A crack in the Earth’s magnetic field persisted for 14 hours, a unique sight in the sky [TKB Science]

Recently, a very unique sight appeared in the skies of America and Canada. The sky was covered in green light. This very beautiful sight was visible due to a rare incident. A crack had opened in the Earth’s magnetic field and it remained open for about 14 hours. Some powerful solar winds emanated from this hole, causing a geomagnetic storm, due to which a very beautiful aurora appeared in the sky.

This crack in the Earth’s magnetic field was caused by a rare phenomenon called the co-rotating interaction region (CIR). CIRs are large plasma structures that form in the low and mid latitude regions of the heliosphere when fast and slow solar wind currents interact. The heliosphere is the region around the Sun that contains the Sun’s magnetic field and solar winds. Like coronal mass ejections (CMEs), CIRs flow from the Sun to Earth and can have shockwaves and compressed magnetic fields, which lead to stormy weather in space. This stormy weather is visible to us in the form of beautiful aurora.

It is normal to have cracks in a magnetic field

The incident took place in the early hours of July 7. According to experts, there is nothing to worry about. Cracks are common in the Earth’s magnetic field. The magnetic field acts as a shield to protect us from solar storms emanating from the Sun. These cracks were believed to open and close very quickly, but it has now been found that they can remain open for hours.

A research was done on it in 2003. The lead author of the research, Harald Frey, says that our magnetic shield is ventilated. It is like a house whose window opens during a storm. The house is saved from the storm, but the sofas of the house are ruined. Similarly, our magnetic shield also gets damaged by space storms. Sometimes energy is released from its cracks, which can cause problems for satellite, radio communication and power systems. Although there has not been a radio blackout or power outage this time around, Canada and the US did see the beautiful northern lights.