Solar flares. They are for real.
In fact, it was on this date, August 16, 1989, that a solar flare from the Sun created a geomagnetic storm so big that it affected all sorts of microchips all across the land. So much so that it brought down all trading on Toronto’s stock market that day.
Most people just joke about solar flares, myself included. Any time anything electronic hits a snag, I immediately say out loud, “Solar flare!”
You may be wondering what they are. Well, solar flares are large explosions that occur on the surface of the sun. Those explosions emit intense bursts of electromagnetic radiation. And that electromagnetic radiation can cause things to go blooey down here on Earth.
There are different levels of intensity of these explosions. As such, scientists have classified the strength of the flare. The most powerful are X-class flares, followed by M-, C-, and B-class. Finally, A-class flares are the smallest. If I had been in charge, I would have named them all something different, like Holy Heck Class. And The Big Kapow.
Anyway.
The sun, that big star of ours, has a “solar cycle.” This is an approximately 11-year cycle of solar activity, which is driven by the sun’s magnetic field. But solar flares happen all the time.
It doesn’t surprise me. Our sun is huge. Check it. The sun’s mass accounts for 99.8% of the mass of the Solar System. And most of that final 0.2% comes from Jupiter. And here we are. Dinky Earth and so full of ourselves. Yet, the mass of the Earth is barely a fraction of a fraction of the total mass of the Solar System. We are barely there at all.
If you want to find out if there is a solar flare today, you can go to SpaceWeatherLive.com. There is all sorts of interesting information there. Honest to goodness. I had fun reading all the different charts and graphs.
Anyway, as I mentioned, those X-class flares are the strongest. The worst. They can reap havoc on all sorts of things down here. Fortunately, X-class flares occur on average about 10 times per year.
There is one more thing. A big bad news thing. They are called CMEs. Coronal mass ejections. They happen when a significant release of plasma occurs in the sun. It is a giant magnetic disorder along with an accompanying solar wind. CMEs are often associated with solar flares. But scientists don’t really have a clear understanding of the relationship between them.
At any rate, they can really cause problems down here on Earth. Like big problems, potentially wiping out large power grids and computer systems. So let’s hope we don’t get one of these to go along with our pandemics, gun violence, wars, and food shortages.
But the thing is, we need the sun. It is the life force of our planet. Without the sun, well, nothing here would exist in the way of life forms. As with anything, there is both good and bad with the sun.
If we get too much sun, we will be in big trouble. And not enough? We’ll be in trouble that way too.
And the next time your computer hits a blip? Blame it on the sun. It is 94 million miles away. It will never know the difference.
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“Some people seemed to get all sunshine, and some all shadow…”
― Louisa May Alcott, Little Women
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“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”
― Plato
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“If a man is to shed the light of the sun upon other men, he must first of all have it within himself.”
― Romain Rolland
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The big kablooey on the sun. And you might notice.
