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Coronal Mass Ejection Hits Earth

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the duck-and-cover dept.

astroengine writes "On Tuesday, the Earth was hit by a coronal mass ejection (CME), triggering a 'moderate' geomagnetic storm, igniting aurorae at high latitudes. The CME in question was launched from the sun early on Sunday and space weather scientists predicted its arrival on Aug. 3 — the vast magnetic bubble of solar plasma arrived on schedule."

1 of 154 comments (clear)

  1. Thank goodness there's no damage by krzysz00 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    There are three bits of good news in that article.
    1. 1. There was no damage to electronics or satellites, so all of the /. community's geeky shiny is safe
    2. 2. There will be really impressive light displays (which I hope someone will post on YouTube
    3. 3. We are developing the ability to forecast "space weather", thus leading to a new field, astrometeorology

    However, the bad news is that satellites might go if a bigger storm comes along.