Solar Storm sounds like something out of a Science fiction movie
This weekend, a solar storm was expected to hit Earth and did, with a coronal mass ejection released by the Sun on Thursday. The ejection was projected to arrive on Saturday afternoon and perhaps continue to have effects until today. This report was announced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center.
What effect does solar storm have on us?
As soon as the solar storm arrived to the planet, one of the first noticeable things about its presence was the Northern Lights being seen further south in the globe than usual. A news report on the possibility of seeing the Northern Lights can be seen here. But supposedly, if the skies were clear for you yesterday evening, you had a chance to see some of the lights in addition to the upcoming event on Tuesday night: Venus and Jupiter’s planetary conjunction. It sure is a busy week in cool space phenomena.
Solar storm messing with my internet gear!
If the solar storm were massive enough, it could mess up some electricity supplies and take out some transformers, as evidenced by the Quebec blackout in March 1989 from a massive solar storm. To help prepare for the storms, grids are strengthened to take the anomalies caused by the storms which can make weird things happen in the network. So don’t be surprised if your electric went a little wonky. The weaker storm that hit earlier in the week may have messed with the frequency.
A little collaboration doesn’t hurt
Efforts are made between local electricity companies and the Space Weather Prediction Center to prep for solar storms and be given warning and estimation of the arrival of the storms by the latter. However, another Quebec blackout is unlikely, which is fortunate- replacing the number of transformers destroyed that day wouldn’t be a quick and easy job.
So, people who weren’t be able to afford to go near the Arctic Circle to see the Northern Lights got their chance to see it in the Southern States yesterday. Time will tell what other space events will happen this week.
