Solar Flares

• Eject energetic particles

  • travel with solar wind and arrive 2-3 days later
    • produce beautiful Aurorae on Earth
      • colors from emission lines of excited atoms
        • mostly N and O lines
      • Present danger to Earth and spacecraft
        • Solar flare of January ‘97 knocked out a $400 million communications satellite
        • March ‘89 flare knocked out all electrical power in Quebec
          • power outages in Ontario, B.C., Sweden, Penn., NJ and NY
        • radio communications disrupted (ionosphere)
          • California Highway Patrol messages heard loudly in Minnesota
          • garage doors in California suburb opened and closed spontaneously

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