Armageddon!!!
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From: Kentucky
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Armageddon!!!
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/06/10/...lares-disaster/
I think Fox News is exaggerating a little on this.
I think Fox News is exaggerating a little on this.
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From: Lacey, WA
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Not in the least.
In 1859 there was a solar storm strong enough to light the telegraph lines traveling across the country at the time on fire. We had no power grid or other large network of wires, so it didn't effect us then like it would now. The northern lights were seen as far south as Hawaii.
More recently, it has forced a shutdown of many satellites, and even fried the electronics on one satellite, Galaxy 15. That satellite has been adrift causing minor havoc for other satellites. A 1859 style solar storm would likely brick all but a small minority of specially shielded satellites.
It's a very real possibility that a solar storm of that magnitude will happen again in the relatively near future. If countermeasures aren't taken, losing satellites will be the least of our worries because we will be more concerned with the total lack of communication and the numbers of fires due to overloaded power lines.
Even if we do everything we possibly can to prevent damages it is still going to be the single largest disaster in recorded history in terms of monetary losses, and if the weather is harsh during the time, there could be a large loss of life as well.
In 1859 there was a solar storm strong enough to light the telegraph lines traveling across the country at the time on fire. We had no power grid or other large network of wires, so it didn't effect us then like it would now. The northern lights were seen as far south as Hawaii.
More recently, it has forced a shutdown of many satellites, and even fried the electronics on one satellite, Galaxy 15. That satellite has been adrift causing minor havoc for other satellites. A 1859 style solar storm would likely brick all but a small minority of specially shielded satellites.
It's a very real possibility that a solar storm of that magnitude will happen again in the relatively near future. If countermeasures aren't taken, losing satellites will be the least of our worries because we will be more concerned with the total lack of communication and the numbers of fires due to overloaded power lines.
Even if we do everything we possibly can to prevent damages it is still going to be the single largest disaster in recorded history in terms of monetary losses, and if the weather is harsh during the time, there could be a large loss of life as well.
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Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 12,515
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From: Lacey, WA
Vehicle: Two Accents, Mini, Miata, Van, Outback, and a ZX-6
It has 11 year cycles of high and low activity. We're just now coming out of a cycle of low activity. The sun is actually farther behind than ever documented before according to the number of sunspots. Last I heard they don't know what that means, for better or worse. More sunspots generally means more solar storms.
