Posted on 12/14/2006 1:37:46 PM PST by Bubba_Leroy
Space weather forecasters revised their predictions for storminess after a major flare erupted on the Sun overnight threatening damage to communication systems and power grids while offering up the wonder of Northern Lights.
"We're looking for very strong, severe geomagnetic storming" to begin probably around mid-day Thursday, Joe Kunches, Lead Forecaster at the NOAA Space Environment Center, told SPACE.com this afternoon.
The storm is expected to generate aurora or Northern Lights, as far south as the northern United States Thursday night. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station are not expected to be put at additional risk, Kunches said.
Radio communications, satellites and power grids could face potential interruptions or damage, however.
Solar flares send radiation to Earth within minutes. Some are also accompanied by coronal mass ejections (CME), clouds of charged particles that arrive in a day or two. This flare unleashed a strong CME that's aimed squarely at Earth.
"It's got all the right stuff," Kunches said.
However, one crucial component to the storm is unknown: its magnetic orientation. If it lines up a certain way with Earth's magnetic field, then the storm essentially pours into our upper atmosphere. If the alignment is otherwise, the storm can pass by the planet with fewer consequences.
Kunches and his team are advising satellite operators and power grid managers to keep an eye on their systems. In the past, CMEs have knocked out satellites and tripped terrestrial power grids. Engineers have learned to limit switching at electricity transfer stations, and satellite operators sometimes reduce operations or make back-up plans in case a craft is damaged.
Another aspect of a CME involves protons that get pushed along by the shock wave. Sometimes these protons break through Earth's protective magnetic field and flood the outer reaches of the atmosphere—where the space station orbits—with radiation. The science of it all is a gray area, Kunches said. But the best guess now is that there will only be a slight increase in proton activity. That's good news for the astronauts.
"When the shock goes by, we don't expect significant radiation issues," he said.
The astronauts were ordered to a protective area of the space station as a precaution last night.
Now that sunspot number 930 has flared so significantly—after several days of being quiet—the forecast calls for a "reasonble chance" of more major flares in coming days, Kunches said.
I was in Sweden for that solar storm. The aurora was bright enough to read by, and to this day I swear I heard it - sounded like a distant faint buzzing or sizzling sound. It was beautiful and eerie.
Darn, it's overcast. Maybe it will clear up later.
It hit several hours ago. I didnt notice the world come to an end. These things take time. It's slowly eating the ozone as we speak. Polar bears are being sucked through the ever widening hole. On the bright side, it's sucking out all the deadly co2, so global warming has been stopped. But you won't see Al Gore make any mention of it, and the polar bear people will say that these missing bears drowned.
So, don't stop sending money. Only your money can save the bears and the world.
/s
Here's something interesting regarding the "sound" the aurora makes . . .
Some people swear that they can occasionally hear sounds from aurora displays similar to what you've described. I read an article about an informal experiment that was done to determine how real these sounds were. A bunch of people were brought outside during a major aurora event -- half of them blindfolded and half of them not. Some of the people who weren't blindfolded reported hearing that hissing/cracking sound, but none of those who were blindfolded reported hearing anything.
Go figure, eh?
That would be about now.
My hair is standing on end, my watch is running backwards and my shoes are on fire.
Is that normal?
You'll be OK as long as your eyes don't start to glow.
What about x-ray vision?
Interesting. This afternoon we had a power 'glitch' at our central data center and several remote locations all at the same time. Some of our sites are miles apart. I thought it was very odd at the time, but didn't dwell on it.
We lost power on and off for about an hour around 2:30 pm CST. Every five minutes, the power would go off. We heard it was a widespread problem in Brentwood. It was a very unproductive hour!
George Bush hates astronauts.
Hey, good idea. But you might see some things that aren't so pretty. You could always check out Helen Thomas.
Maybe the people looking at the Northern Lights were hearing their brains cook ? Just kidding of course.
"Sliders" already did that show. (ala the "Simpsons Did It" on Southpark)....that's the show where they picked up the very-hot Kari Wuhrer as a cast member.....
It's for real. Apollo 17's (December 1972) crew would have perished due to the solar flares that occurred in August ...and fortunately waned..just earlier than their trip. As reported by NASA:
To die, you'd need to absorb, suddenly, 300 rem or more.The key word is suddenly. You can get 300 rem spread out over a number of days or weeks with little effect. Spreading the dose gives the body time to repair and replace its own damaged cells. But if that 300 rem comes all at once ... "we estimate that 50% of people exposed would die within 60 days without medical care," says Cucinotta.
Such doses from a solar flare are possible. To wit: the legendary solar storm of August 1972.
It's legendary (at NASA) because it happened during the Apollo program when astronauts were going back and forth to the Moon regularly. At the time, the crew of Apollo 16 had just returned to Earth in April while the crew of Apollo 17 was preparing for a moon-landing in December. Luckily, everyone was safely on Earth when the sun went haywire.
"A large sunspot appeared on August 2, 1972, and for the next 10 days it erupted again and again," recalls Hathaway. The spate of explosions caused, "a proton storm much worse than the one we've just experienced," adds Cucinotta. Researchers have been studying it ever since.
Cucinotta estimates that a moonwalker caught in the August 1972 storm might have absorbed 400 rem.
I think we both need therapy.LOL!
Solar storm alert.
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