When the sun puts its power on display, we often can\'t see it all or predict it

Question

When the sun puts its power on display, we often can't see it all or predict it in advance, but the effects can be world-changing. A massive solar storm could wipe out almost all of our modern technology without warning.

Our nearest star, the Sun, is essential for life on Earth. It is an unusually well-behaved star, but solar storms and the solar wind can negatively impact the performance and reliability of not only our space-based technology, but also our ground-based technology. Satellites can be disabled, radio communications wiped out worldwide, and voltages sent soaring to dangerous levels in power transformers and oil pipelines by a solar storm. When aimed at Earth, strong solar flares and eruptions can supercharge the Earth's aurora displays over the poles. The most powerful solar storms can also pose a risk to astronauts and satellites in space and even completely impair power grids on Earth's surface as well as interfere with communication and navigation signals. How would all this affect our medical care? (http://solarstorms.org/) Keep in mind: Solar storms not only can kill satellites, they can kill astronauts.

The last truly massive display of Sol's power happened in 1859, when an invisible electromagnetic wave crashed into the Earth. Electrons, swept up like so much detritus in the magnetic current, coursed along telegraph wires. When they met an obstacle, like the hand of a telegraph operator, they crashed through it — delivering a sharp shock. Papers in telegraph offices caught fire. Operators found that even if telegraphs weren't connected to power, the giddy subatomic stream could carry messages over vast distances. Lights of the aurora danced across the sky.

Read about our Sun’s 1859 super flare and its impact on the Earth when there was little in the way of technology. See:

http://www.history.com/news/a-perfect-solar-superstorm-the-1859-carrington-event

http://www.infowars.com/after-several-near-misses-experts-warn-the-next-carrington-event-will-plunge-us-back-into-the-dark-ages/

https://history.knoji.com/could-another-carrington-event-destroy-our-economy/

Another good article: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/03/120308-solar-flare-storm-sun-space-weather-science-aurora/. In a worst-case scenario, orbiting satellites, GPS, global communications, and power grids could be out for months or longer. One report said a major solar event could cost the country 1-2 trillion dollars in the first year alone and it could take four-to-ten years to fully bounce back.

We'd have some warning, as instruments all over the world and in space now monitor the sun every second of the day. But even at the speed of light, a massive solar flare's telltale flash of radiation would leave humanity between just a few minutes and — if we were very lucky — a day to prepare for the wave of charged particles surging toward us through space.

Amazingly, in 1859, before all that monitoring equipment was put in place, an astronomer spotted the flare before the storm reached Earth. At 11:18 a.m. on September 1, the English astronomer Richard Carrington stood in his private observatory recording sunspots on an image of the sun projected through his telescope onto a small screen. The next morning before sunrise, "skies all over planet Earth erupted in red, green, and purple auroras so brilliant that newspapers could be read as easily as in daylight," according to NASA. "Indeed, stunning auroras pulsated even at near tropical latitudes over Cuba, the Bahamas, Jamaica, El Salvador, and Hawaii."

In the (mostly) preelectric world of 1859, most of humanity experienced the storm as little more than a strange light show — if they were even awake to see it. And aside from a few smarting fingers, it doesn't seem to have harmed anyone in the long term. However, today spacewalking astronauts might have only minutes after the first flash of light to find shelter ... Their spacecraft would probably have adequate shielding; the key would be getting inside in time.

As our world has become more reliant on electronics in the last century and a half, we've had few glimpses of the potential dangers of solar storms to our new infrastructure. Since 1972, NASA has recorded three instances of solar storms significantly disrupting daily life.

But none of those storms come close to the scale of the 1859 monster, known as the Carrington Event. If a Carrington Event happened today, the world would likely have to deal with the simultaneous loss of GPS, cell phone reception, and much of the power grid. The global aircraft fleet might have to coordinate an unprecedented mass grounding without satellite guidance. Unguarded electronic infrastructure could fail outright. We'd all have to — at least in the short term — wait for tomorrow's newspaper to come out to learn details of the aftermath.

The best available estimates suggest a modern Carrington Event would cost humanity $1 trillion to $2 trillion in the first year and take another four to 10 years to achieve full recovery. A 2007 NASA estimate found that the damage to the satellite fleet would cost between $30 billion and $70 billion.

Fortunately, Carrington Event-level storms seem pretty rare, but we have no reliable way of predicting when the next one could happen. So enjoy the sunset, but remember the deadly power it contains.

From Science: (17 May 2017)

https://www.yahoo.com/news/m/ce731203-f3fe-35d3-a4e5-c95243476bfc/ss_a-massive-solar-storm-could.html

Go to http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3178801/Are-prepared-major-solar-storm-World-just-12-hours-warning-sun-erupts.html and read about the British Space Weather Preparedness Strategy.

Consult NASA’s space weather site and other space weather sites (see below) to learn the many ways in which space weather can impact our lives. Then discuss the ways in which we should prepare to protect ourselves and our technology, including the financial cost versus the possible cost to our way of life and technology.

http://www.spaceweather.com/

http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/spaceweather/

http://www.spaceweathercenter.org/

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2009/21jan_severespaceweather/

http://www.ready.gov/space-weather

http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/solar-cycle-progression

http://www.weather.gov/phi/SpaceWx

https://helios.gsfc.nasa.gov/weather.html

Explanation / Answer

Sun is the main and nearest star of earth which is the main reason why earth has life.But as described the solar wind and Strom are very highly charged particles which can cause damage to the earth to a very serious extinct.As an example if we take the case of radiations of sun like Alfa and gamma then we observe the effects on human body is very high .so the solar wind is very highly charged and can cause damage to life .Charged particles have tendency to remove and attract electrons from an object.But if we observe an object we can notice that every object has electron base and that can be destroyed in sec by solar effect then what effect it will give to human body.The environmental protection is the only way to protect ourselves .

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