It's the kind of news we don't think about very often, but it's very real to operators of power grids and satellites. A severe geomagnetic space storm is headed to Earth, the result of a major solar flare that erupted overnight.
On the plus side, it will generate some Northern Lights visible from as far south as the northern United States.
On the down side, it could knock out power grids in some places and kill us . . . . auughgghghhhgh!
[Long silence.]
No -- I'm OK!
That was just static electricity.
Anyway, the astronauts do have to worry about such things. They were hiding in a protective area of the space station last night.
It may be over soon, or there may be more of the same to come. Now that sunspot number 930 (photo above) has flared so significantly, the forecast calls for a "reasonable chance" of more major flares in coming days.
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Update: I see that I'm not the only one with an interest in the sun's recent activities. Scrappleface reports Gore Warns of Impending Solar Warming Crisis:
Mr. Gore called for a global summit, in Heliopolis, Egypt, at which every nation would sign a treaty to measurably reduce the human activity which has brought upon us, “the wrath of Ra, the sun god.”
LOL :-)
Posted by: Keith | December 14, 2006 at 07:44 PM