On Sept. 1, 1859, a solar storm of unprecedented power struck Earth. The large burst of electromagnetic energy sent huge voltage surging through telegraph wires, the only means of long-distance communication at that time. It caused sparking and in some cases melting of the wires. Telegraph equipment throughout Europe and North America became useless, some stations even catching fire. Known as the Carrington event, this is still the most powerful solar storm that ever hit our planet in recorded history.
On March 13, 1989, a smaller but still significant solar storm struck. It overwhelmed electrical power stations in eastern Canada, leaving 6 million people without electricity. It even melted power transformers in New Jersey. This event carried a fraction of the energy of the Carrington event, but it showed how vulnerable modern technology is to such solar storms.
If a solar storm like that responsible for the Carrington event hit us today, damage to Earth’s electrical generation and distribution systems could take weeks or longer to fix. Loss of satellites would disrupt communications and financial systems. Even internet connections would be lost until all the damage could be repaired. Replacing damaged satellites of all kinds would take many years.
A more massive solar storm struck Earth 14,300 years ago. Scientists discovered it by studying tree rings which showed a huge spike in a single year. They discovered a huge spike in radioactive carbon in a single year in tree rings. This radiocarbon data corresponds to an increase in beryllium, a marker of solar activity, found in glacier ice in Greenland at the same time. The energy of this storm dwarfed that of the Carrington event.
"Extreme solar storms could have huge impacts on Earth,” said Tim Heaton, co-author of the tree-ring study. “Such super storms could permanently damage the transformers in our electricity grids, resulting in huge and widespread blackouts lasting months."
NASA uses multiple spacecraft that constantly monitor the sun looking for solar storms. They analyze these events and, in the case of a civilization-ending solar storm, they think they could give the planet about 30 minutes' notice before a potentially devastating solar storm hits.
Thirty minutes warning to the end of technology, however briefly, that everything in our lives depends on. Such an event would bring civilization to its knees.
Looking for Venus
The brightest object in the nighttime sky after the moon is the planet Venus. It’s not obvious in daylight, but is brighter than the daytime sky, especially if the sun is rather low with Venus higher up. Just such a situation occurs on Nov. 9. At 9 a.m., Venus will be more than halfway up due south. Venus will be difficult to spot in the day sky glow unless you just happen to glance right at it. But on that morning, you can find a signpost leading to Venus. A thin crescent moon sits three finger widths held at arm’s length to the left of the planet. If you can’t immediately see Venus, use a pair of binoculars to find it, but once you do see it, it’ll be rather obvious.
Planet Visibility Report
November begins with Venus high in the pre-dawn sky, the brilliant “Morning Star.” It remains there all month. Both Mars and Mercury are hidden in the sun’s glare early in the month. Mars remains lost all month, but Mercury slowly climbs into the early evening sky by the end of the month. Saturn and Jupiter remain visible all month after sunset. New moon occurs on Nov. 13, with full moon following on Nov. 27.
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2023-11-04 10:04:51Z
CBMipgFodHRwczovL3d3dy5va2xhaG9tYW4uY29tL3N0b3J5L2xpZmVzdHlsZS8yMDIzLzExLzA0L2lmLWEtc29sYXItc3Rvcm0tbGlrZS10aGF0LXJlc3BvbnNpYmxlLWZvci10aGUtY2FycmluZ3Rvbi1ldmVudC1oaXQtdXMtdG9kYXktZGFtYWdlLXRvLWVhcnRocy1lbGVjdHIvNzE0MTIyMjMwMDcv0gEA
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