Earth enters solar wind stream from coronal hole later than expected
According to the Solar Astronomy Laboratory at the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IKI RAS), Earth began to feel the effects of the solar wind from a coronal hole on the Sun nearly a day later than originally forecasted.
Instruments recorded the boundary crossing around 5:00 PM Moscow time.
"Given the current size of the coronal hole, it was unlikely that Earth would avoid its influence. The main question was the plasma properties and, most importantly, the wind speed," the scientists noted.
Experts predict that the solar wind speed will increase over the coming hours. Earth is expected to remain within the solar stream for at least 4–5 days.
Earlier, on Friday, scientists from IKI RAS and the Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics of the Siberian Branch of the RAS reported that geomagnetic disturbances caused by this coronal hole could last from September 13 to 16.
