![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/EM-Sun-Rise-Lake-Simcoe-Fox-Island-Abstract-300x225.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I can’t wait – the Sun’s magnetic poles will flip in 2024.<\/p>\n
Now, this isn’t the big deal (especially for us) that the Earth’s poles flipping. North Pole changing, South Pole changing to under the Arctic, Earth rolling over in orbit – those are life-changing , and for a lot of folks, life-ending events.\u00a0 Not entirely unexpected, mind you – while not predictable given its 10,000-50,000,000 year intervals (last time was 780,000 years back), the\u00a0 Sun, on the other hand, reverses its poles every 11 years. Guess it decides every 4000 days or so to identify as bottoms-up?<\/p>\n
Electric currents in the sun are generated \u201cby the flow of … hot, ionized gases,\u201d and magnetic fields are the byproduct, according to NASA. Scientists refer to this process as a \u201cdynamo.\u201d<\/p>\n
NASA explained that the dynamo \u201creorganizes itself\u201d at the peak of each roughly decadelong (sic) solar cycle.<\/p>\n
Stanford solar physicist Phil Scherrer described the process to NASA: \u201cThe sun\u2019s polar magnetic fields weaken, go to zero and then emerge again with the opposite polarity. This is a regular part of the solar cycle.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sun\u2019s magnetic pole reversals typically bring more intense solar storms, which can cause disruption to satellites, communication and GPS in space and disable parts of the electrical grid, according to Earth Sky.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
In extreme cases, it can get interesting.<\/p>\n
They described \u201cthe great geomagnetic storm\u201d that happened in the summer of 1859 as the \u201cmost famous space weather event in the last two hundred years.\u201d It is commonly referred to as \u201cThe Carrington Event.\u201d<\/p>\n
Northern lights are typically located between 60 degrees and 75 degrees latitude. However that summer, intense auroras were recorded below 50 degrees, and scientists correlate their intensity with the sun producing more solar storms.<\/p>\n
Not only did the magnetic pole reversal create more vivid (and more southern) northern lights, it \u201cwreaked havoc\u201d on telegraph wires, as the South African National Space Agency described.<\/p>\n
Specifically, Advances in Space Research wrote, \u201cA significant portion of the world\u2019s 200,000 km of telegraph lines were adversely affected,\u201d were temporarily unusable and had \u201ca real economic impact.\u201d<\/p>\n
In cases like in 1859, solar storms \u201ccan interrupt electrical power on Earth\u201d and be \u201cvery dangerous to satellites and astronauts,\u201d the Smithsonian reported.<\/p>\n