Last Thursday the sun produced
an X1.9 rated solar flare that narrowly missed Earth. Although it wasn’t aimed directly
at us, about 45 minutes after leaving the sun it was still powerful enough to
disrupt radio communications.
Now, that same area responsible for producing the
X-class flare may pose a direct threat to Earth.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center says that the
region on the sun known as AR11339 and affectionately called the
“Benevolent Monster” will set its sights on Earth. It will
move into a position that poses the largest risk to our planet around
November 9th, 2011 and remain on a direct line of sight with earth for the
following two (2) weeks as it rotates:
Scientists at the federal Space Weather Prediction
Center say that area is the most active part of the sun since 2005. It has
dozens of sunspots, including one that is the size of 17 Earths.
…
“It’s still growing. The size is what
blows me away.”
Thursday’s flare wasn’t aimed at Earth.
However, this active region is now slowly turning toward Earth, and
scientists say it will be directly facing Earth in about five days.
That storm region will only affect Earth if it
shoots off flares and they hit our planet, which doesn’t always happen
with stormy areas, said prediction center space scientist Joe Kunches.
The region will be facing Earth for about two weeks
as it rotates, he
said.
Solar flares send out bursts of electromagnetic
energy that can occasionally disrupt communications and electrical systems.
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We’ll be facing the monster starting sometime
this evening into tomorrow. Considering that it has just recently ejected an
X-class flare towards Earth and another towards Venus, we should consider the
region to be active and fully capable of affecting our planet.
While NOAA’s warnings fall short of any
imminent ‘end of the world as we know it’ event, the risk over
the next two weeks of a Carrington-like event are higher now than at anytime in the last decade. The 1859 Carrington Event,
caused by a solar flare, reportedly knocked out telegraph operations around
the world. It is believed that such an event, were it to occur today, could
potentially take down the U.S. power grid for months or years and paralyze
the entire globe:
Physicist Michio Kaku:
It could paralyze the economy of the planet earth.
In 1859 we had a gigantic solar storm which knocked out telegraph wires back
then, 150 years ago. If that had happened today it would knock out almost
all our satellites, knock out power stations, there would be food riots
around the country because refrigeration would stop,
airplanes would probably crash without radar.
…
And again, this is a once in a century, once in two
centuries storm…
We do have them and we have to worry about them.
…
We’d be thrown back 100 years.
Source: Top
Physicist Says Solar Flare Would Set Us Back 100 Years
Patrick Geryl of How to Survive 2012 contacted us recently and contributed a short video
describing the potential fall out of such an event. The consequences would be
devastating and would include everything from power grid failure and food
shortages, to savage riots and, eventually, a meltdown of nuclear reactors
across the globe.
There would be very little warning, if any, with
estimates suggesting that once a solar event is detected it could take
anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of days to impact earth.
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