"159 YEARS AGO, A GEOMAGNETIC MEGA-STORM: Picture this: A billion-ton coronal mass ejection (CME) slams into Earth's magnetic field. Campers in the Rocky Mountains wake up in the middle of the night, thinking that the glow they see is sunrise. No, it's the Northern Lights. People in Cuba read their morning paper by the red illumination of aurora borealis. Earth is peppered by particles so energetic, they alter the chemistry of polar ice.
Hard to believe? It really happened--exactly 159 years ago. This map shows where auroras were sighted in the early hours of Sept. 2, 1859:
As the day unfolded, the gathering storm electrified telegraph lines, shocking technicians and setting their telegraph papers on fire. The "Victorian Internet" was knocked offline. Magnetometers around the world recorded strong disturbances in the planetary magnetic field for more than a week.
The cause of all this was an extraordinary solar flare witnessed the day before by British astronomer Richard Carrington. His sighting on Sept. 1, 1859, marked the discovery of solar flares and foreshadowed a new field of study: space weather. According to a NASA-funded study by the National Academy of Sciences, if a similar "Carrington Event" occurred today, it could cause substantial damage to society's high-tech infrastructure and require years for complete recovery.
Could it happen again? Almost certainly. In a paper published just a few months ago, researchers from the University of Birmingham used Extreme Value Theory to estimate the average time between "Carrington-like flares." Their best answer: ~100 years. In other words, we may be overdue for a really big storm..."
Source: http://spaceweather.com/ - If Archived: 09/02/2018
So, the best part about the 'Carrington Event? It could happen again someday. Are our cities prepared? Doubtful, maybe some in in North America, maybe some in Europe, but a 'potential outburst from our Sun', isn't on the top of the worry list of our leaders... Probably right up there with an asteroid hitting us or a 350 foot lizard stomping your local neighborhood....
Hard to believe? It really happened--exactly 159 years ago. This map shows where auroras were sighted in the early hours of Sept. 2, 1859:
As the day unfolded, the gathering storm electrified telegraph lines, shocking technicians and setting their telegraph papers on fire. The "Victorian Internet" was knocked offline. Magnetometers around the world recorded strong disturbances in the planetary magnetic field for more than a week.
The cause of all this was an extraordinary solar flare witnessed the day before by British astronomer Richard Carrington. His sighting on Sept. 1, 1859, marked the discovery of solar flares and foreshadowed a new field of study: space weather. According to a NASA-funded study by the National Academy of Sciences, if a similar "Carrington Event" occurred today, it could cause substantial damage to society's high-tech infrastructure and require years for complete recovery.
Could it happen again? Almost certainly. In a paper published just a few months ago, researchers from the University of Birmingham used Extreme Value Theory to estimate the average time between "Carrington-like flares." Their best answer: ~100 years. In other words, we may be overdue for a really big storm..."
Source: http://spaceweather.com/ - If Archived: 09/02/2018
So, the best part about the 'Carrington Event? It could happen again someday. Are our cities prepared? Doubtful, maybe some in in North America, maybe some in Europe, but a 'potential outburst from our Sun', isn't on the top of the worry list of our leaders... Probably right up there with an asteroid hitting us or a 350 foot lizard stomping your local neighborhood....
In reality, we have not really ever seen a major 'outburst' from our Sun. Who knows the last time there was a massive solar outburst. Maybe our ancestors did eons ago.
There's rock all over the globe that's mysteriously melted. Some scientists, like Dr. Robert Schoch believe that the 'Younger Drias' incident, was not only an asteroid, fragmented and hitting the globe in several areas, but also a massive solar outburst unlike we've not seen (or felt) since. Or a possibly plasma catastrophe of galactic proportions that left huemahns and animals dead and rocks melted.
Some say that these ancient places on Earth where there's miles of man made caves, some with huge rolling rock doors, that sealed off the areas and kept it's inhabitants safe from radiation, plasma or crazy monsters.
There's a lot of things that could easily, like EASILY, snuff out life on this planet, some Earth borne other from the space that brought us life.... Would it be 'god's will' that does this?
Naw, it'd just be a really, really shitty day.....
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