The Sun storm nearly ignited nuclear war

The world almost went through a nuclear disaster after a Sun storm interfered with radar and interrupted radio signals at the coldest time of the Cold War.

This little-known Cold War incident could lead to serious military conflict if the US Air Force does not attempt to monitor the Sun's activity, according to scientists' early August study. at the University of Colorado, USA.

According to Wired, on May 23, 1967, the US Air Force was about to conduct a nuclear strike in retaliation for claiming that the Soviet Union was interfering with their reconnaissance radar signals in the extreme.

The surface of the Sun on May 23, 1967 with a bright area near the center of the image is where strong eruptions take place.(Photo: NSO historical archive).

On that day, radar systems in all three areas of the BMEWS in the northern hemisphere of the US were disturbed. Any attack on these areas, including jamming, is considered a war provocation.

However, when using information from the North American Space Defense Center's Sun Prediction Center, weather researchers point out that the Sun is the culprit in disrupting information, not the Soviet Union. . As a result, a series of nuclear weapons about to be deployed stopped, helping mankind avoid a terrible disaster.

"If we do not invest early in observation, forecasting solar storms and magnetic fields, the impact of magnetic storms on Earth is much more serious," said Delores Knipp , a space physicist at the University of Colorado. in Boulder, USA, the study's lead author, said.

The US military began monitoring the Sun's activity and the weather in the universe since the late 1950s. By the 1960s, the Air Weather Service (AWS), the agency that tracks the sun's eruption of the US Air Force.

Short-term radiation eruptions from the Sun's atmosphere can lead to disruption of the electrical network on Earth and disruption of communication via radio waves.

From this incident, the US military realized the importance of cosmic weather and promoted the construction of a more effective forecasting system.