October 24, 2003
Coronal Mass Ejection Headed Our Way
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Earth put on solar storm alert:
Imminent disruption is predicted for satellites, power systems and even mobile phones because of a solar storm.
It comes from one of the largest groups of sunspots seen for years. On Thursday superhot gas erupted above them.
The event, called a Coronal Mass Ejection, sent 10 billion tonnes of superhot gas speeding towards Earth.
As well as communication blackouts, aurorae - polar lights - may be seen from mid-latitudes as the gas arrives.
“10 billion tonnes of Superhot gas”? Speeding our way? I left the car in the sun yesterday, and when I got into it in the late afternoon, the thermometer said 111 degrees Fahrenheit (ie 43.8 Celsius). Isn’t that hot enough already?
Posted by Michael : October 24, 2003 09:11 AM | Etc | TechnoLinks
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Putting a thermometer in a car to tell you the internal temperatures is a *bad* idea...
Posted by: Brad DeLong at October 25, 2003 12:56 PMComes standard in the Volvo--built in to the digital dashboard display... Besides it is very useful for inter-spousal conversations along the lines of 'you forgot to put up the sunshade and when I got in the car it was...'
Although the scary thing about the 111 degrees is that it was WITH the sunshade up (but the windows were tightly closed; opening them caused a huge drop in the temperature).
Posted by: Michael at October 25, 2003 01:00 PM