Along with summoning beautiful aurora in the night sky around the world , the gusty solar violent storm thatrocked Earth in Maythis year left another legacy : a new Van Allen Belt looping around the planet .

The Van Allen belted ammunition are two donut - determine belted ammunition of radiation wrapped around Earth , composed of energetic charge particles trapped in the satellite ’s magnetized field . According to NASA , a impermanent third whang has of late emerged around Earth as a upshot of the intensesolar violent storm in May .

“ scientist are studying the data to better sympathise the Belt and how long it might stick around . Stay tune for their findings ! ” NASA post onX , formerly Twitter .

Most of the energized particles arrest in the rap are believed to amount from thesolar malarky , while others go far as cosmic ray . When secure solar storms arrive at Earth , just like they did in May , it can cause a dislocation that allows a third layer of charged particles to become entrap by the magnetosphere .

The new belt was find sandwiched between the two lasting ones by NASA ’s Colorado Inner Radiation Belt Experiment ( CIRBE ) CubeSat , a satellite that keep an center on Earth ’s inside radiation rap . While it ’s unreadable how long it might linger , the space government agency say it could “ last months to years . ”

It ’s well - established that solar tempest , an intense flurry of emission of gamey - energy particles from the Sun ’s atmosphere , can meddlewith Earth ’s Van Allen belt . In September 2012 , there wasanother instanceof strong solar conditions creating a third temporary Belt , which faded away in a matter of workweek .

explicate the 2012 event , Ian Mann , a physics prof at the University of Alberta , said in astatement : " Rather like a space tsunami , they splosh the actinotherapy belts around and very quickly dampen away the outer part of the belt , explaining the structure of the oracular third irradiation bang . "

The geomagnetic storm of May 2024 was thestrongest that has been detect for 20 days . Along with the formation of a third Van Allen belt and the innovation of apreviously unobserved vortex in Earth ’s atmosphere , the most noticeable impact on Earthlings was the sight ofstunning Northern Lightsin latitudes that are n’t ordinarily bless with auroras .

Do n’t be fooled , though , geomagnetic storms have the potential to causemuch more upsetthan pretty colors in the nighttime sky . Much of the technology that runs the world , such as GPS and satellite - free-base telecommunication , can be affected by strong-growing infinite weather condition . If a unassailable enough solar violent storm were to assume Earth today – just asit did in 1859 – it could prove catastrophic .