[Matnix]

On August 21, 2013 at 1:24 am EDT, the sun erupted with an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection, or CME, a solar phenomenon that can send billions of tons of particles into space and reach Earth one to three days later. These particles cannot travel through the atmosphere to harm humans on Earth, but they can affect electronic systems in satellites and on the ground.

Earth-directed CMEs can cause a space weather phenomenon called a geomagnetic storm, which occurs when they funnel energy into Earth's magnetic envelope, the magnetosphere, for an extended period of time. The CME’s magnetic fields peel back the outermost layers of Earth's fields changing their very shape. In the past, geomagnetic storms caused by CMEs of this strength have usually been mild. Magnetic storms can degrade communication signals, cause unexpected electrical surges in power grids, and produce aurora at higher latitudes.

* source : NASA

[toXioneer]

Eh wish I could be somewhere to see Auroras / Northern lights...

[HyDrAtIc]

Not a science lover.

[XProtocol]

Busy in studies got no time to search these kind of things. If it would affect our satellites then our network, Tv, Internet everything would be effected. So have NASA taken any action or just hoping everything goes good?

[Danny]

Quote:

Originally Posted by XProtocol Busy in studies got no time to search these kind of things. If it would affect our satellites then our network, Tv, Internet everything would be effected. So have NASA taken any action or just hoping everything goes good?

How would you take action against something like this? They have no proper radiation shield covering all Earth's corners. All we can do is sit and wait, which is somewhat funny considering the human race's wish to controll everything. Anyway, according to NASA there's only a small chance this flare will affect our systems. They state that 'in the past, geomagnetic storms caused by CMEs of this strength have usually been mild'. I'm not too worried about this.

(full article: http://www.nbcnews.com/science/sun-f...mph-6C10963172)

EDIT: Damn, the piece I cited was already in the mainthread

[DirtyLilFreak]

Interesting piece of information.