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NASA Records Solar Blast of Epic Proportions
Arvisp writes "As predicted, the a 'mega-filament' of solar magnetism erupted on Dec. 6th, producing a blast of epic proportions. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the action as the 700,000-km long structure lifted off the stellar surface and--snap!!--hurled itself into space. The eruption produced a bright coronal mass ejection (CME) observed by the STEREO-A spacecraft: video. Earth was not in the line of fire; the cloud should sail wide of our planet. Earth-effects might be limited to pretty pictures."
Sun says, "Oh, SNAP!"
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
video = http://stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov/browse/2010/12/06/ahead_20101206_cor2_512.mpg
For scale, 700,000km is half the diameter of the Sun.
-Peter
I'm not up on these sorts of things, it does look quite spectacular though. Does anyone know what kind of effects we might have seen on Earth if this had been directly towards us?
Dr Ray Stantz: Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling!
Dr. Egon Spengler: Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes...
Winston Zeddemore: The dead rising from the grave!
Dr. Peter Venkman: Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
Not really. The magnetosphere protects us from most of it. It makes some radio noise, brighter aurorae at the poles, and a lot of hoo-ha on the tee-vee.
These things aren't mysteries, even to many laypeople. Of course, I'm a private pilot, so the potential interference to radio communications, GPS, etc maybe makes me a little more aware of it than most, but it's not like this is a new phenomenon or something we've just now discovered thanks to modern science. Humanity knew about these before the 1800's, and their effects on electrical devices were pretty clearly demonstrated by Mother Nature since at least 1859 (the Carrington Event, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859 ).
We've been hit by CMEs in the past, and their effects are pretty well understood. The potential impacts of this are real, and very inconvenient, in that they can knock out power grids with relative ease ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_1989_geomagnetic_storm ). We haven't had a strong hit since the cellular telephone was invented in 1989, so we have little experience with the really strong ones and modern electronics, but frying a few million computers and smartphones would (if not fatal) have some pretty nasty economic consequences for the owners of same.
The only level of lethality would be if you are somehow dependent on electricity, or the possible introduction of electricity into places you weren't expecting it. So, for example, if you hear about a strong geomagnetic event, it's probably not a good idea to go out and lean on any local ungrounded aluminum-sided house or any very large piece of ungrounded conductive material. You might become the grounding strap. That could be bad. Think of it as a lightning event, except it's smaller lightning but appears everywhere, even inside things.
Upside: While it's dark at night what with all the lack of power and your neighbors not burning their 10,000 watt back yard lights all night, you'll see the coolest aurora display ever if you live far enough north (and that could be as far south as Texas with a strong event). "Aurora Borealis, shinin' down in Dallas, can you picture that?"
We know it damages things as crude as telegraph machines, including setting the paper in them on fire from sparks, because it has. CMEs can impart energy into metal, and the electrical network is a huge freaking CME antenna, so in a strong storm expect at least temporary loss of power, and longer if there's enough strength to overload transformers and the like.
The CME can either cancel out the existing electricity in the power grid, or it can add to it, depending on polarity. A modestly strong CME impact can actually impart electricity into unshielded electronics and fry them where they sit due to nothing more sophisticated than voltage overload, even if they are not plugged in (this is known as "geomagnetically-induced current").
A little light reading for when you get curious.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomagnetic_storm#Historical_occurrences
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomagnetic_storm
"This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859
No, we'd probably have enough warning to get some looting and pillaging in, even if the event was cataclysmic. Light takes about 8 minutes to get from the sun to earth. Plasma, not being quite as fast, takes slightly longer.
There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell 'em.
Inconstant Moon
I drank what? -- Socrates
Except we have a lead time and electricity providers who are very interested in not losing their expensive transformers. The space agencies provide space weather warnings including CME warnings. If a very large CME is inbound most of the affected transformers are going to be disconnected.
Plus, with CMEs on the scale we have seen so far, large-scale generator damage would only occur in certain areas, not worldwide, allowing functioning generators to be imported to rebuild at least part of the network in much less than several months.
Note that the last severe geomagnetic storm that caused a lot of damage... cut off six million people in North America for about nine hours.
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)