SOLAR STORMS:
ARE WE IN DANGER?

What’s the most destructive weather you can think of? Chances are that solar storms aren’t what you picture. But perhaps you should.

The sun doesn’t just send heat and light our way. It also belches out a colourful variety of destructive forces, including solar winds and phenomena known as coronal mass ejections – giant coiling magnetic fields carrying a dense plasma of energetic particles tens of thousands of kilometres wide.

Thanks to Earth's magnetic field, our planet is pretty well-protected. But this defensive shield can occasionally become overwhelmed, causing geomagnetic storms. And that's when the trouble starts...