Smaller solar storms in the last decade baffles scientists
The Sun, an explosive celestial object, has been much quieter between 2008 and 2019 than it was between 1996 and 2007, and scientists have quantified that radial size of its Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are two-thirds the radial size of CMEs in the last decade. There has been a significant decrease in the mass, size as well as internal pressure of explosive phenomena. Surprisingly, this was also accompanied with decrease in the average radial size of Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) – contrary to the expectation that decrease of pressure in the interplanetary medium will be accompanied with increase in radial size of CMEs. The Sun is known to be very active with sunspots, solar flares, and CMEs-- episodic expulsion of huge magnetized plasma from the Sun out into space. Understanding such activity of the Sun, particularly the propagation of CMEs, is important since they cause major perturbations in the Earth’s magnetosphere. They effect the near-Earth space environment disturb...