Solar Flares
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Solar Flares
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/...r-july-fourth/
I'm sure it will happen one day, but when the sun erupts a massive flair towards Earth and it knocks out satellites or electronics, what will the game plan be to recover from it?
The sun fired off an intense solar flare Wednesday, giving NASA scientists a solar preview to the Fourth of July holiday in the United States.
The solar flare erupted at about 3 a.m. EDT (0700 GMT) and was spotted by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which snapped a photo of the July solar storm.
"Just a few minutes after 7:00 UT, the sun produced an M1.5-class solar flare. Perhaps an early Fourth of July fireworks?" SDO mission officials wrote in a Facebook post announcing the flare.
M-class solar flares are medium-strength solar storms that can supercharge Earth's northern lights displays when they are aimed at Earth. NASA officials reported that the July 3 solar flare erupted from a point just over the eastern side, or limb, of the sun, so it was not directed at our planet.
The most powerful type of solar flares are X-class sun storms. When aimed directly at Earth, X-class flares can pose a threat to astronauts in space, interfere with satellite signals and potentially affect electrical power grids on Earth.
Wednesday's flare followed close on the heels of a dazzling sun eruption on Monday, which sent a tendril of super-hot solar plasma dancing over the surface of the star. The SDO spacecraft captured a video of that solar prominence, as scientists call the events, in spectacular detail.
The sun is currently in the middle of an active phase of its 11-year solar weather cycle. The current weather cycle, known as Solar Cycle 24, is expected to reach its peak this year.
NASA's SDO spacecraft is one of several spacecraft monitoring the sun to track solar flares, plasma eruptions and other space weather phenomena. The $850 million observatory stares at the sun continuously to create spectacular high-definition videos of solar weather in different wavelengths of light.
The solar flare erupted at about 3 a.m. EDT (0700 GMT) and was spotted by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which snapped a photo of the July solar storm.
"Just a few minutes after 7:00 UT, the sun produced an M1.5-class solar flare. Perhaps an early Fourth of July fireworks?" SDO mission officials wrote in a Facebook post announcing the flare.
M-class solar flares are medium-strength solar storms that can supercharge Earth's northern lights displays when they are aimed at Earth. NASA officials reported that the July 3 solar flare erupted from a point just over the eastern side, or limb, of the sun, so it was not directed at our planet.
The most powerful type of solar flares are X-class sun storms. When aimed directly at Earth, X-class flares can pose a threat to astronauts in space, interfere with satellite signals and potentially affect electrical power grids on Earth.
Wednesday's flare followed close on the heels of a dazzling sun eruption on Monday, which sent a tendril of super-hot solar plasma dancing over the surface of the star. The SDO spacecraft captured a video of that solar prominence, as scientists call the events, in spectacular detail.
The sun is currently in the middle of an active phase of its 11-year solar weather cycle. The current weather cycle, known as Solar Cycle 24, is expected to reach its peak this year.
NASA's SDO spacecraft is one of several spacecraft monitoring the sun to track solar flares, plasma eruptions and other space weather phenomena. The $850 million observatory stares at the sun continuously to create spectacular high-definition videos of solar weather in different wavelengths of light.
I'm sure it will happen one day, but when the sun erupts a massive flair towards Earth and it knocks out satellites or electronics, what will the game plan be to recover from it?
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If all the satellites go down we're partly-screwed. There is no game plan for recovery, just an attempt to get them replaced ASAP. It's not nearly as bad as TEOTWAWKI if the power grids were to go down, but everybody's life would be radically altered for a year or three.
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It could potentially (worst case scenario) light most of the world's power grids on fire. Literally. It happened to some of our telegraph lines in 1859. To a degree here in the US we are *somewhat* protected from widespread damage like that now, but large areas around the country could still go out and be out for weeks potentially, possibly longer if replacement parts are required from some podunk part of the world that smells like burning insulation.