Between Full Moon, Gas Cloud from Sun (see link below), the stock market, AG, and several other things.....(including Bill Fleckenstein's reports, and especially the one yesterday....) Guess we should batten down the hatches..... (and R~ interesting article... but I have to believe that CSCO and the others are well aware of the boulders in the road...'specially since I FINALLY bought some earlier this week...then it promptly headed south....)
At least the weather here is beautiful.....hope for all of you too, but that snows/ice storm doesn't sound good...
Take Good Care everyone~~
KLP
drudgereport.com
GAS CLOUD FROM SUN THREATENS EARTH SATELLITES Fri Feb 18 2000
18:41:11 UTC
[UK Press Association] -- A massive cloud of hot electrically charged gas spewed out
by the Sun
appears to be hurtling towards the Earth, threatening communication satellites and
power grid
systems, it was disclosed today.
The solar eruption, or Coronal Mass Ejection, was spotted by the Sun observation
spacecraft
Soho yesterday.
Billowing away from the Sun at up to 2,000 kilometres per second, the plasma cloud
weighing as
much as 10 billion tons is expected to reach the Earth some time in the next two days.
Fortunately the mass is spread out across a huge area.
When it arrives communication satellites could be knocked out of action, power grids
on Earth
overloaded and dazzling aurora displays appear in the sky across the whole of Britain.
Ahead of the CME will be a bow-wave of fast-moving charged atomic particles,
mainly electrons
and protons, that can damage sensitive equipment and pose a hazard for
space-walking
astronauts.
As the cloud envelopes the Earth it is likely to kick up a geomagnetic storm - a major
disturbance of the Earth's magnetic field.
Large geomagnetic storms have in the past knocked out communication satellites and
caused power
surges which threaten electricity supplies on Earth.
In March 1989 the whole of Quebec's hydro-electric system collapsed, cutting off six
million
people, because of a power surge overload caused by a geomagnetic storm triggered
by a solar
eruption.
Three years ago a Coronal Mass Ejection was blamed for the loss of Telstar 401, a
TV
communication satellite.
The satellite was beaming an episode of Star Trek to viewers in the US when it
suddenly stopped
working, never to recover.
Yesterday's mass ejection event accompanied one of two medium-sized solar flares -
bright
outbursts of atomic particles and X-rays - that erupted from sunspot groups near the
middle of
the Sun's face.
It was spotted by an instrument aboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory
(Soho) as an
expanding halo around the Sun.
Solar expert Dr Richard Harrison, from the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in
Didcot,
Oxfordshire, said: "The cloud can be seen expanding beyond the Sun's disc. It could
either be
coming towards us, or going away from us. But given the flare activity on the part of
the Sun
facing us, it's very, very likely that the mass ejection is heading towards the Earth.
"This thing is basically a cloud of gas carrying its own magnetic field. The Earth has a
magnetic field, and as anyone knows when you bring two magnets together you expect
to see an
effect.
"It can give the Earth's magnetic field quite a kick, even at ground level. You won't
notice
it, but it can overload electrical systems. In addition there's a shock wave of
accelerated
atomic particles which can threaten satellites.
"All you need are a few energetic particles to zap your computer and you have
problems. To be
honest there's not much satellite operators can do about it."
He said that when the CME reached the Earth one effect could be magnificent auroras.
The
Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis, which is normally only seen in extremely northerly
latitudes, may be visible the whole length of Britain.
Auroras are caused by atomic particles streaming towards the Earth's magnetic poles
and
bombarding gases in the atmosphere. They produce curtains and bands of light in the
sky,
usually green in colour, but often glowing blue or red.
"When there's a big event like this you might even be able to see an aurora down here,"
said Dr
Harrison. "It's well worth looking out for."
Solar activity follows an 11-year cycle which will peak later this year, making it likely
that
more flares and mass ejections will occur.
Both the flares seen yesterday were associated with disappearing solar filaments,
magnetic
field loops with hot gas trapped inside that appear and vanish in just a few minutes or
hours.
A disappearing solar filament is a sign that big changes are taking place in the Sun's
local
magnetic field, and is an indicator for mass ejections.
Dr Harrison said: "Unfortunately it's still very difficult to predict these events. It's not
like weather forecasting. As we become more and more dependent on satellites this is
going to
be a problem."
A Nasa mission called Stereo - for which scientists at Birmingham University have
supplied
instruments - is due to launch a pair of spacecraft in 2004 to observe the Sun from two
different angles.
This will give scientists a much better idea of in what direction a Coronal Mass Ejection
is
heading. |
