Will the Sun’s “Lockdown” Bring Life Threatening Damage?
Understanding Solar Cycles
“The sun is going into lockdown” has been a sentence circulating around lately. During a pandemic where many parts of the world are still in lockdown, this is the last thing people want to hear. What does this mean for us? Will this solar “lockdown” or minimum bring famine, a year long of winter, or earthquakes? Is this the first time in our lifetime that this has happened?
Solar cycles are actually not anything new, so you can put away your ice age emergency survival kit. Sunspots are a way that we can indicate whether the sun is at a maximum or minimum. According to NASA, every 11 years or so, sunspots fade away, bringing a period of relative calm. The minimum that we are in, in 2020 has been predicted in NASA’s article back in 2017.
What can be expected
Although these solar changes will not bring on an ice age, there are some things that we can expect to happen during this time. One being disruptions in technology. Solar flares subside during minimums, but there still continues to be solar activity. Disruptions in technology can occur when the sun’s magnetic field begins to open up allowing particles to escape quickly creating solar wind. This can bring solar storms near Earth’s magnetosphere and can bring “disruptions to communications and navigation systems.”
These solar storms do not only bring disruptions, but they also can cause beautiful aurora’s that can be seen from some parts of the world. The occurrence of auroras is more common during solar minimums because during these times, Earth’s atmosphere begins to cool and in a sense be more vulnerable, allowing light particles to come in.
As far as dangers to us here on Earth, there are not very many that should lead us to go into panic. Most of the dangers to people during this time would be to astronauts in space, as they could find themselves faced with violent galactic storms and explosions. Astronauts also need to be weary of increased exposure to cosmic rays as the sun’s magnetic field is weaker during solar minimums.
No need to panic right now
Throughout history there have been many sun cycles, and there will continue to be many more. For now, if you aren’t an astronaut, you can rest easy knowing you won’t be running into any solar storms any time soon. Even though most of us are in lock down, it doesn’t mean the sun is.
