"Stephen M.H. Lawrence" wrote:
No WONDER conx were so poor, for so long!
While that flare itself was massive, it, in and of itself had no bearing on
conditions being poor over a long period of time.
Source:
http://www.thisislondon.com/til/jsp/...itemId=9676470
A wave of massive explosions which erupted from the sun's surface was
so powerful it came close to shutting down power grids and radio and
mobile phone networks across the world.
The solar flare last November was more than twice as big as the
previous recorded explosion - and so violent that satellite detectors
were unable to record its true scale because they were blinded by its
radiation.
It generated a massive stream of electrically charged particles and
gas which rocketed across space at two million miles per hour, with
the ability to cause unprecedented disruption to radio transmissions
and navigation systems on earth.
Until now the size of the flare and the seismic waves which followed
it was unknown, but scientists have discovered it dwarfed the previous
biggest flare in August 1989, which plunged six million people in
Quebec into an electrical blackout.
A team of scientists at New Zealand's University of Otago have said
that it almost wreaked unimaginable destruction.
Their calculations showed the flare's X-ray radiation striking the
atmosphere was equivalent to that of 5,000 suns, although they said
none of it reached the earth's surface.
The flare was not on a direct course and harmful radiation was
absorbed by the magnetosphere, a protective layer around the earth.
The flare came during a spell of extraordinary solar activity, when
the sun produced a series of vast explosions.
As gas from the core of the sun was heated to millions of degrees,
radiation and billions of tonnes of charged particles were pumped into
space.
An accompanying aurora was seen over the skies of southern England. At
the time one scientist described the power of the flare as being
greater than "every nuclear warhead being detonated at once".
73,
Steve Lawrence
Burnsville, MN