Friday 3 July 2009

SOLAR STORM


Wikipedia yes:
The solar storm of 1859, also known as the Solar Superstorm, or the Carrington Event, is the most powerful solar storm in recorded history.

From August 28 until September 2, numerous sunspots and solar flares were observed on the sun. Just before noon on September 1, the British astronomer, Richard Carrington, observed the largest flare, which caused a massive coronal mass ejection (CME), to travel directly toward Earth, taking eighteen hours. This is remarkable because such a journey normally takes three to four days. It moved so quickly because an earlier CME had cleared its way.

During The solar storm of 1893, 2/3 of the world watched lights in the sky much like the aurorae in the polar regions, but much bigger. Much bigger.

Brilliant stealing-stuff-off-the-radio-so-you-can-actually-listen-to-it blog Speechfication has a full Radio 3 program HERE! HERE! HERE!


Question is, could it ever happen again? And when it knocks out all the power, what then?? From New Scientist magazine:
First to go - immediately for some people - is drinkable water. Anyone living in a high-rise apartment, where water has to be pumped to reach them, would be cut off straight away. For the rest, drinking water will still come through the taps for maybe half a day. With no electricity to pump water from reservoirs, there is no more after that.
Uh-oh, etc...