http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16701407
Solar storm's effects to lash Earth through Wednesday
A solar flare erupted from the Sun's northeastern hemisphere on Sunday
Our planet is being
bombarded by high-energy
particles unleashed by the
strongest solar storm since
2005, scientists say.
The charged particles are
mostly a concern for
satellites - which they can
disrupt - and astronauts.
But they can also cause
communication problems for
aircraft travelling near the
poles. The geomagnetic
storm has been caused by a
potent flare
that erupted from the Sun at
0400 GMT on Sunday.
The effects are likely to be
felt on Earth throughout
Wednesday.
A more benign effect of the
outpouring of particles is
the ability to see aurorae,
or "Northern lights",
further south than is
usually possible. A
spokesman for US space
agency Nasa said that flight
surgeons and solar
scientists have modelled the
flare's predicted effects.
They decided that the six
astronauts on the
International Space Station
do not have to take any
action to protect themselves
from the incoming stream of
particles. Solar
flares are caused by the
sudden release of magnetic
energy stored in the Sun's
atmosphere. In an
event called a coronal mass
ejection (CME), bursts of
charged particles are
released into space.
This can interfere with
technology on Earth, such as
electrical power grids,
communications systems
and satellites - including
satellite navigation (or
sat-nav) signals. In
1972, a geomagnetic storm
provoked by a solar flare
knocked out long-distance
telephone communication
across the US state of
Illinois. And in 1989,
another storm plunged
six million people into
darkness across the Canadian
province of Quebec.
But a spokesman for the US
National Oceanic
and Atmospheric
Administration's (Noaa)
Space Weather Prediction
Center said the effects of
this solar eruption seem
likely
to be moderate.
At
approximately 8:40 PM on October 12, a man, woman
and their 15 year old son were killed while trying
to erect a 50 foot vertical antenna at the home of
the man's mother, Barbara Tenn, KJ4KFF, in Palm Bay,
Florida. The deceased were not licensed amateurs.
According to police reports, Melville Braham, 55,
Anna Braham, 49, and their 15 year old son Anthony
were putting up an antenna -- Tenn's second -- at
night when they lost control of the antenna and it
crashed into nearby overhead power lines. The impact
sent 13,000 volts of electricity through the pole
that the three were holding. A family friend, a 17
year old boy, was on the roof at the time of the
accident. He and the couple's daughter, who was in
the house at the time, were not injured. Click
Uwharrie Mountain Run