Solar Tsunami...

Anyone who has read the news for the last couple of days knows that there was a Coronal Mass Ejection from the sun early this week, and if you know that you also know that we will get a decent chance to view the Aurora Borealis tonight. (Also last night and the night before.) Tonight will most probably be the last chance for a while unless the sun decides to fire another salvo at us. The Coronal Ejections were directed right at the Earth and took about two and half days to get here. (They obviously don't travel at the speed of light as it takes about 8 minutes for the light from the sun to reach earth.) There were two coronal events which caused the geomagnetic storm to be ejected towards earth, in reading the blogs about this we were surprised to learn that many people are frightened (some to the point of prayer) but we have to point out that these were hardly the worst solar flares in recent history. In 2003 a solar flare destroyed two satellites and cut power to about 20.000 customers in Sweden. (This flare is much weaker than that one was.) So if you are worried about getting killed by this event don't be, if you are worried about possible power outages or cell phone disruption it's possible, but not likely. There is a chance you will not see any northern lights if you venture outside and look north, but it is worth the effort to try. So for a couple hours after sunset tonight, (and before moonrise for the best chance to view) You might want to head up to someplace high and dark and look to the north. The sun is waking up after an 11 year sleep folks, and we can expect it to stretch and yawn a little. It's just possible that over the next ten years or so we may get to see some of the wildest Aurora's in our lifetimes. Oh and for those of you who are still worried, remember that the Astronauts aboard the international space station who have a shielded room in which to hide in the event of a particularly strong solar flare, have not done so as the Solar Flare is not at levels harmful to biological life. (But don't be surprised if your compass spins a bit.) Just another interesting day on planet earth. Ciao for now.