The good news is that a recent rumor on the Internet about an impending solar storm hitting Earth is false.
Can Solar Storms Destroy Civilization? Solar Flares and Coronal Mass Eruptions
The bad news, however, is that a massive solar storm could soon hit our planet. Scientists are divided over how much damage a blast of solar particles could do to technology.
"Space weather can damage satellites, harm the power grid, expose people in airplanes at high latitudes and in spacecraft to radiation, disrupt radio communications," David Hysell, a professor of atmospheric sciences at Cornell University, told Lifewire in an email interview. "There are already mitigation strategies for these possibilities, but there is room for improvement. Better forecasting would be welcome."
A story about a large solar storm was reported in news outlets, but turned out to be based on false information. NASA reported a large solar flare on July 3, which caused radio blackouts, but has long since passed Earth. "The Sun emitted a significant solar flare that peaked at 10:29 a.m. EDT on July 3, 2021," NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory wrote in its official blog.
