This image, captured by the Solar Dynamics Observatory, shows the M5.3 class solar flare that peaked on July 4, 2012, at 5:55 AM EDT and released on July 5, 2012.
Credit: Reuters/NASA/SDO/AIA/Helioviewer/Handout
Posted on 03/20/2014 10:46:14 AM PDT by Red Badger
Fierce solar blasts that could have badly damaged electrical grids and disabled satellites in space narrowly missed Earth in 2012, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.
The bursts would have wreaked havoc on the Earth's magnetic field, matching the severity of the 1859 Carrington event, the largest solar magnetic storm ever reported on the planet. That blast knocked out the telegraph system across the United States, according to University of California, Berkeley research physicist Janet Luhmann.
"Had it hit Earth, it probably would have been like the big one in 1859, but the effect today, with our modern technologies, would have been tremendous," Luhmann said in a statement.
A 2013 study estimated that a solar storm like the Carrington Event could take a $2.6 trillion bite out of the current global economy.
Massive bursts of solar wind and magnetic fields, shot into space on July 23, 2012, would have been aimed directly at Earth if they had happened nine days earlier, Luhmann said.
The bursts from the sun, called coronal mass ejections, carried southward magnetic fields and would have clashed with Earth's northward field, causing a shift in electrical currents that could have caused electrical transformers to burst into flames, Luhmann said. The fields also would have interfered with global positioning system satellites.
The event, detected by NASA's STEREO A spacecraft, is the focus of a paper that was released in the journal Nature Communications on Tuesday by Luhmann, China's State Key Laboratory of Space Weather professor Ying Liu and their colleagues.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
This image, captured by the Solar Dynamics Observatory, shows the M5.3 class solar flare that peaked on July 4, 2012, at 5:55 AM EDT and released on July 5, 2012.
Credit: Reuters/NASA/SDO/AIA/Helioviewer/Handout
I get all excited about this stuff, but then I remember that our individual days are numbered, as is our planet, as is our society.
And then I have a Jameson, neat, and life is good again. :)
???...
Whiskey. ;)
No ice. :)
I was being silly, but this is actually, very interesting!
“Many telegraph lines across North America were rendered inoperable on the night of August 28 as the first of two successive solar storms struck. E.W. Culgan, a telegraph manager in Pittsburgh, reported that the resulting currents flowing through the wires were so powerful that platinum contacts were in danger of melting and “streams of fire” were pouring forth from the circuits. In Washington, D.C., telegraph operator Frederick W. Royce was severely shocked as his forehead grazed a ground wire. According to a witness, an arc of fire jumped from Royce’s head to the telegraphic equipment. Some telegraph stations that used chemicals to mark sheets reported that powerful surges caused telegraph paper to combust.”
http://www.history.com/news/a-perfect-solar-superstorm-the-1859-carrington-event
And that was in the 1850’s. Imagine what would happen today.....................................
Hey, what happened to that asteroid that ya’ll said might strike earth on Mar. 23rd? Is it still headed this way or did it turn around like that Malaysian jet?
Interesting thread. Thanks!
It’s only a matter of time.
Thanks for providing the thread.
When this happened, it was discussed here on FR. It wasn’t the only ‘close call’ we have had.
At the time, I wondered why the community of Astronomers and other scientists hadn’t made a big deal out of it.
IIRC, we were discussing the flare that was made up of mostly X-Rays and was 100 times larger than anything in recorded history.
I mentioned that it was odd that none of them had shown much ‘concern’ publicly ( meaning it didn’t get much media attention).
I asked what would have happened if it hit directly. I said would ‘us’ being ‘french fried’ be a good way to describe it.
He said, yes. That is all he said.
It seemed to me that the scientific community (again... the MSM) decided it best not to make a big deal out of it, since it missed.
Whatever does it for you. I agree with the Scotch gentlemen who say that it takes one ice cube to really open up all the nuances of a fine single malt.
Enjoy.
We need a big window shade that can block the sun!
Sounds like an opportunity to capture a lot of free energy.
Ice cubes just get in the way! ;)
Ban de Soleil!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.