Insanely powerful solar storm would have changed life as we know it

To describe the power of this event, researchers turned to the Carrington Event of September 1859.

Insanely powerful solar storm would have changed life as we know it Sun_9

Insanely powerful solar storm would have changed life as we know it Sun_9

Imagine a solar storm so intense that it led to widespread power blackouts. Without the ability to keep your food cold or charge your cell phone, how would you survive in our modern age of technology?

Two years ago, this scenario almost became a reality due to a solar superstorm unlike any seen in 150+ years, writes Dr. Tony Phillips in an article for NASA’s Science News.

“If it had hit, we would still be picking up the pieces,” Daniel Baker of the University of Colorado told Dr. Phillips.

Fortunately for us Earthlings, the coronal mass ejection affected the STEREO-A spacecraft not our humble abode, allowing scientists to study the intensity of the solar superstorm without experiencing any of its devastating effects here on Earth.

Had the CME impacted Earth a week earlier, it would have led to radio blackouts, GPS navigation problems, satellite damage and widespread power blackouts.

To describe the power of this event, researchers turned to the Carrington Event of September 1859. At the time, astronomer Richard Carrington wrote that he saw through his brass telescope “two patches of intensely bright and white light” erupting from several sunspots.

According to History.com, later that day in 1859, sparks showered from telegraph machines and colorful auroras brightened the nighttime skies around the globe.

Baker told Dr. Phillips that he thinks the solar superstorm of July 2012 was “at least as strong as the 1859 Carrington event.”

Baker and fellow researchers determined the Dst (a measure of geomagnetic activity used to assess the strength of magnetic storms) of the July 2012 storm and concluded that it would have registered a Dst of -1200 nT. The Dst for the 1859 Carrington event was likely somewhere between -800 nT to -1750 nT, according to Pete Riley of Predictive Science Inc.

http://thespacereporter.com/2014/07/insanely-powerful-solar-storm-would-have-changed-life-as-we-know-it/

Insanely powerful solar storm would have changed life as we know it

Insanely powerful solar storm would have changed life as we know it

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