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Solar Plasma May Hit Earth
Aired October 29, 2003 - 13:27 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well it's an inviable threat from out space. No, it's not science fiction. Experts actually say that Earth could be on the receiving end of a solar temper tantrum. One of the largest flares ever recorded erupted from the sun yesterday. Its effects could be felt here on Earth today. CNN's technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg here to explain. Already here?
DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: All ready here, Kyra. It started hitting the earth's magnetic field at about 1:00 a.m. Eastern time today.
Now the intensity of it will be fluctuating over the next several hours, over the next couple of days. Observers will be keeping their eye on it.
Let's talk about how it formed and why it will be impacting communications. The solar flare, when it was created, is what ranked on the Richter scale of solar flares as an X-17. That's considered to be the third largest in history.
Now, once this flare erupted off the sun -- and the sun is made up of many different gases, primarily helium and hydrogen. It created what is called a cornial (ph) mass ejection, sent all these glasses from plasma, x-ray, ultraviolet and radiation, hurtling towards the Earth at millions of miles per hour.
Once this mass of gas, essentially, hit the Earth, it impacted with the magnetic field that surrounds the Earth and creates this magnetic storm. It will also hit satellites and other communication systems that are around The earth. And that's where it will potentially hurt the communications systems. In fact, it could hurt the communication systems that are being used in California to help fight the fires.
PHILLIPS: What about the risks to you, to me? Is that a little far-fetched?
SIEBERG: Well, not necessarily. It's not going to hurt humans. The good news is we're protected. That's what this magnetic field is doing. In terms of whether it's going to impact your daily life, potential for cell phone service to be interrupted is there. The potential for electrogrids to be affected as well. We're keeping an eye on it to see whether these things have happened.
In the past, that has happened. The one thing we should point out, you know, most -- just about everybody is on Earth but there are a few people who are in space, the astronauts... PHILLIPS: Let's not forget them.
SIEBERG: They are taking precautions. The astronauts on board the International Space Station have gone into the Russian module where they can be protected. It's more of a caution. But it's definitely something they're taking seriously.
PHILLIPS: With regard to GPS technology things like this, could it affect the firefighting efforts in southern California?
SIEBERG: It could. Again, it's this intense magnetic storm that's hanging right now, above the Earth, and that could disrupt some of the satellite and the communications technology that they're using there, GPS, everything they use to communicate with each other, that is essentially what could be happening.
The astronomer we heard from a little while ago put it the best. He said that the sun is essentially a gigantic thermonuclear reactor. It's just a good thing we're about 90 million miles away. So any of the things -- these solar flares do happen on Earth...
PHILLIPS: Bit of an advantage.
SIEBERG: Right, a bit. These solar flares do happen on the sun fairly often. It's just in this case, it's large and it's sending out much more of this activity than it has in the past.
Again, it's a bit of a wait and see picture. We've got our eye on it.
PHILLIPS: All right, you always do. Thanks, Daniel.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 29, 2003 - 13:27 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well it's an inviable threat from out space. No, it's not science fiction. Experts actually say that Earth could be on the receiving end of a solar temper tantrum. One of the largest flares ever recorded erupted from the sun yesterday. Its effects could be felt here on Earth today. CNN's technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg here to explain. Already here?
DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: All ready here, Kyra. It started hitting the earth's magnetic field at about 1:00 a.m. Eastern time today.
Now the intensity of it will be fluctuating over the next several hours, over the next couple of days. Observers will be keeping their eye on it.
Let's talk about how it formed and why it will be impacting communications. The solar flare, when it was created, is what ranked on the Richter scale of solar flares as an X-17. That's considered to be the third largest in history.
Now, once this flare erupted off the sun -- and the sun is made up of many different gases, primarily helium and hydrogen. It created what is called a cornial (ph) mass ejection, sent all these glasses from plasma, x-ray, ultraviolet and radiation, hurtling towards the Earth at millions of miles per hour.
Once this mass of gas, essentially, hit the Earth, it impacted with the magnetic field that surrounds the Earth and creates this magnetic storm. It will also hit satellites and other communication systems that are around The earth. And that's where it will potentially hurt the communications systems. In fact, it could hurt the communication systems that are being used in California to help fight the fires.
PHILLIPS: What about the risks to you, to me? Is that a little far-fetched?
SIEBERG: Well, not necessarily. It's not going to hurt humans. The good news is we're protected. That's what this magnetic field is doing. In terms of whether it's going to impact your daily life, potential for cell phone service to be interrupted is there. The potential for electrogrids to be affected as well. We're keeping an eye on it to see whether these things have happened.
In the past, that has happened. The one thing we should point out, you know, most -- just about everybody is on Earth but there are a few people who are in space, the astronauts... PHILLIPS: Let's not forget them.
SIEBERG: They are taking precautions. The astronauts on board the International Space Station have gone into the Russian module where they can be protected. It's more of a caution. But it's definitely something they're taking seriously.
PHILLIPS: With regard to GPS technology things like this, could it affect the firefighting efforts in southern California?
SIEBERG: It could. Again, it's this intense magnetic storm that's hanging right now, above the Earth, and that could disrupt some of the satellite and the communications technology that they're using there, GPS, everything they use to communicate with each other, that is essentially what could be happening.
The astronomer we heard from a little while ago put it the best. He said that the sun is essentially a gigantic thermonuclear reactor. It's just a good thing we're about 90 million miles away. So any of the things -- these solar flares do happen on Earth...
PHILLIPS: Bit of an advantage.
SIEBERG: Right, a bit. These solar flares do happen on the sun fairly often. It's just in this case, it's large and it's sending out much more of this activity than it has in the past.
Again, it's a bit of a wait and see picture. We've got our eye on it.
PHILLIPS: All right, you always do. Thanks, Daniel.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
