Solar Storm 'Could Spark Catastrophe'

Ananova ^ | 10-27-2003

[blam]

Solar storm 'could spark catastrophe'

Scientists are warning a "perfect space storm" that occurred 144 years ago could happen again at any time with catastrophic consequences.

Newly uncovered scientific data has shown the true extent of history's most massive electromagnetic storm which blew up on the first two days of September 1859.

Like "the perfect storm" at sea which inspired a blockbuster movie, it was the result of a number of titanic events coming together.

But in this case the centre of the storm was the sun, not the ocean.

A combination of sunspots and solar flares produced an explosive release of magnetically charged gas and particles which sped towards the Earth.

When the storm struck, the effects had a huge impact even on the limited technological landscape of the 19th century.

Within hours, telegraph wires in both the United States and Europe spontaneously shorted out, causing numerous fires.

People were amazed as the Northern Lights - caused by charged solar particles bombarding the atmosphere near the northern magnetic pole - illuminated the sky as far south as Rome, Havana and Hawaii.

Dr Bruce Tsurutani, a plasma physicist at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, who has investigated the event, said: "What happened in 1859 was a combination of several events that occurred on the sun at the same time.

"If they took place separately they would be somewhat notable events. But together they create the most potent disruption of Earth's ionosphere in recorded history. What they generated was the perfect space storm."

Story filed: 13:51 Sunday 26th October 2003

[Semi Civil Servant]

A year's food.

Gravity water purifier.

Generator with year's supply of gasoline.

Lots of gold.

Seeds for planting.

Guns and plenty of ammo.

All you need for Y2K ... er ... the solar perfect storm.

[ConservativeTeen]

Of course, Tom Daschle is deeply saddened.

[Semi Civil Servant]

I guess we think alike. :)

[CO_dreamer]

That's something that's scarier than most somethings though.

Think about it. In 1859, it shorted telegraph wires and started fires.

What the hell would it do now, when, instead of a few scattered telegraph wires, every home in the country is wired, virtually the entire industrialized world depends on computers and satellites, etc. Kinda scary to think about.

Not that there's anything we can do except wait and see.

[ZinGirl]

Not that there's anything we can do except wait and see.

finally....a REAL use for that asbestos underwear?

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Obviously, the fault of Straussian, neo-Wilsonian neocons, empire building and requiring the existence of an advanced network of telecommunication facilities. If we all lived simply and used muzzle loaders and horse, this wouldn't be a worry.

[Syncro]

Look at all the fires it started in So California!

LOL

[Diddle E. Squat]

CGEB will give us an early warning should this occur on the sun...

[Diddle E. Squat]

Fry2K?

[wku man]

Well, at least you're not Southern. Everyone knows Southern, Christian, conservative, gun owning, meat eating, heterosexual, white men are Satan incarnate.

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

Oh yeah...especially those of us who drive big ol' 4x4 trucks!

[mommybain]

notoriously high-rish occupation

I've been at it for close to 20 years and haven't had any real risk until last month. Am I an anomaly?

[RightWhale]

Don't worry. The sun will probably not explode. But if it does, no problem.

[ninonitti]

Not that there's anything we can do except wait and see

Easy for you to say; me I'm off to buy enough tinfoil to do my roof.

[gitmo]

Don't forget sunblock SPF 14,000,000.

[diamond6]

It's all George Bush's fault, and those mean spirited Republicans.

[diamond6]

ROTGL!!!!!

[expatpat]

LOL!

[Qwinn]

"This could be the most devastating thing to happen since the Y2K bug hit."

Hey, now, be fair :) The reason Y2K was no big deal -was- because of all the hysteria about it. The problem got fixed (and all the hiring that was done to get it fixed was actually a big part of the late '90's economic boom).

But as a computer programmer, I can tell you, if the problem had been dismissed, if legions of programmers out there hadn't been hired to do what they did to solve the problem, 1/1/2000 -would- have been very nasty.

Know when the next big computer problem will hit? It's sometime in 2031. The date/time system in the C programming language (which both Unix and Windows are written in) measures time as the number of seconds since some arbitrary date they picked way back (I think since 1950 or something like that). Obviously, the number of seconds since 1950 is one smegging huge number. It runs out/rolls over in 2031. That'll be fun. But this time, I suspect the problem is gonna get ignored - and then we'll see how crazy the Y2K people were ;)

Qwinn

[roadcat]

"It runs out/rolls over in 2031"

Ooh, that could be a problem! Normally, one could convert to cash during the problem. But in 2031, will we still have cash or will all purchases be electronic? Maybe I shouldn't worry, I'll probably be senile and have lost all my money by then.

[Hot Tabasco]

Get into computer controlled medical equipment troubleshooting/repair,

I will soon be unemployed. Taking your advice, where do I start?