solar Archives
canada goose outlet authentic Isn’t modern society great? With all this technology surrounding us in all directions. It’s like a cocoon of sweet, fluffy silicon. There are chips in canada goose store my fitness tracker, my bluetooth canada goose coats on sale headset, mobile phone, car keys and that’s just on my body. canada goose outlet authentic
At all times in the Cain household, there dozens of internet devices connected to my wifi router. I’m not sure how we got cheap canada goose uk to the point, but there’s one thing I know for sure, more is better. If I could use two smartphones at the same time, I totally would.
And I’m sure you agree, that without all this technology, life would be a pale shadow of its current glory. Without these devices, we’d have to actually interact with each Canada Goose Jackets other. Maybe enjoy the beauty of nature, or something boring like that.
It turns out, that terrible burning orb in the sky, the Sun, is fully willing and capable of bricking our precious technology. It’s done so in the past, and it’s likely to take a swipe at us in the future.
I’m talking about solar storms, of course, tremendous blasts of particles and canada goose radiation from the Sun which can Canada Goose Coats On Sale interact with the Earth’s magnetosphere and overwhelm anything with a wire.
Credit: NASA
In fact, we got a sneak preview of this back in 1859, when a massive solar storm engulfed the Earth and ruined our old timey technology. It was known as the Carrington Event.
Follow your imagination back to Thursday, September 1st, 1859. This was squarely in the middle of the Victorian age.
And not the awesome, fictional Steampunk Victorian age where spectacled gentleman and ladies of adventure plied the skies in their steam powered brass dirigibles.
No, it was the regular crappy Victorian age of cholera and child labor. Technology was making huge leaps and bounds, however, and the first telegraph lines and electrical grids were getting laid down.
Imagine a really primitive version of today’s electrical grid and internet.
On that fateful morning, the British astronomer Richard Carrington turned his solar telescope to the Sun, and was amazed at the huge sunspot complex staring back at him. So impressed that he drew this picture of it.
Richard Carrington sketch of the sunspots seen just before the 1859 Carrington event.
canada goose outlet chicago While he was observing the sunspot, Carrington noticed it flash brightly, right in his telescope, becoming a large kidney shaped bright white flare. canada goose outlet chicago
canada goose outlet store canada goose outlet Carrington realized he was seeing unprecedented activity Canada Goose sale on the surface of the Sun. Within a minute, the activity died buy canada goose jacket down and faded away. canada goose outlet store
And then about 5 minutes later. Aurora activity erupted across the entire planet. We’re not talking about those rare Northern Lights enjoyed by the Alaskans, Canadians and Northern Europeans in the audience. We’re talking about everyone, everywhere on Earth. Even in the tropics.
In fact, the brilliant auroras were so bright you could Canada Goose Outlet read a book to them.
The beautiful night time auroras was just one effect from the monster solar flare. The other canada goose clearance impact was that telegraph lines and electrical grids were overwhelmed by the electricity pushed through their wires. Operators got electrical shocks from their telegraph machines, and the telegraph paper lit on fire.
canada goose outlet las vegas What happened? The most powerful solar flare ever observed is what happened. canada goose outlet las vegas
In this image, the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) captured an X1.2 class solar flare, peaking on May 15, 2013. Credit: NASA/SDO
A solar flare occurs because the Sun’s magnetic field lines can get tangled up in the solar atmosphere. In a moment, the magnetic fields reorganize themselves, and a huge wave of particles and radiation is released.
cheap canada goose for sale Flares happen in three stages. First, you get the precursor stage, with a blast of soft X ray radiation. This is followed canada goose clearance sale by the impulsive stage, where protons and electrons are accelerated off the surface of the Sun. And finally, the decay stage, with another burp of X rays as the flare dies down. cheap canada goose for sale
These stages can happen in just a few seconds or drag out over an hour.
canada goose outlet houston Remember those particles hurled off cheap Canada Goose into space? They take several hours or a few days to reach Earth and interact with our planet’s protective magnetosphere, and then we get to see beautiful auroras in the sky. canada goose outlet houston
This geomagnetic storm https://www.bamschaatsteam.nl causes the Earth’s magnetosphere to jiggle around, which drives charges through wires back and forth, burning out circuits, killing satellites, overloading electrical grids.
amazon uk canada goose Back in 1859, this wasn’t a huge deal, when our quaint technology hadn’t progressed beyond the occasional telegraph tower amazon uk canada goose.