We briefly mentioned space weather in the post Discover a Comet yet we must stress the importance of being aware of our environment surrounding our celestial neighborhood.
The pertinence of this was demonstrated recently by our nearest star, the Sun.
“HUMONGOUS ERUPTION: A truly gigantic explosion happened on the sun today. Magnetic fields snaking halfway across the sun’s southern hemisphere erupted in tandem, producing a prominence so big, it doesn’t fit inside this image from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO):” ~Space Weather [see picture]
One of the main concerns is CMEs – Coronal Mass Ejections. This happens when the sun forcefully spews material away from itself.
I first learned about the recent huge explosion from a Facebook page I just discovered. I saw this amazing image:
With the following explanation…
“Regarding the CME from the prominence eruption earlier this morning, it appears that the cloud is set to spread so much that a glancing blow is expected as seen in this picture from the latest ENLIL-WSA model. The blow appears to be expected around November 20th. No word yet as to the statistics for possible geomagnetic storms.
“Also in other solar news, a C8.4-class flare was detected from a new region coming around the northeast limb that will be labeled by NOAA later today. No other solar activity to report on.” ~Space Weather Trackers
Fortunately, the recent explosion was aimed away from the Earth.
There is a NOAA chart which explains the dangers as experienced here. Off world, it must be even worse outside the magnetic field which helps protect us.
Check out that image here:
https://www.facebook.com/spaceweathertrackers/app_158086484245654
When we get out there, Space Weather is going to be much more important to our health and well being. Very likely our lives will depend upon our keen understanding and observation of our new environment. Why not figure these things out now?
NOTES:
*Need access to the information, the internet makes it very easy now
*No age restrictions to the information sources presented
*No cost to visit the sites
Sources
*http://www.spaceweather.com/
*https://www.facebook.com/spaceweathertrackers
