A massive Solar Storm clobbered the Earth. Auroras were seen at the Equator, and telegraph and telephone exchange office erupted into flames from the huge voltages induced in the copper wiring.
This happened towards the end of Solar Cycle 15, a nondescript cycle with nothing extraordinary, until this happened.
Sunspot AR1842 appeared, and began blasting the Earth with Corona Mass Ejections, unknown at the time.
If it happened today, it could cause major disruptions with our communications systems, and possible knock-out the GPS satellites. They're hardened quite well, but Mother Nature has a way of laughing at man's puny works.
Good reason to keep those paper maps and a good compass!
Complete article is here, at the SpaceWeather Archive site.
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Not being very scientific literate, doesn't Earth's orbit around the Sun determine if we get hit depending on where the ejection occurs? What is the duration of the storm? Minutes, hours, days? Wouldn't some orbiting satellites, especially in geosynchronous orbits, be on the "dark" side of the Earth?
ReplyDeleteThe sun also rotates, meaning the area that's ejecting will move across the Sun, adding more variables. Many times CME's are observed, but they're spewing towards empty space. The storms can last for days, and we generally have about 12~18 hours notice as the material is traveling far slowing than the speed of light. Light from the Sun takes about 8 minutes to get here.
DeleteWhich is why I still carry those 'archaic' things... And those storms last for days!
ReplyDeleteYes, and they can also cause "SID's", or Sudden Ionospheric Disturbances, completely knocking out HF radio. I've been on the air when one hit, and it was like I'd pulled the antenna out of the receiver. DEAD silence.
DeleteI read the same article and wonder if we're going to be treated to another round of extreme space weather as opposed to the bull$h!t climate changelings.
ReplyDeleteBeats me. Forecasting this stuff is beyond our capabilities at the moment.
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