moonpup Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 Comments anyone?? Strong Solar Storm Could Disrupt Cell Phones, Pagers, Satellites. POSTED: 12:13 p.m. EDT October 23, 2003 Scientists say they are expecting a strong geomagnetic storm to hit Earth Friday -- and there could be some problems for electrical grids and satellite communications. Forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Boulder say they have watched one of the largest sunspot clusters in years develop over the last three days. They say that produced what is called a coronal mass ejection -- and that's similar to a solar flare. A coronal mass ejection is an explosion of gas and charged particles into space from the corona -- the outermost layer of the sun's atmosphere. Solar storms can damage satellites, power grids and pipelines, as well as other electrical disturbances that can affect cable TV, pager and cellular telephone service. Satellites in orbit high above the Earth's protective atmosphere are particularly susceptible to solar radiation. High-energy electrons from the storm can penetrate spacecraft, zapping the electronics and turning data bits from "0" to "1" or vice versa, causing the satellites to go into unexpected modes and maneuvers. The list of major satellites knocked out by solar storms is long and costly. A recent example is the $200 million AT&T Telstar 401 satellite that experienced a massive power failure in 1997 only days after a solar storm arrived at Earth. Among networks affected were ABC, Fox and PBS, which used the satellite to beam programming to affiliate stations. The satellite also carried pager service, which was knocked out to 45 million people. Three earlier-model satellites were also disabled in 1994 by a solar storm which triggered electrical failures in them. The administration says a similar storm could happen again sometime over the next two weeks. Additional Resources: Space.com: Sun Cam Quote Link to comment
+nincehelser Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 It's a possibility, but hopefully there is enough redundancy in the GPS system that losing a few sats won't cause a major malfunction. It's those services that rely too heavily on particular sats that are at the most risk. WAAS might be an example. They know there isn't enough redundancy there. Geroge Quote Link to comment
+Larebel Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 Jeremy!!!! What are you doing to fix this problem? When will you have it fixed? Why haven't you fixed it already? Why Why Why Larebel "When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose". - Bob Dylan Quote Link to comment
+bigdaveoh Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 Hi All, A little off topic, but might be a good weekend to watch the aurora (Northern Lights) in some of the north parts of the globe.... CUL and Safe Caching, Dave, Akron, Ohio Quote Link to comment
+nincehelser Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 quote:Originally posted by bigdaveoh:A little off topic, but might be a good weekend to watch the aurora (Northern Lights) in some of the north parts of the globe.... Stupid question here, but I've never seen the aurora because I've never been far north (or south) enough. How fast do the lights flicker around? All I've seen is what they show on TV, but I've never been clear if that is time-lapse photography or not. Thanks George Quote Link to comment
+DustyJacket Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 I only saw them once, when in Alaska in January. The ones I saw were all green, and slow moving. I believe it varies, though. DustyJacket Not all those that wander are lost. But in my case... Quote Link to comment
+Jamie Z Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 The one time I saw the aurora phenomen, it was rather slow moving. In fact, I pulled over on the side of the rode to figure out why the horizon to the north was lit up with multi-colored lights. I watched for a few minutes--the bands of color slowly flowed and rolled back and forth--before I realized what I was seeing. Very cool. This was in central, Minnesota. Jamie Quote Link to comment
+ThisWayOut Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 I'm in SE Wisconsin and have seen them a few times. Some were no more then a green glow. Others were like slow moving waves. A couple years ago, we had the most intense siting I have ever seen around here. It was right over head and mostly circular, but varied as the night went on. They also varied in color quite a bit. Unfortunately, I'm somewhat color blind and could not appreciate it as much as my companions. Very very cool. If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there. Quote Link to comment
Kerry. Posted October 24, 2003 Share Posted October 24, 2003 All these things could happen, which is why there's some dedicated earth stations and agencies that monitor these types of things. In many ways it's more a warning to be aware of these things when planning critical type missions as really if one looses lock while caching it's really not the end of the world. GPS satellites have done pretty well considering previous major CME eruptions. GPS satellites simply have a bad habit of not curling up and giving up the ghost. Some ways that's a good thing but in others it simply takes longer to get the next generation into space. Cheers, Kerry. I never get lost everybody keeps telling me where to go Quote Link to comment
Neo_Geo Posted October 24, 2003 Share Posted October 24, 2003 The following excerpt from: SpaceWeather.com Another CME was already en route when this morning's explosion occured. Pictured right, it was launched on Oct 22nd by an explosion near sunspot 484. Forecasters expect it to arrive on Oct. 24th and possibly trigger a strong geomagnetic storm. Sky watchers at middle latitudes should be alert for auroras. Quote Link to comment
+DustyJacket Posted October 30, 2003 Share Posted October 30, 2003 quote:Originally posted by DustyJacket:I only saw them once, when in Alaska in January. The ones I saw were all green, and slow moving. I believe it varies, though. DustyJacket Not all those that wander are lost. But in my case... Here is a photo I saw on the internet that shows the sights I saw. Very slow moving and fairly faint. Quote Link to comment
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