Major Solar storm headed for Earth
Pastor Dale Morgan
Major Solar storm headed for Earth*
POSTED: 2152 GMT (0552 HKT), December 13, 2006
By Robert Roy Britt
(SPACE.com) -- Space weather forecasters revised their predictions for
storminess after a major flare erupted on the sun overnight threatening
damage to communication systems and power grids while offering up the
wonder of Northern Lights.
"We're looking for very strong, severe geomagnetic storming" to begin
probably around mid-day Thursday, Joe Kunches, Lead Forecaster at the
NOAA Space Environment Center, told SPACE.com this afternoon.
The storm is expected to generate aurora or Northern Lights, as far
south as the northern United States Thursday night. Astronauts aboard
the international space station are not expected to be put at additional
risk, Kunches said.
Radio communications, satellites and power grids could face potential
interruptions or damage, however.
Solar flares send radiation to Earth within minutes. Some are also
accompanied by coronal mass ejections (CME), clouds of charged particles
that arrive in a day or two. This flare unleashed a strong CME that's
aimed squarely at Earth.
"It's got all the rights stuff," Kunches said.
However, one crucial component to the storm is unknown: its magnetic
orientation. If it lines up a certain way with Earth's magnetic field,
then the storm essentially pours into our upper atmosphere. If the
alignment is otherwise, the storm can pass by the planet with fewer
consequences.
Kunches and his team are advising satellite operators and power grid
managers to keep an eye on their systems. In the past, CMEs have knocked
out satellites and tripped terrestrial power grids.
Engineers have learned to limit switching at electricity transfer
stations, and satellite operators sometimes reduce operations or make
back-up plans in case a craft is damaged.
Another aspect of a CME involves protons that get pushed along by the
shock wave. Sometimes these protons break through Earth's protective
magnetic field and flood the outer reaches of the atmosphere -- where
the space station orbits -- with radiation.
The science of it all is a gray area, Kunches said. But the best guess
now is that there will only be a slight increase in proton activity.
That's good news for the astronauts.
"When the shock goes by, we don't expect significant radiation issues,"
he said.
The astronauts were ordered to a protective area of the space station as
a precaution last night.
Now that sunspot number 930 has flared so significantly -- after several
days of being quiet -- the forecast calls for a "reasonable chance" of
more major flares in coming days, Kunches said.