Marshal Murat
03-26-2009, 00:49
Plasma Storm threatens to disrupt World Electricity (http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20127001.300-space-storm-alert-90-seconds-from-catastrophe.html?full=true)
It sounds ridiculous. Surely the sun couldn't create so profound a disaster on Earth. Yet an extraordinary report funded by NASA and issued by the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in January this year claims it could do just that.
Carrington Event (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrington_Event)
The solar storm of 1859, also known as the Solar Superstorm[1], or the Carrington Event[2], is the most powerful solar storm in recorded history.
From August 28 until September 2, numerous sunspots and solar flares were observed on the sun. Just before noon on September 1, the British astronomer, Richard Carrington, observed the largest flare[3], which caused a massive coronal mass ejection (CME), to travel directly toward Earth, taking eighteen hours. This is remarkable because such a journey normally takes three to four days. It moved so quickly because an earlier CME had cleared its way[4].
The Carrington Event could happen again and cause our own destruction, and proposed by the aforementioned article.
It sounds ridiculous. Surely the sun couldn't create so profound a disaster on Earth. Yet an extraordinary report funded by NASA and issued by the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in January this year claims it could do just that.
Carrington Event (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrington_Event)
The solar storm of 1859, also known as the Solar Superstorm[1], or the Carrington Event[2], is the most powerful solar storm in recorded history.
From August 28 until September 2, numerous sunspots and solar flares were observed on the sun. Just before noon on September 1, the British astronomer, Richard Carrington, observed the largest flare[3], which caused a massive coronal mass ejection (CME), to travel directly toward Earth, taking eighteen hours. This is remarkable because such a journey normally takes three to four days. It moved so quickly because an earlier CME had cleared its way[4].
The Carrington Event could happen again and cause our own destruction, and proposed by the aforementioned article.