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0 pointsthinkcontext6y ago0 comments

> event in the 19th century electrocuted a bunch of telegraph operators.

True but you are underselling it a bit. Aurora was seen as far south as Colombia and in Colorado it reportedly was bright enough to wake people up because they thought it was day.

It is assumed that had that occurred today it would have fried the power grid on at least a continental scale.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859

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8 comments · 3 top-level

riversflow6y ago· 5 in thread

I honestly think it’s crazy that we don’t give this more attention as a society. Like, there is serious talk that we need to look out for Asteroids. But nothing about hardening ourselves against the next high output solar event, which seems more likely to be a problem.

vkou6y ago

That's because blowing up asteroids is sexy, but hardening the grid is work.

You can't make a movie out of the latter, so nobody cares.

See, also, why people love sexy non-solutions to problems we don't have (let's colonize Mars), but turn their noses at solving real problems, which affect billions of people (climate change). You can't make a slick film about a superhero convincing people to cutting back on their energy use, and to carpool, or bus to work. It's not sexy.

ouid6y ago

Events that kill some people and events that kill all people have different priority.

eli6y ago

My understanding is that the only early warning system we have relies on old and failing satellites and provides only minutes of warning.

chrisco2556y ago

"In August 2018, NASA's Parker Solar Probe launched to space, soon becoming the closest-ever spacecraft to the Sun. With cutting-edge scientific instruments to measure the environment around the spacecraft, Parker Solar Probe has completed three of 24 planned passes through never-before-explored parts of the Sun's atmosphere, the corona."

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/nasas-parker-solar...

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daxorid6y ago

Light travels faster than plasma, so we have on the order of 12-18 hours notice of a CME targeted at us.

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dkersten6y ago

According to the page you linked we were pretty close to it happening in 2012. Crazy!

ctdonath6y ago

https://m.xkcd.com/2233/

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