ZoomBubba Posted July 6, 2023 Share Posted July 6, 2023 Quote Stellar fireworks came in the form of two solar storms, or coronal mass ejections (CMEs), that are partly directed at Earth and were observed by NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) that orbits our star. CMEs can contain as much as a billion tons of plasma made up of charged particles and thus carry with them their own magnetic fields. NASA has projected that the massive ejection of ionized gas called plasma will impact Earth by Friday (July 7). When the charged particles within CMEs strike the magnetic field of our planet, the magnetosphere, they can give rise to large disturbances called geomagnetic storms. These storms can, in turn, disrupt power and communication infrastructure here on the surface of Earth in addition to affecting satellites, which could adversely influence services such as the global positioning system (GPS). Quote NASA has projected that the massive ejection of ionized gas called plasma will impact Earth by Friday (July 7). When the charged particles within CMEs strike the magnetic field of our planet, the magnetosphere, they can give rise to large disturbances called geomagnetic storms. These storms can, in turn, disrupt power and communication infrastructure here on the surface of Earth in addition to affecting satellites, which could adversely influence services such as the global positioning system (GPS). Not the end of the world, but if you're on a road trip, you may want to buy a road map just in case GPS frazzles for a day.https://www.space.com/sun-coronal-mass-ejection-double-punch-july-2023 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1pooh4u Posted July 6, 2023 Share Posted July 6, 2023 Was it something like this that caused the northeast black out of 2003? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katt_goddess Posted July 7, 2023 Share Posted July 7, 2023 4 hours ago, 1pooh4u said: Was it something like this that caused the northeast black out of 2003? Nope. It was a software error coupled with scorching heat that caused things to overload and resulted in a cascading failure that kept feeding itself. If a solar flare is going to cause issues, watch for Texas to blow its grid again. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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