Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Sun Hurls Strong Geomagnetic Storm Toward Earth

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The strongest geomagnetic storm in more than six years was forecast to hit Earth's magnetic field on Tuesday, and it could affect airline routes, power grids and satellites, the U.S. Space Weather Prediction Center said.

A coronal mass ejection - a big chunk of the Sun's atmosphere - was hurled toward Earth on Sunday, driving energized solar particles at about 5 million miles an hour (2,000 km per second), about five times faster than solar particles normally travel, the center's Terry Onsager said.

"When it hits us, it's like a big battering ram that pushes into Earth's magnetic field," Onsager said from Boulder, Colorado. "That energy causes Earth's magnetic field to fluctuate."

This energy can interfere with high frequency radio communications used by airlines to navigate close to the North Pole in flights between North America, Europe and Asia, so some routes may need to be shifted, Onsager said.

It could also affect power grids and satellite operations, the center said in a statement. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station may be advised to shield themselves in specific parts of the spacecraft to avoid a heightened dose of solar radiation, Onsager said.

The space weather center said the geomagnetic storm's intensity would probably be moderate or strong, levels two and three on a five-level scale, five being the most extreme.
(Reporting By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

This shouldn't have much effect on the Eastern Shore; lots of people think we wear tin foil hats all the time.

Your friend,
Slim

jmmb said...

Your 'tin foil hat' expression is old. Trash it, Slim. People don't think that about the Eastern Shore people.

I have quite a few readers that are interested in space and all of them are quite concious and realise the odds of anything happening here.

Anonymous said...

Can we all just get along.

jmmb said...

I didn't know we weren't.

Slim has been reading here a long time - he's my best critic... and sometimes the friendliest person I hear from all day long. He should know that "tin foil hats" strikes a nerve with me...

And he should know by now if I'm mad at him I will tell him so.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, I was not aware that tin foil hats struck a nerve with you. I have been accused of wearing them more than once at one time knew lots of jokes and other anecdotes about them.

Your friend,
Slim