Report
on the ‘Halloween Event’
On when it did so, there were great disturbances in the earth’s
magnetosphere.
The first
instrument to detect these phenomena was NASA’s/ESA’s solar observatory, SOHO.
The images to the side represent
three instruments (C2, C3, EIT and MDI). These images show that around
It is well known
that, on average, there is at least one Coronal Mass Ejection per day, so
various instruments were needed to determine whether or not this ‘halo’
CME (which are rarer than a solo CME)
was in the direction if the earth.
The second
instrument to detect this halo event was the spacecraft ACE (see below). It can be concluded that
the CME is passing the ACE craft because the magnetic field reading shows a
surge (the near straight line going straight up) and then this increased level
sustains. This happened because as the CME passed the spacecraft (at speeds of
approximately 7.5 million km an hour) the magnetic field that surrounds the
debris increases the levels of the magnetic field in the area. The final
indication of this ejection would have been at the Wind spacecraft. Unfortunately, because of the high amount of particles
in the oncoming CME bombarded this spacecraft, so the sensors onboard could not
operate correctly. When this anomaly did reach the earths magnetosphere, it
caused great disturbances.
Figure
1 shows this Coronal Mass Ejection thought the ‘eyes’ of the C2 Coronagraph,
which is a part on LASCO instrument on
Figure
2 shows the CME in progressive stages. The 1st image (MDI) shows
that there is a large sunspot being formed, the second image (EIT) shows the
sunspot progressing even further, hence the great brightness, and the following
to images (C2, C3 respectively) show the CME leaving the surface of the sun.
Figure
3 shows data from the ACE spacecraft. It can be analysed that there are two shocks
(where the two arrows are), which would suggest that there were two CME’s
approaching the earth. We know they are shocks in the magnetic field because
the line goes straight up, and then sustains, which suggests an increase in
magnetic activity.
When this
magnetic storm did finally hit the earth’s magnetosphere, great damage and
disturbances were caused. When the CME’s magnetic field collided with the
earths, an enormous magnetic storm took place. This caused a Mars-bound
spacecraft to temporarily shut down, and it may have caused two Japanese
satellites to gain permanent damage.
Bibliography