- Attachments : Solar Flare
- We had a unique opportunity to measure the intensity of this solar storm. We have a spacecraft en-route to Mars. It carries the Mars rover named “ Curiosity”. Its instrumentation was turned on to measure the radiation environment of inter planetary space. Curiosity does not arrive on Mars until August 6th. A few hours of data has already been downloaded en-route. The “ Corona Mass Ejection”, CME, was clearly evident in the data.
- Results indicate that the January 24 solar storm was the largest radiation storm to hit the Earth since Halloween, October, 2003.
- The Earth’s magnetic field received several days of intense “geomagnetic activity”. The Sun is increasing its intensity of solar storms at this time in its cycle. The predicted maximum intensity does not occur until 2013. We can expect more intense solar storms in the coming months. We can see this increased solar activity as Sunspots. Sunspots are the visible sign of the inner turmoil going on inside the Sun.
- On Sunday, January 22, a cluster of Sunspots (AR1402) blasted a bubble of energized plasma directly towards Earth. The plasma is mostly high-energy positively charged protons. These protons are the nuclei of the element hydrogen. The electrons normally attached to the hydrogen have been blown away leaving the nuclei with a positive charge.
- Impacting plasma clouds do not always create the auroras at high latitudes, called the “Northern Lights”. The blast has to hit the Earth’s magnetosphere in just the right conditions to generate auroras.
- The high velocity charged stream of particles generates its own magnetic field. When this field collides with Earth’s magnetic field, field lines are snapped and reconnected. This activity can inject high energy particles into high latitude regions as the particles enter the Earth’s atmosphere heading for the north magnetic pole. Charged particles collide with atmospheric gases on their way down generating a florescence we call the “Northern Lights”.
- Much of the magnetic storms impact is not visible. The changing magnetic field can induce destructive electric currents in the long power transmission line causing blackouts. The currents can be created in long metal pipes causing electrolysis and corrosion in the pipes. The magnetic fields can disrupt radio communications. Several airlines had to re-route polar flights for 2 days because of radio blackouts. Satellites had to be put on standby mode to avoid electrical damage.
- The space weathermen made a 13-minute error in predicting the time of impact of the solar storm. They are pouring over all the data collected in attempt to learn as much as possible about the effects of the storms on Earth. These storms would be especially dangerous to interplanetary space travelers.
- SOHO, SDO, ACE, and GOES are acronyms for ground and space-based solar observatories. Google them to learn more about their continued evaluations of Solar Activity. An announcement will be made shortly, stay tuned.
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(1) Other reviews available on this topic:
#850 - How much energy is in a solar flare?
#1385 - Solar storm hits the Earth?
#1156 - When will the next solar flare hit Earth?
#1262 - Are solar flares ever dangerous?
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707-536-3272, Wednesday, February 1, 2012
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