A powerful shockwave smashed into Earth and cracked magnetosphere

Earth's magnetosphere was damaged on Monday by a powerful shockwave that entered the planet. According to a report by Space Weather, the mysterious shockwave could lead to a geomagnetic storm as the barrage of plasma smashed into Earth's magnetic field.

For the unversed, the magnetosphere is our planet's protective shield which is created by the magnetic field that protects Earth from harmful radiation.

Experts have noted that the magnetosphere is a region of space surrounding an astronomical object in which charged particles are affected by that object's magnetic field.

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As per the reports, the exact origin of‌ the shockwave is not known. But the astronomers did mention that it could be a coronal mass ejection (CME), which is an ejection of energetic and highly magnetised, superheated gas released from the sun.

As per reports, astronomers have also warned that such a powerful shockwave could damage the solar winds flow through, eventually disrupting the communications and electrical equipment.

The shockwave could have been launched from a region on the sun's surface, known as AR3165. After its launch, the CMEs can travel at speeds in the millions of miles per hour. With their high speed, they carry charged particles from the solar wind to form a wavefront that can trigger geomagnetic storms.

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A geomagnetic storm is a temporary disturbance of the Earth's magnetosphere, which is caused by a solar wind shock wave or cloud of the magnetic field that interacts with the Earth's magnetic field.

These storms cause the atmosphere to warm and atmospheric density at our low deployment altitudes to increase.

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