Something big could happen in the next few weeks on the Sun. According to the latest research carried out by NASA's specialized observatories, the magnetic field of our star is about to change.
"It seems that there are only three or four months to go before a new inversion of the solar magnetic field takes place ," explained solar physicist Todd Hoeksema, from Stanford University (USA). "This change will have a ripple effect on the entire solar system," he adds.
The polarity of the Sun's magnetic field changes approximately every 11 years, when the internal magnet of the star is reorganized. Magnetograms are being developed at the Wilcox Solar Observatory at Stanford to closely monitor the evolution of solar magnetism since 1976, and have already recorded three major reversals (the next will be the fourth). In each of them, the magnetic field at the Sun's poles first weakens, then drops to zero, and then emerges again with the opposite polarity.
The influence of the solar heliosphere or magnetic field extends far beyond Pluto . However, despite its scope, humans will not notice its effects. Those that will be affected are cosmic rays, which are high-energy particles accelerated to the speed of light produced by supernova explosions and other violent events in the galaxy.
