Violent Solar Storms Leave Terrestrials Guessing

The “Halloween” solar storms of 2003, as they are called, produced some of the fiercest space weather ever recorded. They were so powerful they’re still making waves throughout our local corner of the galaxy.

Intense solar activity, as seen during the Halloween storms, usually occurs during a span of time known as the solar maximum, followed by a lull known as the minimum.

During the maximum, the sun’s surface is stippled by turbulent sunspots; a visual indicator of the intense magnetic disturbances associated with the 11-year cyclic reversal of the sun’s titanic magnetic field.

Like clockwork, every 11 years the sun’s north and south magnetic poles flip positions. If you could stand on the surface of the sun during this time – with a compass in hand – you’d see the needle spin around one half a turn as north becomes south, and vice versa. In the process, the sun’s immense magnetic field twists and knots on the surface.

Sunspots form where the most intense magnetic energies converge, filaments of gas and particles flow over the surface, and furious fusillades of plasma, or electrified gas, blast free from the gravitational influence of the sun and out into the far reaches of space.

Back in 2000, the sun’s massive and influential magnetic field intensified, flipped, and all seemed back on track for a quieter, gentler star for 11 years. Unexpectedly, around the middle of October last year, the sun’s surface began to exhibit signs of renewed inner turmoil. The surface was riddled with sunspots so massive they were easily visible to the naked eye (using the proper solar filters, of course), and soon powerful explosions launched tons of plasma out into space.

Scientists are at a loss.

On Oct. 28, one of the largest solar flares ever recorded exploded from the sun with such ferocity and speed that it reached the Earth within a day (the sun is roughly 92 million miles away at that time of year). It hit Mars just a few hours later.

The effects were felt all over the globe. A new radiation belt formed near the Earth and lasted several weeks. Aircraft changed their flight paths to avoid the high energy particles flowing down from space. Communication satellites were disrupted, and the city of Malmoe, Sweden, was left without power when its power lines overloaded because of the influx of solar energy from space.

One of the more ethereal side effects of the solar storms was seen by some Florida residents. The Northern Lights, a phenomenon caused by the interaction between the sun’s energetic particles and our planet’s magnetic field, were spotted as far south as Jupiter. Normally, these vaporous dancing lights don’t venture farther south than the Dakotas – if that.

Earth wasn’t alone in the misery caused by the wicked sun last year. A whole fleet of spacecraft felt the effects of the blasts far out in the vast reaches of space.

The Mars Radiation Environment Experiment on board the Mars Odyssey spacecraft, designed to monitor space radiation to evaluate the risks to future Mars-bound spacefarers, was disabled while in orbit around Mars by the intense radiation caused by the storm.

Both the Ulysses space probe circling Jupiter, and Cassini – which is making history as it orbits Saturn today – recorded the blasts millions of miles away from home.

The chorus of robotic space weather reports doesn’t end there. Voyagers 1 and 2 – yes, remember them from the ’70s? – recorded the wind and particles blowing by from the staggering distance of 9 billion and 7 billion miles away, respectively.

SkyLights

– Tuesday: At dawn, the waning crescent moon shines above Venus and Aldebaran in the east.

– Wednesday: The moon shines left of Venus and Aldebaran at dawn.

– Thursday: Venus shows its greatest illuminated extent and blazes at its peak brilliancy low in the east during dawn.

– Saturday: New moon, exact at 7:24 a.m.

Send questions to Astronomy, The Palm Beach Post, 2751 S. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach, FL 33405, or e-mail michael_alicea@pbpost.com.