SHOULD WE WORRY ABOUT SOLAR STORMS?

Most of you are probably not aware that the biggest solar flare or CME (Coronal Mass Ejection) of solar particles since a least 2000 left the sun Tuesday night and is en route to Earthy as we speak.

The peak of this solar storm will be around 7AM ET Thursday 08 March 2012. Nothing to wish for.

What could happen? Massive loss of communications satellites, terrestrial cell phone service and electrical power outages. This isn't unprecedented. Look up the "Super Storm of 1859 when a similar CME event knocked out American telegraph service nationwide.

Geologic studies have found multiple past solar storms have hit the Earth before humans roamed it in the geologic record. It was not a good outcome for the life that existed then.

I'm not saying this event is a civilization-killer, but one must keep in mind that an X5 solar flare is nothing to cheer or look forward to, unless you are an astronomy nerd. :).

Also, satellite owners will literally put their birds into protection mode, turning their backs on the on-coming solar wind. Some services may shut down while the storm passes, others close shields over vulnerable electronics. There is no 100% protection for anything manmade in space. Also, the ISS astronauts will have to go into their radiation-proof safe room on the space station. The Earth's magnetic field should shield us from the radiation here on the Earth's surface.

What can you do about it? Nothing. Perhaps if you have very valuable shortwave or other electronic gear you might want to unplug all electrical, cable/sat TV, telephone landline cables and DSL/Internet cables connecting to the outside world to prevent damage.

On a positive note, if you live in the northern Hemisphere tonight, look up. You may have your only chance to see an Aurora (Northern Lights) in the mid-western/upper mid-western USA. Canada and Alaska? Definitely.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SCI_SOLAR_STORM?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-03-07-13-10-48

You can keep closer tabs on the latest solar news at www.spaceweather.com

This web site is also a great place for solar watchers ... http://www.space.com/14818-solar-flare-magnetic-storm-satellites.html

From Wikipedia about past big solar storms:

"The most powerful flare ever observed was the first one to be observed, on September 1, 1859, and was reported by British astronomer Richard Carrington and independently by an observer named Richard Hodgson. The event is named the Solar storm of 1859, or the "Carrington event". The flare was visible to a naked-eye (in white light), and produced stunning auroras down to tropical latitudes such as Cuba or Hawaii, and set telegraph systems on fire.[11] The flare left a trace in Greenland ice in the form of nitrates and beryllium-10, which allow its strength to be measured today (New Scientist, 2005). Cliver & Salvgaard (2004) reconstructed the effects of this flare and compared with other events of the last 150 years. In their words: While the 1859 event has close rivals or superiors in each of the above categories of space weather activity, it is the only documented event of the last ∼150 years that appears at or near the top of all of the lists."

"In modern times, the largest solar flare measured with instruments occurred on November 4, 2003. This event saturated the GOES detectors, and because of this its classification is only approximate. Initially, extrapolating the GOES curve, it was pegged at X28.[12] Later analysis of the ionospheric effects suggested increasing this estimate to X45.[13] This event produced the first clear evidence of a new spectral component above 100 GHz.[14] Other large solar flares also occurred on April 2, 2001 (X20),[15] October 28, 2003 (X17.2 & X10),[16] September 7, 2005 (X17),[17] February 17, 2011 (X2).[18][19][20] and August 10, 2011 (X6.9).[21] In 1989, during solar cycle 22 two large flares occurred on March 6 (X15) (see: March 1989 geomagnetic storm) and August 16 (X20) causing disruptions in electric grids and computer systems.[22]"

See more about this at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859

See and particIpate in the on-going discussion of this solar storm here on my Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/VCGTV/posts/383105948384231?notif_t=share_comment