It may begin with an explosion on the sun, but it doesn't end there. A solar flare or coronal mass ejection can release particles and magnetic fields on a journey through space, some of which may reach Earth, compressing its magnetic field and triggering a geomagnetic storm that affects technologies upon which modern life depends.
This is the journey that Iraqi physicist and engineer Omar Albaz, a member of the Arab Union for Astronomy and Space Sciences, is trying to present to the Arab user in a coherent way, through a program he called “Sun Shield” to monitor solar activity and space weather and link its stages visually and scientifically.
Herein lies the idea of the project: instead of the user searching for the state of the sun in one place, the solar wind in another, and the geomagnetic indicators in a third location, "Solar Shield" attempts to bring together the pieces of the story into a single interface.
A journey that begins with an explosion on the sun
Space weather refers to the changes that occur in the near-Earth space environment due to the activity of the Sun. The Sun is not a stationary object, but an active star that constantly emits the solar wind, a stream of charged particles. Its surface and outer layers also experience flares and explosions, which can be accompanied by coronal mass ejections that hurl plasma and magnetic fields into space.
But this material leaving the sun doesn't necessarily mean it will reach Earth. The direction it travels, its properties, and the magnetic field it carries all determine whether the disturbance will interact with our planet's magnetic environment.
Therefore, the program tracks a range of variables rather than relying on a single number, including the speed and density of the solar wind and the characteristics of the magnetic field it carries. When conditions are right, a greater amount of energy can be transferred from the solar wind to Earth's magnetosphere.
The magnetosphere is the region where Earth's magnetic field dominates the planet's surrounding environment. It can be likened to a giant magnetic bubble that deflects a large portion of the Sun's charged particles, but it is not static; it compresses on the Sun's side and expands in the opposite direction, and its response changes according to conditions coming from the Sun.
When a large amount of energy is transferred to this system, a geomagnetic storm can occur—a widespread disturbance in the Earth's magnetic field. While a geomagnetic storm does not necessarily pose a direct threat to humans on Earth's surface, it can be critical for satellites, communications, navigation, GPS systems, and, in severe cases, electrical power grids.
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