Preparing for the next big solar storm

In mid 2011, the Sun is once again on the eve of solar cycle intensity lower than usual, at least that's what the forecasters say. The "Carrington Event" held in 1859 and received the name in honor of astronomer Richard Carrington who witnessed the solar flare that caused it reminds us that strong storms can occur even when the sun is going through a cycle nominally weak.

In 1859, the most serious consequences were a day or two without telegraphic messages and sky watchers puzzled many tropical islands.

But in 2011, the situation would be much more serious. The spate of blackouts, spread across continents by the power lines for long distance, it could take weeks or even months, the time needed by engineers to repair the damaged transformers.

Solar Flares, a mixture of tornado, volcano and tsunami

A group of astronomers from the George Mason University has succeeded for the first time, relate a Coronal Mass Ejection with solar plasma arc. The finding, published in Nature Communications, can help predict when these violent

Phenomena take place, can cause serious damage to the Earth.

Among all known solar phenomena, the Coronal Mass Ejections (CME) is probably the greatest concern to scientists. Huge masses of charged particles the Sun ejects without notice and in any direction, including our planet. Burning clouds of radiation traveling millions of miles.  Per hour than regularly rammed earth and have the potential to "fry", literally, our power grids and communications, plunging us into a long period of darkness and silence.

Solar flare hit the Earth

The particles ejected by the sun in recent days in a flare and a coronal mass ejection, (for its acronym in English) hit Earth's magnetic field after 9:00 pm on Tuesday, the U.S. space agency (NASA .)

Radiation, plasma and other particles came from an ejection type M8.7, the second most intense within the classification of solar events. According to the Climate Prediction Center Space Administration National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of United States, the solar flare occurred on Sunday 22 and then produced a CME that made her the strongest radiation storm since September, 2005.The Goddard Space Flight Center NASA predicted that the CME could generate some auroras and perhaps affect the operations of some satellites and communications on shortwave radio, but pose no harm to human health.