junho 14, 2005
Cuidado com as saídas
Proton storms cause all kinds of problems. They interfere with ham radio communications. They zap satellites, causing short circuits and computer reboots. Worst of all, they can penetrate the skin of space suits and make astronauts feel sick.
"An astronaut on the Moon, caught outdoors on January 20th, would have had almost no time to dash for shelter," says Lin. The storm came fast and "hard," with proton energies exceeding 100 million electron volts. These are the kind of high-energy particles that can do damage to human cells and tissue.
"The last time we saw a storm like this was in February 1956." The details of that event are uncertain, though, because it happened before the Space Age. "There were no satellites watching the sun."
According to space weather theory--soon to be revised--this is how a proton storm develops:
It begins with an explosion, usually above a sunspot. Sunspots are places where strong magnetic fields poke through the surface of the Sun. For reasons no one completely understands, these fields can become unstable and explode, unleashing as much energy as 10 billion hydrogen bombs.
From Earth we see a flash of light and X-rays. This is the "solar flare," and it's the first sign that an explosion has occurred. Light from the flare reaches Earth in only 8 minutes.
Publicado por Enfiada Especial | Retratos Desfocados | 13:39