Morph
Oct 18 2006, 12:55 PM
My younger brother is a keen amature astronomer, he keeps telling me the sun has doing some unusual thing's the last couple of year's.
The Aurora Borealis is going to be a spectacular dislay in the next few days, if the solar winds do reach earth. I wish I was in Norway for the event!
Looking forward to your input, Seth.
Seth Haniel
Oct 18 2006, 01:03 PM
Solar storm took 17 hours and 40 minutes to go from the Sun to Earth (after the 1017 - also 17 long hours - coincidence ???)
That was the "perfect space storm" of 1859 where torrents of electrons rained down on earth.
Sooner or later, experts warn, the Sun will again conspire to send earthlings a truly destructive bout of space weather.
If it happens anytime soon, we won't know exactly what to expect until it's over, and by then some modern communication systems could be like beachfront houses after a hurricane.
In early September in 1859, telegraph wires suddenly shorted out in the United States and Europe, igniting widespread fires. Colourful aurora, normally visible only in polar regions, were seen as far south as Rome and Hawaii.
The event 147 years ago was three times more powerful than the strongest space storm in modern memory, one that cut power to an entire Canadian province in 1989.
A new account of the 1859 event, from research led by Bruce Tsurutani of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, details the most powerful onslaught of solar energy in recorded history.
Solar conspiracy
Space storms are created when the Sun erupts, sending charged particles racing outward, an expanding bubble of hot gas called plasma. In 1859, four crucial events conspired at one moment, Tsurutani said.
"The plasma blob that was ejected from the Sun hit the Earth," he said. That's a relatively routine event. What preceded the strike was more unusual. "The blob came at exceptionally high speeds. It took only 17 hours and 40 minutes to go from the Sun to Earth." Solar storms typically take two to four days to traverse the 93 million miles (150 million kilometres).
The magnetic fields in the blob, called a coronal mass ejection, were exceptionally intense, and the fourth, most important, ingredient was that the magnetic fields of the blob were opposite in direction from the Earth's fields.
Earth's magnetic field normally protects the surface of the planet from a continual flow of charged particles, called the solar wind, and even does a pretty good job defending against some storms. When a storm swept past Earth last Friday, it met up with magnetic field pointed in such a way that it thwarted the storm's effects. That's not always the case.
In 1859, the planet's defences were overwhelmed.
That was then …
Society back then did not notice the storm the way it would today. The telegraph was 15 years old. There were no satellite TV feeds, no automated teller machines relying on orbiting relay stations, and no power grids.
Tsurutani said scientists can't yet accurately measure or predict what the strength or direction of Earth's magnetic field will be when a storm arrives. The storms themselves can be predicted. And Tsurutani says there will eventually be another one like 1859.
"It could very well be even more intense than what transpired in 1859," he says. "As for when, we simply do not know."
Bernhard Fleck, the European Space Agency's project scientist for the Sun-watching SOHO spacecraft, says the next super space storm will be detectable, but that's only half the story.
"A monster event of the magnitude described [by Tsurutani] we would easily recognize as something extraordinary with SOHO and other solar instruments," Fleck said . But, he added, "We certainly wouldn't know its full extent until arrival."
During the 1859 flare-up, solar observers logged almost an entire minute during which the amount of sunlight doubled at the region of the flare.
"Such a strong white-light flare has never been seen since," says Paal Brekke, SOHO deputy project scientist. "So if this type of flare happened, yes we would know right away." But he adds that the orientation of Earth's magnetic field would not be known. Future space-based observatories could address this blind spot in space weather forecasting.
Extreme measures
To get an idea of the strength of the 1859 storm, you have to wade into nT's for a moment.
A space storm's impact is measured in nano-Teslas (nT), Brekke explained. The lower the figure, the more powerful the storm. A moderate storm can be around -100 nT; extreme and damaging storms have been logged at around -300 nT.
The 1989 coronal mass ejection that knocked out power to all of Quebec, Canada measured -589 nT, Brekke said. The 1859 perfect storm was estimated to have been -1,760 nT. Brekke used three exclamation points in his e-mail delivering that number.
People on the ground are generally safe even in the worst space weather. But technology could be in trouble when the next super storm hits.
"In 1859, the technology was quite low in comparison to today's technology," Tsurutani said. "However the technology that we rely on today is much more vulnerable."
A strong storm does its damage in part by inducing currents on power and communication lines, leading to potential overloads. Obviously, there are a lot more wires on Earth today, "so one might expect much worse problems if it occurred today."
The charged particles can also zap satellites, as has occurred with handful of storms in recent years -- events with far fewer charged particles than in 1859. A space storm also heats the upper level of Earth's atmosphere, causing it to expand. That's no good for satellites that can get caught up in air that didn't used to be there.
"This can lead to enhanced satellite drag and possible loss of these to the atmosphere," Tsurutani said.
So will it effect our electric minds???
Seth Haniel
Oct 18 2006, 01:41 PM
The Solar wind whispers did we hear
as lifes memory sheds a tear
From when times were still quite new
and our visions had a different view
We waited patiently for the sign
glimpsed now as if by design
With the release of unknown power
time now to to bring earth into flower
Freedom brought by the keys spoken
solve the puzzle locks now broken
Green flares signal search the soul
through gateways to the greater whole
Dreams realized the deadlines met
wheels in motion the template is set
Moving onwards from this point in time
and in full radiance your light shines
The picture unfolds from the distance past
records embedded within there to last
Temples inner sanctum full circle turned
lit the candle, review what’s been learnt
Changing faces love recognizes the truth
see through the veil to eternal youth
Feels at home for it has been there before
only knocking on the outside of the door
As lifes jigsaw now becomes complete
the pressure's off to make ends meet
As we see the picture that now unfolds
reveals the secrets that were left untold
Angel eyes smile in known recognition
companionship to help with the mission
Inner lights reflect the suns untold glory
joined together the start of a new story.
Seth Haniel
