Lost in Space

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8.23.2005

Aurora

This arrived in my email today:

"Big sunspot 798 exploded twice yesterday, August 22nd, and hurled a pair of coronal mass ejections apparently toward Earth. Geomagnetic storms are possible when the clouds arrive. Sky watchers should be alert for auroras during the nights of August 23rd and 24th. High latitudes are favored: e.g., Canada, Alaska and northern-tier US states from Washington to Maine."

- Spaceweather.com

I only hope the evening forecast is right.

Also...

"Sunspot 798 reminds us why astronauts can never breath easy far from the safety of their habitat or spaceship: The sun can change from quiet to active in a surprisingly short time. On August 18th, sunspot 798 didn't exist. Then, in less than 24 hours, it materialized and grew into a planet-sized behemoth."

Scary.

My hope of one day leaving the planet lies soley with companies like Virgin Galactic, who will eventually construct SpaceShip Three. What will they do about space weather, I wonder?

2 Comments:

At 9:03 AM, Jessi said...: According to spaceweather.com, they came this morning. Maybe we'll see them tonight.
At 12:10 PM, Jessi said...: I guess this means that the space weatherman is just as reliable as our local weatherman.