NASA Notices New, Nasty Solar Storm Type

saskboy writes "Solar Storms generally aren't this bad, but in January unique conditions led to a "proton superhighway" that bombarded earth with fast moving protons that could have harmed astronauts caught without a radiation shield. "Scant minutes after the January 20th [2005] flare, a swarm of high-speed protons surrounded Earth and the Moon. Thirty minutes later, the most intense proton storm in decades was underway." Listen to the story here. Archives from the January storms are also available from SpaceWeather.com"

Comments

Re:Well, it's more offtopic than the others

[CA_Jim]

It was a bit over the top humor, but it makes a point. Look at almost every slashdot thread. Someone invariably tries to tie in either a nefarious, sinister plot. Not every event that affects us is caused by a) George Bush b) Republicans c) Greenpeace d) Democrates e) Global Warming e) Political Payoffs f) Fox Network

Sometimes we need to be reminded of this, and while the post wasn't of the caliber of Swift's "A Modest Proposal", it tried to get a point across.

Let it be.

Yeah and it's not global warming

[argoff]

Everytime something like this happens there are unusual weather patterns later on in the season, and then people scream bloody murder that it is global warming and demand immediate and overwhelming regulations be put in place right now.

I'm writing this for the record because I just know I'm gonna here this a few months down the road.

Shh.

[zippthorne]

I know you're joking, but it's only a matter of time before someone "blames" this on cassini or other "nukes-in-space" projects.

Re:Climate Change

[saskboy]

How in the heck did that get moderated Insightful?
Even if the climate changes this year aren't completely attributed to human produced pollutants in our atmosphere, the solar storms are NOT a reason to scale back efforts to clean up industries that have been way too dirty for way too long.

There are benefits to enacting immediate changes and regulations that do more than just ensure we aren't cooking our country with green house gasses. We can also reap economic benefits of saving energy, having fewer health problems, and reducing dependance on Saudi Oil [which is a major factor in thousands of American troops dying overseas these past years].