselves are the radiation given off by the sun.

The sun is getting more active than it has for a decade &mdash; and it could lead to power outages, grounded flights, and stunning auroras

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A powerful solar storm due to hit the Earth on Wednesday could spark brilliant auroras.</li><li>Auroras have been seen as far south as California, Utah, and New Mexico in recent months.</li></ul>A powerful geomagnetic storm is due to hit the Earth Wednesday, causing <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.businessinsider.com%2Fphotos-aurora-northern-lights-rare-appearance-south-solar-storm-2023-3&amp;psig=AOvVaw3N1jAtpZFGgA2v3B6br8Cq&amp;ust=1682414447639000&amp;source=images&amp;cd=vfe&amp;ved=0CBEQjhxqFwoTCKCSwreYwv4CFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dazzling auroras</a> across the planet which may be seen farther south than usual. The coming auroras have been predicted after the sun released some plasma during a coronal mass ejection on Sunday that is currently traveling toward us at breakneck speeds.NASA predicts this plasma will hit the Earth on Wednesday, exciting our outer atmosphere and helping auroras shine.It will be the latest in a series of solar storms that have hit our planet in recent months, as the sun nears a peak of activity.The storms have sparked auroras that have been seen <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-aurora-northern-lights-rare-appearance-south-solar-storm-2023-3">as far south</a> as North Carolina, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, California, and Oklahoma.Here's how to spot the dazzling spectacle:<h2>How to spot and snap the aurora</h2><div type="image" title="A man in heavy clothing takes pictures of the southern lights." height="1333" width="1777" msid="99733227" hostid="261"></div>Before heading out, check the <a href="https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/content/space-weather-enthusiasts-dashboard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">aurora forecast</a> on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration website to see if you could see the aurora in your area.NASA predicts the storm could hit as a moderate (G2) to strong (G3) storm, about halfway up the <a href="https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/specialist-forecasts/space-weather" target="_blank" rel="noopener">geomagnetic storm scale,</a> per spaceweather.com.If the storm hits as a G3, the aurora could descend to mid-latitudes and could be seen in states like Oregon, Nebraska, and Virginia, per spaceweather.com. But geomagnetic storms are notoriously hard to forecast and when it reaches the Earth, the storm could be weaker. Or it could be stronger.A recent example is a G4 storm that hit the Earth in March and caused aurora seen as far as Phoenix, Arizona. It had originally been expected to be a G3, but a later eruption of the sun made the storm more powerful. If you have clear skies, head for a place where there is low light pollution, away from city lights.Prepare for cold weather with blankets and hot beverages. You may have used your phone or looked at screens to get you where you need to go, so be patient, and let your eyes adjust to the darkness. You can try to snap pictures of the auroras with a camera, but make sure not to transfer it too quickly from a hot to a cold environment to avoid condensation, <a href="https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/learn-about/space-weather/taking-photos-of-the-auroras" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to the Royal Photographic Society</a>.<div type="image" title="Auroras seen above a lighthouse." height="1231" width="1641" msid="99733232" hostid="261"></div>Preset your camera before leaving a warmer space so your fingers don't get too cold — higher aperture may be better, but you may have to adjust your settings if the aurora is moving quickly (you can find information on how to set SLR cameras <a href="https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/learn-about/space-weather/taking-photos-of-the-auroras" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.) <h2>This storm is caused by a powerful solar flare</h2><div type="image" title="a man takes a selfie while lookign at the Southern lights." height="1333" width="1777" msid="99733223" hostid="261"></div>The sun released a long-lasting M1.5-class <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/solar-flare-coronal-eruption-geomagnetic-storm-effects-safety?r=US&amp;IR=T">solar flare</a> on Sunday, a burst of radiation that accelerates charged particles away from the sun, per spaceweather.com.The radiation from the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-video-footage-shows-sun-solar-activity-increasing-2023-5?r=US&amp;IR=T">flare</a> traveled at the speed of light and reached Earth on Sunday, causing some minor radio signal blackouts over the weekend.<div type="image" title="A solar flare propelling forward a coronal mass ejection on May 7, 2023. This animation shows a video of the surface of the sun. A bright flash of light shows a solar flare blasting the coronal mass ejection into space." height="750" width="1000" msid="100099220" hostid="261"></div>The flare also hurtled a coronal mass ejection (CME), a cloud of plasma and magnetic fields, toward our planet. This travels more slowly, though it can reach speeds of 600 miles per second. As the CME hits our ionosphere — a charged layer that surrounds the Earth — it will excite particles in the sky that light up to create the aurora. Because the storm is due to hit the Earth as a G3, there's a chance aurora could be seen further south than usual, though we should be safe from the worst effects of geomagnetic storms, like grid disruptions.<div type="image" title="Auroras over Sioux Falls" height="3024" width="4032" msid="99733225" hostid="261"></div><h2>Expect more of these aurora-brightening solar events in the coming months</h2><div type="image" title="A view from NASA's SDO shows the sun on April 21, 2023. A CME is seen at the surface of the sun." height="450" width="600" msid="99733233" hostid="261"></div>Powerful geomagnetic storms are becoming more common as the sun nears a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sun-more-active-solar-storms-auroras-power-outages-grounded-flights-2023-2">solar maximum</a>, which happens when our star's poles flip, causing havoc with magnetic fields at the surface of our star.As the sun's activity ramps up, we're also seeing more stunning solar phenomena.Over the past few months, we've seen a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sun-polar-vortex-video-from-solar-plasma-break-2023-2" rel="">plasma vortex</a> swirling like a whirlpool around the solar pole, a massive <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronal-hole-on-sun-blasts-solar-wind-toward-earth-2023-3?r=US&amp;IR=T" rel="">coronal "hole</a>" in our sun, and a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-video-solar-tornado-plasma-2023-3?r=US&amp;IR=T#:~:text=NASA's%20Solar%20Dynamics%20Observatory%20captured,magnetized%20gas%20on%20March%2018." rel="">solar "tornado"</a> the size of 14 Earths.<div type="image" title="The tornado is shown here on the surface of the sun." height="969" width="1292" msid="99733237" hostid="261"></div><h2>Space weather isn't just pretty </h2>If this week's solar storm hits at a G3 level, there shouldn't be much adverse effect on our planet's infrastructure. But as our sun gets more active, scientists <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sun-more-active-solar-storms-auroras-power-outages-grounded-flights-2023-2?r=US&amp;IR=T">have warned</a> that we could be at higher risk for a more powerful solar storm — up to G5.These bursts of electromagnetic energy can be quite dangerous, as they affect everything from the power grid to GPS signals."Space weather can ground flights," Owens previously told Insider, adding that the Federal Aviation Administration "won't allow flights if they don't have both radio and satellite communications."This solar flare has already affected radio signals sent from Earth, which need to bounce off the ionosphere to get from one point to the other — that's less efficient in rough space weather.<div type="image" title="green blue and pink light is seen in Germany" height="1500" width="2000" msid="99733238" hostid="261"></div>As the magnetic fields from the sun crash into the Earth, they can also cause grid surges that can overwhelm power systems and underwater pipelines. On March 10, 1989, a huge solar flare caused a storm that <a href="https://www.insider.com/solar-storm-risk-map-united-states-2016-9" rel="">surged the Quebec power grid</a>, which was out of commission for eight long hours on a weekday morning, affecting about 6 million people.Storms can make the atmosphere more dense which can crash satellites, as was the case in February 2022, when <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-lost-starlink-satellites-orbit-geomagnetic-solar-storm-space-launch-2022-2?r=US&amp;IR=T" rel="">40 of 49 of SpaceX's Starlink satellites</a> launched into orbit were knocked out of commission. Charged particles from the sun can also glitch electronic materials. This usually goes unnoticed, but on rare occasions, these particles have been linked to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/solar-storms-flares-dangerous-effects-earth-sun?r=US&amp;IR=T">water mines exploding and phantom votes showing up in elections.</a> People have even attributed their pacemaker glitches to these solar particles. This story was originally published on April 24, 2023, and was updated to reflect information from the latest storm due to cause bright auroras. Correction: April 28, 2023 — An earlier version of the story misstated the speed of the winds traveling from the sun. It was 600 miles per second, not 600 miles per hour.

A powerful solar storm is due to hit Earth on Wednesday, sparking beautiful auroras. Here's how to see them.

NASA Wallops<ul><li>NASA launched a rocket that created colorful clouds in space on June 29.</li><li>Such clouds are being used to probe two big holes in Earth's magnetic shield, called cusps.</li><li>NASA Wallops Flight Facility released a time-lapse video of the vapor puffs.</li></ul>For the last month, NASA had been waiting for the right moment to launch clouds of red and blue-green vapor out into space.On June 29, that moment finally came. A NASA sounding rocket launched at 4:25 a.m. EST from the agency's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, and shot out 10 canisters about the size of a soda can, according to the agency.The cans deployed blue-green and red vapor, which brightly colored puffs of "<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sounding-rockets/tracers/index.html">tracer vapors</a>" that were seen from New York to North Carolina. These clouds allow scientists on the ground to visually track how and where particles move in space.Here's what the clouds looked like: The rocket was originally supposed to launch on May 31, but poor visibility and bad weather conditions delayed the mission a number of times. These space clouds weren't merely for show, however.The experiment was one of many missions in an international "<a href="http://www.grandchallenge.no/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Grand Challenge</a>" initiative aimed at helping scientists probe two gaping holes in Earth's protective magnetic shield, called cusps.The two holes in our invisible shield leak nearly <a href="https://astronomynow.com/2016/07/08/the-curious-case-of-earths-leaking-atmosphere/">100 tons of air per day</a>, according to Astronomy Now.<h2>Probing Earth's leaky atmosphere</h2>The magnetic bubble that surrounds our planet is vital to life, since it deflects the sun's constant wind of high-energy particles - and protects against the occasional <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/solar-storm-risk-map-united-states-2016-9">solar storm</a>. Without this invisible force field, Earth may have gone the way of Mars, which lost its magnetic dynamo billions of years ago. That allowed the sun to blow most of the Martian atmosphere <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-mars-lost-water-atmosphere-solar-wind-2015-11">into deep space</a>, turning a once wet and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/martian-oasis-water-extraterrestrial-life-2017-5">potentially habitable</a> world into a dry and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mars-facts-statistics-2017-5">nearly airless global desert</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Terrier_improved-Malemute_2.jpg">NASA</a>A Terrier Malemute sounding rocket.We won't run out of air anytime soon (thankfully, our planet has quadrillions of tons left), but scientists are still struggling to understand how the cusps work. In particular, they want to make them visible - which is where the colored clouds came into play.Launching tracer vapors such as barium (green), cupric-oxide (blue-green), and strontium (red) into the Earth's ionosphere - where charged air particles and the solar wind interact - helps scientists see how particles move that the region. This data could then help verify and update computer models of the fringes of Earth's atmosphere.Those models, in turn, may help researchers better understand all sorts of high-altitude phenomena, including auroras, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cold-war-geomagnetic-storm-radio-disruption-2016-8">geomagnetic storms</a> - and why a planet like Mars lost all its air while ours has held on to its atmosphere.<h2>Launching space clouds</h2>Keith Koehler, a NASA Wallops spokesperson, said that nearly all past tracer-vapor missions, except for a few <a href="https://musubk.blogspot.com/2014/11/svalbard-c-rex-part-1.html">recent test launches</a>, have spewed the vapors directly out of the rocket body. But that has limited the data that scientists can collect from the ground, since the colored clouds wound up close together and were often hard to distinguish.The new launch used new method: The rocket shot lightweight aluminum canisters, called ampules, out of its sides. The canisters traveled 6 to 12 miles before they started releasing vapor, which made the constellation of colored clouds easier to distinguish and follow.<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/wallops/2017/nasa-sounding-rocket-will-release-early-morning-artificial-clouds0lighting-up-the-mid-atlantic-coast-may-31">NASA/Berit Bland</a>This experimental rocket has doors that open to launch ampules of tracer vapor.The chemical tracer clouds are designed to react to sunlight. The launch therefore happened when it was still dark on the ground but the sun was visible from space to maximize their visibility. "These launches have to occur just after sunset or right before sunrise. You need sunlight to hit the vapors and activate them as they're released," Koehler said, adding that these vapors should not be confused with the Aurora Borealis that's typically seen in far northern regions of the world."Auroras dance across the sky, and this is not that," he said. <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-aim-antarctica-sky-lights-up-electric-blue-clouds-2016-12">Antarctica's sky just lit up with electric-blue clouds - here's why</a></h3> Please enable Javascript to watch this video

A NASA rocket blasted colorful clouds into space - here's what they looked like

<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/musubk/14880829347">NASA; Jason Ahrns/Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)</a>The Cusp Region EXPeriment (C-REX) in 2014 created brightly colored clouds in space.<ul><li>NASA is launching a rocket that will create colorful clouds in space.</li><li>The rocket launch and clouds may be visible as far away as New York City.</li><li>Such clouds will eventually be used to probe two big holes in Earth's magnetic shield, called cusps.</li><li>The launch will be live-streamed by NASA.</li></ul>NASA is about to launch a rocket that will puff out highly visible clouds of red and blue-green vapor into space.The rocket was supposed to launch on May 31, but bad weather and poor visibility pushed the mission back to <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/wallops/2017/nasa-sounding-rocket-will-release-early-morning-artificial-clouds0lighting-up-the-mid-atlantic-coast-may-31" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Monday, June 12</a>, with a liftoff time between 9:04 p.m. and 9:19 p.m. EDT.The sounding rocket carrying the experiment will launch from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, so if skies are clear at that time, many people on the US East Coast may see the brightly colored puffs of "<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sounding-rockets/tracers/index.html">tracer vapors</a>" more than 90 miles above Earth about 5 minutes after the rocket launch. People as far north as New York City may be able to see the psychedelic space clouds appear low on the South-Southwest horizon."I've seen some of these tests where the clouds really filled the sky," Keith Koehler, a NASA Wallops spokesperson, told Business Insider. "My guess is if you held your fist up, that might be the size of the clouds [close to the launch site]."<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/wallops/2017/nasa-sounding-rocket-will-release-early-morning-artificial-clouds0lighting-up-the-mid-atlantic-coast-may-31">NASA Wallops</a>The approximate viewing region (weather depending) for NASA's attempt to create brightly colored clouds in space.If you won't be in this area at that time, don't fret: NASA Wallops will host live video <a href="http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-tv-wallops" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">on Ustream</a>, with coverage kicking off around 8:30 p.m. EDT. (A player is embedded at the end of this post.)NASA's space clouds, however, aren't merely for show.<h2>Probing Earth's leaky atmosphere</h2>The experiment is one of many missions in an international "<a href="http://www.grandchallenge.no/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Grand Challenge</a>" initiative that aims to help scientists better probe two gaping holes in Earth's protective magnetic shield, called cusps. The huge magnetic bubble that surrounds our planet is vital to life, since it deflects the sun's constant wind of high-energy particles - and protects against the occasional <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/solar-storm-risk-map-united-states-2016-9">solar storm</a>.Without this invisible force field, Earth may have gone the way of Mars, a planet which lost its magnetic dynamo billions of years ago. That allowed the sun to blow most of the Martian atmosphere <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-mars-lost-water-atmosphere-solar-wind-2015-11">into deep space</a>, turning a once wet and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/martian-oasis-water-extraterrestrial-life-2017-5">potentially habitable</a> world into a dry and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mars-facts-statistics-2017-5">nearly airless global desert</a>.The two holes in our invisible shield leak nearly <a href="https://astronomynow.com/2016/07/08/the-curious-case-of-earths-leaking-atmosphere/">100 tons of air per day</a>, according to Astronomy Now.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Terrier_improved-Malemute_2.jpg">NASA</a>A Terrier Malemute sounding rocket.While we won't run out of air anytime soon (thankfully, our planet has quadrillions of tons left), scientists are still struggling to understand how the cusps work. In particular, they want to make them visible - which is where the colored clouds come into play.Launching tracer vapors such as barium (green), cupric-oxide (blue-green), and strontium (red) into the Earth's ionosphere - where charged air particles and the solar wind interact - will show how the clouds move through the region. This data could then help verify and update computer models of the fringes of Earth's atmosphere.Those models, in turn, may help researchers better understand all sorts of high-altitude phenomena, including auroras, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cold-war-geomagnetic-storm-radio-disruption-2016-8">geomagnetic storms</a> - and why a planet like Mars lost all its air while ours has held on to its atmosphere.<h2>Launching space clouds</h2>Koehler says nearly all tracer-vapor missions, except for a few <a href="https://musubk.blogspot.com/2014/11/svalbard-c-rex-part-1.html">recent test launches</a>, spew the vapors directly out of the rocket body. This limits the data that scientists can collect from the ground, however, because the colored clouds are close together and often hard to distinguish.The upcoming launch will test a new method: Shooting lightweight canisters, called ampules, out of the sides of the rocket. The 10 canisters are expected to travel 6 to 12 miles before they start releasing vapor, which should make a constellation of colored clouds that are easy to distinguish and follow from the ground."They're made of aluminum and about the size of a Coke can," Koehler said of the ampules. <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/wallops/2017/nasa-sounding-rocket-will-release-early-morning-artificial-clouds0lighting-up-the-mid-atlantic-coast-may-31">NASA/Berit Bland</a>This experimental rocket has doors that will open and launch ampules of tracer vapor.The chemical tracer clouds aren't easily observable by themselves - they react to sunlight. So to maximize their visibility, the launch will happen when it's dark on the ground, yet the sun is still visible from space (where the clouds will be created)."These launches have to occur just after sunset or right before sunrise. You need sunlight to hit the vapors and activate them as they're released," Koehler said. "Auroras dance across the sky, and this is not that."<h2>Watch the launch live</h2>NASA Wallops is hosting a live video stream that kicks off around 8:30 p.m. EDT.You can watch the feed in the player below. <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-aim-antarctica-sky-lights-up-electric-blue-clouds-2016-12">Antarctica's sky just lit up with electric-blue clouds - here's why</a></h3> Please enable Javascript to watch this video

A NASA rocket is about to shoot brightly colored clouds into space - here's how you can see them

<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/musubk/14880829347">NASA; Jason Ahrns/Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)</a>The Cusp Region EXPeriment (C-REX) in 2014 created brightly colored clouds in space.<ul><li>NASA is launching a rocket that will create colorful clouds in space.</li><li>The rocket launch and clouds may be visible as far away as New York City.</li><li>Such clouds will eventually be used to probe two big holes in Earth's magnetic shield, called cusps.</li><li>The launch will be live-streamed by NASA Wallops Flight Facility.</li></ul>For the last two weeks, NASA has been waiting for the right moment to launch a rocket that will puff clouds of red and blue-green vapor out into space.The rocket was originally supposed to launch on May 31, but bad weather and poor visibility have pushed the mission back quite a few times. The next attempt will be made <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/wallops/2017/nasa-sounding-rocket-will-release-early-morning-artificial-clouds0lighting-up-the-mid-atlantic-coast-may-31" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Saturday, June 17</a>, with a hopeful liftoff time between 9:05 p.m. and 9:20 p.m. EDT.To find out if the launch is a go, you can check the facility's <a href="https://www.facebook.com/NASAWFF" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Facebook page</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/NASA_Wallops">Twitter account.</a>If the skies are clear enough, the sounding rocket carrying the experiment will launch from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. In that case, many people on the US East Coast - as far north as New York City - may see brightly colored puffs of "<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sounding-rockets/tracers/index.html">tracer vapors</a>" more than 90 miles above Earth. The psychedelic space clouds should appear low on the southern horizon about 5 minutes after the rocket launch."I've seen some of these tests where the clouds really filled the sky," Keith Koehler, a NASA Wallops spokesperson, told Business Insider. "My guess is if you held your fist up, that might be the size of the clouds [close to the launch site]."<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/wallops/2017/nasa-sounding-rocket-will-release-early-morning-artificial-clouds0lighting-up-the-mid-atlantic-coast-may-31">NASA Wallops</a>The approximate viewing region (weather depending) for NASA's attempt to create brightly colored clouds in space.If you won't be in the area at that time, don't fret: NASA Wallops will host live video <a href="http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-tv-wallops" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">on Ustream</a>, with coverage kicking off around 8:30 p.m. EDT. (A player is embedded at the end of this post.)NASA's space clouds, however, aren't merely for show.<h2>Probing Earth's leaky atmosphere</h2>The experiment is one of many missions in an international "<a href="http://www.grandchallenge.no/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Grand Challenge</a>" initiative aimed at helping scientists probe two gaping holes in Earth's protective magnetic shield, called cusps.The two holes in our invisible shield leak nearly <a href="https://astronomynow.com/2016/07/08/the-curious-case-of-earths-leaking-atmosphere/">100 tons of air per day</a>, according to Astronomy Now.The magnetic bubble that surrounds our planet is vital to life, since it deflects the sun's constant wind of high-energy particles - and protects against the occasional <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/solar-storm-risk-map-united-states-2016-9">solar storm</a>. Without this invisible force field, Earth may have gone the way of Mars, which lost its magnetic dynamo billions of years ago. That allowed the sun to blow most of the Martian atmosphere <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-mars-lost-water-atmosphere-solar-wind-2015-11">into deep space</a>, turning a once wet and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/martian-oasis-water-extraterrestrial-life-2017-5">potentially habitable</a> world into a dry and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mars-facts-statistics-2017-5">nearly airless global desert</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Terrier_improved-Malemute_2.jpg">NASA</a>A Terrier Malemute sounding rocket.We won't run out of air anytime soon (thankfully, our planet has quadrillions of tons left), but scientists are still struggling to understand how the cusps work. In particular, they want to make them visible - which is where the colored clouds come into play.Launching tracer vapors such as barium (green), cupric-oxide (blue-green), and strontium (red) into the Earth's ionosphere - where charged air particles and the solar wind interact - will show how the clouds move through the region. This data could then help verify and update computer models of the fringes of Earth's atmosphere.Those models, in turn, may help researchers better understand all sorts of high-altitude phenomena, including auroras, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cold-war-geomagnetic-storm-radio-disruption-2016-8">geomagnetic storms</a> - and why a planet like Mars lost all its air while ours has held on to its atmosphere.<h2>Launching space clouds</h2>Koehler says nearly all tracer-vapor missions, except for a few <a href="https://musubk.blogspot.com/2014/11/svalbard-c-rex-part-1.html">recent test launches</a>, spew the vapors directly out of the rocket body. This limits the data that scientists can collect from the ground, however, because the colored clouds are close together and often hard to distinguish.The upcoming launch will test a new method: Shooting lightweight canisters, called ampules, out of the sides of the rocket. The 10 canisters are expected to travel 6 to 12 miles before they start releasing vapor, which should make a constellation of colored clouds that are easy to distinguish and follow from the ground."They're made of aluminum and about the size of a Coke can," Koehler said of the ampules.<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/wallops/2017/nasa-sounding-rocket-will-release-early-morning-artificial-clouds0lighting-up-the-mid-atlantic-coast-may-31">NASA/Berit Bland</a>This experimental rocket has doors that will open and launch ampules of tracer vapor.The chemical tracer clouds aren't easily observable by themselves - they react to sunlight. So to maximize their visibility, the launch will happen when it's dark on the ground, yet the sun is still visible from space."These launches have to occur just after sunset or right before sunrise. You need sunlight to hit the vapors and activate them as they're released," Koehler said. "Auroras dance across the sky, and this is not that."<h2>Watch the launch live</h2>If the launch does happen (though we don't necessarily recommend getting your hopes up), you can watch NASA Wallops' live video stream in the player below starting around 8:30 p.m. EDT. <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-aim-antarctica-sky-lights-up-electric-blue-clouds-2016-12">Antarctica's sky just lit up with electric-blue clouds - here's why</a></h3> Please enable Javascript to watch this video

You Searched For "hole in the ionosphere" and got 9 results

Did Elon Musk's SpaceX rocket make a hole in Earth's ionosphere? A US space physicist claims it did

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SpaceX rockets are burning bright red holes in Earth's atmosphere and they're becoming too common for astronomers' comfort

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The sun is getting more active than it has for a decade and it could lead to power outages, grounded flights, and stunning auroras

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A powerful solar storm is due to hit Earth on Wednesday, sparking beautiful auroras. Here's how to see them.

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A NASA rocket blasted colorful clouds into space - here's what they looked like

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A NASA rocket is about to shoot brightly colored clouds into space - here's how you can see them

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A NASA rocket is going to blast colored clouds into space - here's how to see them

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