2012 Sun storm to hit with 'force of 100m bombs'

[matt4pack]

The article is just as ignorant as some of you posters. First and foremost, the article fails to mention the fact that earth is protected with a magnetic force field or "shield" that repels all of these sun flares. The magnetic field is weakest at the north and south poles.

The picture above is what a solar flare looks like when it hits the poles. The solar flares make its way through the magnetic shield at these weak points, and that's why the beautiful image above appears to have a "greenish" sky. The only way a massive solar flare could affect our planet and potentially knock out electrical devices is if this shield fails. The shield is generated at the center of the earth. Unless earth stops rotating around its core, this is impossible. Another way for a flare to hit earth, is if the magnetic field surrounding earth flips (this has happened before, hundreds of thousands of years ago - there is no explanation of why this happens, but NASA has confirmed that it appears to be part of a cycle, and is guaranteed to happen again; they just don't know when). This means earth's strongest magnetic pull will be at the south, at which point compasses will no longer point to the north - but to the south instead. The transition "flip" of our magnetic field may last up to a few days, in which case earth will no longer be protected from these sun flares. If there was a solar flare headed for earth during this transition period, all electrical devices will be toast. Guaranteed.

Maybe you should do some more research.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_1989_geomagnetic_storm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859

[Xeon]

Maybe you should do some more research.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_1989_geomagnetic_storm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859

lol.

[Jose_49]

Will it be hot in the UK? I can't wait for a sunny christmas!

Then come to the Caribbean where always is sunny and Winter is as hot as Summer, in some cases hotter.

[Quattrone]

Can't believe we are going to die in two more years.... I will make sure that at least I have the opportunity to play with the iPad before I die.

[Magoo]

if the worlds going to end by sun flairs i getting my 1000 SPF sunblock, pint of Guinness, a hot girl, some Bratwurst, an ak, and a lawn chair

[mokthraka]

Xeon, a few weeks ago in Oregon we saw a aurora borealis because a rather weak solar flare. If it was as the one NASA predicts it would **** **** up.

Also this is NASA we are talking about. Not 2012 crazys

[ScottKin]

lol.

And you find this amusing?

Geostationary / Geosynchronous Satellites sit at around 26,000 mile orbits. If such a Solar storm or sufficiently-large CME (Coronal Mass Ejection - where parts of the Sun's Corona are actually blasted away into space) events do happen, the Earth's magnetic field will be extremely distorted, possibly damaging many of these satellites. GPS Satellites orbit at much lower distances, but if the output from any of these events *is* sufficiently large it most definitely will cause trouble with those satellites as well.

As far as problems on the ground, the two aformentioned articles in Wikipedia are proof enough that this is something that should not be taken lightly.

--ScottKin

[micro]

if the worlds going to end by sun flairs i getting my 1000 SPF sunblock, pint of Guinness, a hot girl, some Bratwurst, an ak, and a lawn chair

Thats quite a list.

[Magoo]

Thats quite a list.

its got to be a good list if the world is ending

[Hum]

It's just a prediction. Lots of things are predicted that never happen and many certainly never happen on schedule. It will probably happen one day but much like the Big One we've been waiting for in California, no one knows when that day may come.

The 'big one' hits in 2050. ;) Hum has warned you.

[dead.cell]

Can't believe we are going to die in two more years.... I will make sure that at least I have the opportunity to play with the iPad before I die.

Not to sound offensive or anything, but this comment makes me really really sad inside to think that someone could possibly consider that to be of any significance in their life. :no:

[+Xinok Subscriber²]

Not to sound offensive or anything, but this comment makes me really really sad inside to think that someone could possibly consider that to be of any significance in their life. :no:

Seems you missed the joke. In case you didn't notice, nobody here really thinks we're all going to die in two years. Besides, nobody will notice when a solar flare knocks out AT&Ts network, it's not like they'd get a signal anyways.

[Mike Frett]

Because humans are ignorant.

That pretty much says it all.

[Travesty]

[mokthraka]

AT&T gets a fine signal only time I don't have one is in when I'm out in the forest. And my friends on sprint or verizon don't have one either.

Seems you missed the joke. In case you didn't notice, nobody here really thinks we're all going to die in two years. Besides, nobody will notice when a solar flare knocks out AT&Ts network, it's not like they'd get a signal anyways.

[Nihilus]

the blast will have the equivalent energy of 100 million hydrogen bombs.

Just nit picking here, but your title says the sun storm will hit with the force of 100m bombs. It won't, and they didn't say that :)

Just a small point, but it makes the difference between wiping out all life on Earth and creating only minor damage to our electronic infrastructure. (Ok, minor if we prepare and get our solar flare warning times improved. Pretty major damage otherwise...)

Here's food for thought...how do you propose they even TRY to stop it? This is the Sun we are talking about. Humans do not have the capability to fathom the amount of power contained within that fiery sphere.

Human understanding comes from comparison. NOTHING in the history of the world even begins to approach what the Sun is capable of. There is absolutely nothing we can do to stop this from happening, so there is absolutely no reason to worry about it. You can worry about what would happen AFTER, but the event itself will be just another day.

I don't think anyone is planning on stopping it. There's a difference between trying to change the inner workings of the sun, and putting in place systems allowing us to quickly shut down/shield satellites when we see a flare coming.

As for not being able to fathom the amount of power contained within the sun...

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/sunfact.html

Mean energy production (10^-3 J/kg) 0.1937

Also, the astronomers are paid to come up with the worst case scenario because the people in charge always ask for the worst case scenario. The reason the media reports it is because it gets traffic to their site/viewers to their channel/listeners to their station. I'm fairly sure there is a totally plausible worst case scenario for the Sun blowing up tomorrow...but the chances of it happening are so remote it would never happen in the span of the Earth's existence.

ALWAYS read sensationalist stories like this with an air of cynicism, and if it happens to be about a natural phenomenon that we have no power to even attempt to stop...you may as well ignore the story.

Well, it's not a worst case scenario... It's a well known fact that the sun goes through sunspot cycles and that these will result in periods of increased solar flare activity. I think putting in place protective countermeasures against any large solar flare emissions that might happen in this period is just prudent planning.

[BigKush]

They believe it could never happen to them, not in this day and age.

They are comparing an event that happens on a cycle, with something that we created.

This is something completely different entirely, but they will treat it as such right until the very last second. Because humans are ignorant.

Just to add to that...

It's an unfathomably gigantuous ball of f*cking fire. How is anyone going to dismiss the potential for catastrophe with a straight face..

[greencolor]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomagnetic_storm

Im kinda surprised people are taking this lightly.

You do know that if this happens you will not be able to use your PC or your internet connection for a while right?

For us, humans, its not serious. For electronics, yes.

[dead.cell]

Seems you missed the joke. In case you didn't notice, nobody here really thinks we're all going to die in two years. Besides, nobody will notice when a solar flare knocks out AT&Ts network, it's not like they'd get a signal anyways.

lol! Yes, I did realize that, but the joke itself wasn't funny as much as it was sad. Still feel the same on it. :p

[Southern Patriot]

As for not being able to fathom the amount of power contained within the sun...

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/sunfact.html

Mean energy production (10^-3 J/kg) 0.1937

Being able to calculate something, and being able to fathom it are two very different things.

We can (roughly) calculate the size of the universe, but I really doubt anyone can truely fathom it.

[shakey]

Being able to calculate something, and being able to fathom it are two very different things.

So true. I can see a number in my head, but I can not see the entirety of the sun, even if i imagined it, correctly, to the size and power of other things. It is something we can only begin to understand, but something that we still have a very hard time perceiving correctly. We know the sun is huge, but only when you are shown a size scale graph can you really get a glimpse of it, and there is so much more to it than we can see lol.

[Lexcyn]

I remember reading about this a while ago. It is true what they say to a certain extent, basically if they don't upgrade the power grids to handle this, if it fries the transformers we could be back in the stone age for a while. It would take time to manually fabricate new one's to get everything up and running again.

I also remember them saying the power companies could avert this if they upgraded certain portions of electronics in the grid, but they didn't want to because they said it was a risk they are willing to take.

In all honesty I would rather them spend some money just in case, rather than have no power for like 1 year.

This is a good read:

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/mystery_monday_031027.html

[tiagosilva29]

Uh, I think you got your years mixed up....2010 - 50 != 1940s

That's what they want you to think.

[Gutierrez]

But linkin park said A Thousand Suns :p :blink:

cant wait for their album

[Nihilus]

Being able to calculate something, and being able to fathom it are two very different things.

We can (roughly) calculate the size of the universe, but I really doubt anyone can truely fathom it.

But... we don't need to picture it in our heads... that's why we invented maths, so we could calculate it...

Picturing the immensity of the sun in your head isn't going to help predict sun spot cycles, nor provide you with an accurate model of it's inner workings. Mathematics is better than imagination.