Claims about ‘solar system’ approaching the earth are now fake.  
Key Highlights
- There were claims made by the Space Weather Prediction Centre that a ‘solar storm’ is approaching the earth.
- Program Coordinator Bill Murtagh has now confirmed that there is no such thing taking place.
- Although there is no storm approaching Earth, Murtagh did confirm the presence of a solar flare that took place on July 3. It was the first big flare of this solar cycle and the brightest in four years
News about a powerful solar storm approaching Earth at a speed of 1.6 million kmph with the potential to disrupt mobile phone signals surfaced online earlier this week.
It was widely reported by several media outlets that the purported storm would hit our planet on Sunday or Monday and cause major disruptions in mobile communication and GPS devices.
A report on a website called Spaceweather.com read the following, “THE SOLAR WIND IS COMING: Later today, a high-speed stream of solar wind is expected to hit Earth’s magnetic field. Flowing from an equatorial hole in the sun’s atmosphere, wind speeds could top 500 km/s. Full-fledged geomagnetic storms are unlikely, but lesser geomagnetic unrest could spark high latitude auroras. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.”,
But now, it turns out that all the claims swirling about the possible solar storm hitting earth are untrue. A fact-check by Associated Press states that experts have not detected any solar storm making its course to Earth.
The program coordinator for the Space Weather Prediction Centre, Bill Murtagh, confirmed to the news agency that there is no solar system approaching.
Although there is no storm approaching Earth, Murtagh did confirm the presence of a solar flare that took place on July 3. It was the first big flare of this solar cycle and the brightest in four years.
“We typically get 150 of them over an 11-year cycle. Fortunately, we are 93 million miles away from the sun so we have Earth’s magnetic field and atmosphere which protects us from the harmful emissions from these eruptions,” Murtaugh was quoted as saying by Associated Press
What is a Solar Storm/Geomagnetic storm?
A solar storm, in the simplest of definitions, is a disturbance on the Sun which can emanate outward across the heliosphere and affect an entire Solar System, including Earth.
A solar storm is also referred to as a geomagnetic storm that can cause a temporary disturbance of the Earth’s magnetosphere due to a solar wind shock wave.
What is a Solar flare?
A Solar flare is a large explosion in the Sun’s atmosphere, that is caused by tangling or reorganising of magnetic field lines near sunspots. A Solar flare is a large explosion in the Sun’s atmosphere, that is caused by tangling or reorganising of magnetic field lines near sunspots.