NASA warns aurora could devastate Earth
Scientists warn that solar storms could one day bring down Earth's communications networks.
NASA has shared a breathtaking photo of aurora borealis in the sky over Iceland called"Beauty and the Beast", and warned that this beautiful aurora is not a very good sign.
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The aurora is beautiful but it is also a warning of extremely dangerous solar storms. |
The image was taken by astronomer Juan Carlos Casado over Lake Thingvallavatn in Iceland in 2016 and was selected as NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day.
The aurora above appears as a beautiful green spiral among picturesque clouds with a bright Moon nearby and stars in the background. The aurora is actually the result of collisions between charged particles from the Sun and particles in the Earth's atmosphere.
While they are usually harmless, scientists warn that a particularly powerful solar flare could one day release charged particles capable of bringing down Earth's communications network.
This happened once before in 1859, when charged particles associated with the Sun's magnetic field bombarded the Earth's magnetic field, known as "The Carrington Incident".
Measures have been put in place to protect Earth from the effects of solar storms, but Casado warns that if a similar large-scale event were to occur it could be devastating.