Big Solar Storm Will Hit Earth Friday

CBC News ^

[webber]

Big solar storm will hit Earth Friday Oct 24th

BOULDER, COLO. - A strong geomagnetic storm is expected to hit Earth on Friday. Scientists say it may knock out electrical grids and satellite communications.

A "sunspot cluster" said to be 10 times the size of Earth could damage satellites and power grids, as well as cable TV, pager and cellular telephone service.

Forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Boulder, Colo., say it is one of the largest sunspot clusters in years.

Larry Combs, a forecaster at the federal Space Environment Center in Boulder, says the sunspot cluster released a chunk of the sun's outer atmosphere early Wednesday morning.

NASA's Goddard Space Center says the sunspot clusters produce a "coronal mass ejection" – an explosion of gas and charged particles from the outermost layer of the sun's atmosphere.

In 1997, television networks in the U.S. were affected when satellites used to beam programming to local stations were knocked out of service.

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Written by CBC News Online

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[ForGod'sSake]

Whoa! Break out the sunglasses.

FGS

[Sabertooth]

((((((growl)))))

[eddie willers]

Oh great!
(I sell Dish Network)

My phone will be ringing off the hook with puzzled (and angry) customers.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

What will we do if FR gets knocked offline?

[Keith in Iowa]

http://www.spaceweather.com/

Check that out for everything you'd ever want to know about these things. Plus, it might also cause some Northern Lights to be seen further South than usual.

[dmeara]

Get them to go cable.

[CarolAnn]

That usually means brilliant Auroras as well....

[GeronL]

aluminum foil hat time? Maybe an umbrella?

[ChemistCat]

I wear my sunglasses at night:



Supposedly we may be able to see some aurora borealis as far south as Texas, thanks to this storm.

[CarolAnn]

You beat me to it. I type slow...:)

[fuquadukie]

Big solar storm will hit Earth Friday Oct 24th

Women, children & minorities to be hardest hit

[VeniVidiVici]

You just know that this is due to global warming.

[xrp]

Sounds like I better work from home tomorrow.

[xrp]

Women, children & minorities to be hardest hit

Democrats blame Bush.

[July 4th]

If the sun is disturbing satellites, cable will be out too. Ever see a solar transit event take out a handful of channels?

[GeronL]

What will we do if FR gets knocked offline?

That can't happen! FR is the only thing jkeeping the internet from going kaput, without FR there would be NO internet. Interest would dry up. JimRob invented the real internet you know.

The Admin Moderator will do his best to protect the main trunk service going.

I have it on good authority that the Free Republic Emergency Management Agency is pulling out all stops for this eveny.

Long live FREMA!!

[teletech]

SOLAR STORM TO HIT EARTH! RATS BLAME BUSH!

[Exit148]

Sounds series.