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The 'Perfect Space Storm' Of 1859

Posted by timothy on from the market-disruption dept.

Polyploid Pimp writes "Bruce Tsurutani of JPL recently published a paper on the 'perfect space storm' of 1859. Apparently, this solar superstorm was so massive that it knocked out telegraphs across the Northern Hemisphere, and the aurora borealis could be seen as far south as Hawaii, Havana, and Rome. Among other interesting notes, the amount of sunlight produced in the region of this solar flare actually doubled! Although the article does not discuss in detail the effects of a solar storm of this size on our current technologies, we can all imagine (maybe something like Escape from L.A.?)"

3 of 129 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Should be interesting by Gherald · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    I agree, there is nothing critical about WiFi.

    Its only "notable" because its the most hip communications technology out right now.

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  2. Re:Should be interesting by Mod+Me+God · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    > Remember Skylab? It was a victim of premature entry just because of higher than expected solar activity.

    Is that the end of Terminator 4? I thought Skylab had no root physical location, but existed across a network...

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    FreeNET user? Comfortable with the adverse selection?
  3. Re:Should be interesting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I weep, because because we seem utterly determined to reduce our history to a 15 seconds soundbite, confused with fiction. Skylab: America's first Space Station. Skynet: A fictional concept in a bunch of Arnie movies... Those who cannot remember history are condemned to repeats it, although apparently only on basic cable...