By IANS
New York : The sun has just entered a 11-year cycle of heightened activity that could throw electrical and electronic systems including cell phones and ATMs out of gear, scientists say.
A sunspot that marks the beginning of the cycle appeared late Tuesday in the sun’s northern hemisphere, scientists of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said, reports Sciencedaily.
The new cycle, the scientists say, could affect power grids, critical military, civilian and airline communications, Global Positioning System (GPS) signals, and even cell phones and ATM transactions.
“This sunspot is like the first robin of spring,” said Douglas Biesecker of NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center. “In this case, it’s an early omen of solar storms that will gradually increase over the next few years.”
The sunspot is an area of highly organised magnetic activity on the surface of the sun – or a kind of solar storm.
During a solar storm, highly charged material from the sun may hit earth, critically affecting power grids, disrupting communications, and threatening astronauts with harmful radiation.
Storms can also impact communications satellites and send GPS signals awry.
The scientists say that even day-to-day activities like talking on a cell phone or getting money from an ATM could be hit over a large part of the globe.
“Our growing dependence on highly sophisticated, space-based technologies means we are far more vulnerable to space weather today than in the past,” said Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., of NOAA.
The new sunspot, identified as #10,981, is the latest visible spot to appear since NOAA began numbering them on Jan 5, 1972.