Solar Storm
milhayser | February 15, 2013On February 15th, Asteroid 2012 DA14 came hurtling between us and our satellites, twelve times nearer than the Moon, so close that it was visible through binoculars from certain parts of the globe. Greg Laden writes, "This asteroid is not going to hit the earth now or during any of the next few decades, but eventually it may well do so." On Starts With a Bang, Ethan Siegel writes that the Sun's 11-year Solar Cycle peaks in 2013, meaning we can look forward to a year filled with solar flares. Even when these are spewed towards Earth, our magnetic field protects us from irradiation. But solar…
esiegel | January 30, 2013"Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus." -Alexander Graham Bell
Imagine a beautiful, clear day. The Sun is shining, the skies are clear, and you couldn't ask for a nicer day.
Image credit: © 2012 Free HD wallpapers.
All of a sudden, the Sun itself appears to brighten, just for a brief amount of time, like it released an extra burst of energy. That night, some 17 hours later, the most spectacular auroral display ever brightens the night in a way you never imagined.
Image credit: Jónína Óskarsdóttir.
Workers across the…
sastyk | March 8, 2012Well, I guess I timed that last piece reasonably well ;-), no? As you may have noticed, I am at present typing this on the internet, rather than carving it into a stone tablet (actually I'd probably just use a pen and a piece of paper, but stone tablet does sound more apocalyptic), so the latest solar storm wasn't a big deal. Still, it does seem like because there are so many fun things that could take out electricity for an extended period - let's call it widespread outages for months, anyway - that it does seem to be worth talking about. So let's talk.
What do you imagine such an outage…