Thursday, November 5, 2009

Solar Flare Effects

Solar flares occur when magnetic energy built up in the solar photosphere is suddenly released. Radiation across the entire electromagnetic spectrum is released; the energy released can equal that of a million 100 megaton hydrogen bombs exploding at the same time.

EM Spectrum Properties. Via Wikipedia. Click image to enlarge.

The first flare recorded occurred in 1859. A solar flare in 1989 blacked out all of Quebec, Canada. Solar flares in 1998 knocked out the Galaxy 4 satellite, causing eighty percent of the pagers in North America to fall silent. -- Space.com

Related: Is Earth's magnetic field going to reverse?

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