George Rebane
Our sun is going through a gastric upset and belching some pretty big stuff in our direction. The belches are actually Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) of high densities of charged particles that are many times stronger than the normal solar wind which the sun constantly blows outward. Most of the solar wind is deflected by earth’s magnetic field, so that only a little of it gets through now and then to impact our electro-magnetic communications.
But currently sunspot region 1093 (yes, they number these puppies so they can track them) is belching and coming around in our direction. On 7 August it belched a huge mass that is hurtling past earth today (like right now) with only a minor impact on our goings on. But as the sun rotates, ol’ 1093 is getting better aligned with us in the next couple of days, and probably getting ready to let go with another big one that could be headed straight for us.
Spaceweather.com reports that a “major solar storm could cause 20 times more economic damage than Hurricane Katrina, warned the National Academy of Sciences in a 2008 report, ‘Severe Space Weather Events—Societal and Economic Impacts’. Smart power grids, GPS navigation, air travel, financial services, and emergency radio communications can all be knocked out by intense solar activity.”
Here on earth we sometimes pump ourselves up a bit too much as we take credit for causing big changes in how this magnificent system operates. When we consider major volcanic eruptions, high energy cosmic rays, the sun’s activity, etc – what really impacts our environment – compared to our relatively minor wiggles on this planet, we should be humbled.
rebanesruminations.com 
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