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Explosion on The Sun - Solar Flares the 8 Minute Journey

Solar system flares are the biggest explosions in the universe, and the most energetic. These were first discovered by Galileo in the early 17th century, and after that later on in 1859 by an English amateur astronomer by the name of Richard Christopher Carrington. Since then, they have not only been observed on the sun, nevertheless they have also been viewed on other stars also.

A solar flare is often a large explosion in the sun atmosphere that can release about 6 × 1025 joules of energy(regarding a sixth of the total energy output of the sun each second). Although tricky to predict their occurrence with any certainty, the only warning lies in the indisputable fact that most proton storms take 2 or more hours from the time of visual detection to realize earth's orbit (providing not much time to organize due to the impact).

Solar flares are generated by an activity called magnetic reconnection whereby opposite magnetic fields on the sun's surface combine resulting in a sudden release of energy. Solar flares affect all layers of the solar atmosphere (photosphere, corona, and chromosphere), causing plasma to heat to tens of millions of kelvins(a unit of measurement of temperature) and accelerating electrons, protons, and heavier ions to near the speed of light. In fact, while the fastest trip to the moon took 8 hours and 38 minutes, solar flares generally take a mere 8 minutes to get their way into the earths ionosphere an can offer damaging effects. These flares produce radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum at all wavelengths, from radio waves to gamma rays and consequently, might cause damaging effects on the earth like: Loss of power systems, radiation poisoning, rendering chip ran vehicles powerless, affecting inter-planetary travel for astronauts, in addition to mobile phones (as well as other electronics) and satellite interruptions (and also other systems operating at those frequencies).

Most flares occur in active regions around sunspots (visible brown spots on the photosphere of the sun), where intense magnetic fields penetrate the photosphere (deepest region of the sun) to link the corona (type of plasma atmosphere that extends far into space) to the solar interior. Flares are powered by the sudden release of magnetic energy stored in the corona. If the solar flare is exceptionally powerful, it can coronal mass ejections(massive burst of wind, plasma, magnetic energy is released into space).

Solar activity varies having an 11-year cycle (the solar cycle). At the peak of the cycle you can find typically more sunspots on the Sun, and thus more solar flares. NASA predicts as the sun approaches its 11 year cycle in 2012, when the sun aligns with the milky way galaxy(a meeting which only occurs approx. every 211,000 years), increase the amount of solar flares the sun experiences and maybe increased dangers to the earth (as a result of potential increased coronal mass ejections).

Although solar flares may be troublesome occasionally, they have also been connected to triggering the breathtaking northern and southern polar lights phenomenons including the aurora borealis and aurora australis.

The most notable solar storm in history happened in 1859 (called the Carrington Event named after English amateur astronomer Richard Christopher Carrington)causing telegraph wires in both the Us and Europe to spontaneously short out (lasting 8 days), causing numerous fires, and the phenomena of the Northern Lights to remain observed as far south as Rome, Havana and Hawaii. It turned out recorded that the Northern Lights were so bright, one could read the newspaper solely by reviewing the illumination. Recently, a 1994 solar storm caused major malfunctions to two communications satellites, disrupting newspaper, network television and nationwide radio service throughout Canada.

Whether the sun might be in its active or quiet period on or before 2012, scientists is only able to predict. The fact remains that solar storms occur almost daily and therefore are a lot a significant part of our existence. The National Academy of Sciences report says a huge solar event could induce ground currents which would knock out 300 key transformers within about 90 seconds. Like with any impending threats to the earth, it's usually a great idea to hold fast to the old addage,"it's safer to be safe than sorry" and be cooked by informing yourself on ways to survive a tremendous solar storm.

Reference moon.