What's up in space, HUGE FARSIDE EXPLOSION (UPDATED)

[DesertGarden]

Source: NASA's STEREO-A spacecraft

. "This CME will not hit Earth; it is moving away from, not toward our planet. However, if such a CME did strike, it could produce a very strong geomagnetic storm. We may have dodged a bullet."

Read more: https://spaceweather.com/

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Big BIG ! Solar flare, aka magnificent coronal mass ejection,
FACING AWAY FROM EARTH
.

[Chainfire]

1. The sun may have watched a Donald Trump story...I have had that same reaction.

Now that is a "storm" of biblical proportions. I am glad I wasn't driving by when it happened.

[2naSalit]

2. Yikes!

[VGNonly]

3. Carrington Event of 1859

That CME passed through the earth. Telegraph operators received electric shocks, wooden poles caught on fire. A massive aurora light up the sky.

What will happen to the grid and communication systems when the next one hits?

[Jacson6]

5. The main damage will be most satellites.

Some satellites have been hardened to with stand a CME aimed at Earth, but most haven't, so the TV and cable networks will be blacked out for good.

[LudwigPastorius]

6. Any hope for one taking out just Facebook?

[Jacson6]

8. Sorry! The Internet is distributed by many satellites

However the good news is that the Internet packet stations will switch to landline cables and microwave transmitters if the satellite fails. The Internet will be much slower.

[Get Me Outta Here]

9. How about just members of the Asshole Party?

Please?
My planet wants them off it.

[calimary]

17. Welcome to DU, Get Me Outta Here!

My planet's on the same wavelength, with the same request.

[WhiteTara]

10. I read that 40 of 49 Starlink satellites

are dead from a geomagnetic storm
https://www.italianpost.news/space-spacex-40-starlink-satellites-damaged-by-the-solar-storm/

Up to 40 of the 49 Starlink satellites launched by SpaceX last Thursday were damaged by a geomagnetic storm and are re-entering or will soon re-enter the atmosphere without any risk of collisions or debris: Elon Musk’s company reported in a statement. The 49 satellites were launched last February 3 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, thanks to a Falcon-9 rocket that had released them at an altitude of 210 kilometers, an orbit lower than the final one precisely to guarantee the possibility of return in case of problems after the launch.
What happened

“Unfortunately – explains SpaceX – the satellites deployed on Thursday were severely hit by a geomagnetic storm on Friday”. This phenomenon, caused by the interaction of the solar wind with the Earth’s magnetic field, caused the atmosphere to warm and its density to increase at the altitude where the newly launched satellites were. To minimize friction, the Starlinks have been put into safe mode to fly them cutting edge (“like a sheet of paper”) and shelter them from the storm. Up to 40 of them, however, were no longer able to resume the maneuvers necessary to move towards the final orbit. For them the only possibility is to return to Earth: some would have already done so, others instead would be in the process of doing so. SpaceX guarantees that there is no risk of collision with other satellites; in addition, the Starlinks are designed to disintegrate upon reentry into the atmosphere, “which means that no debris is created in orbit and no piece of the satellites falls to the ground.”

[Jacson6]

19. Yes, Elon Musk lost a few million dollars in satellites.

However the geomagnetic storm was predicted 24 hours before launch and they still launched the satellites. Oh well! Easy come and Easy Go!

[calimary]

18. Welcome to DU, Jacson6!

Sheesh! Is THAT what it's gonna take to get Pox Noise off the air?

[Jacson6]

4. Keep up with Space Weather with the Space Weather Gal!

https://www.youtube.com/c/TamithaSkov/videos

I watch her every week!

[mahina]

22. Wow that was very cool!

Never even knew there was such a thing as space weather. Fascinating!

[ancianita]

7. Whoa! Thanks. This reminds me, check out this book. It's funny and chock full or proof that

no corner of the universe is livable for humans, and how the astrophysicist world works.

[orangecrush]

11. Holy shit

That would have been a Carrington event on steroids!

[TrollBuster9090]

12. Looks bigger than the 'monster flare' from SOLAR CRISIS (1990). Lucky escape.

[Generic Brad]

13. I was expecting a Gary Larsen comic

This will have to do instead.

[CaptainTruth]

15. Me too!

[mahina]

23. Oh phew

I don’t feel quite so alone in that now

[frogmarch]

24. I was too. :)

[multigraincracker]

14. A solar flair could wipe out power grid and electrical equipment.

I have a wind up short wave radio and I'm looking for an old microwave oven to keep it in. They can act as a faraday box to protect the radio. All modern cars will be useless if a solar storm strikes, so I'm also keeping up a few bikes to get around with.
Anyone else thinking about this too and have other ideas to survive one?

[Jacson6]

20. Any metal can act as a Faraday cage.

As long as you have it on all sides and the top aluminum foil will act as a Faraday cage.

[NutmegYankee]

27. It's more of a myth that cars would be disabled.

Even testing simulating a high altitude nuclear blast found most cars would remain operable. The conductor lengths are just too short to generate high damaging voltages.

The electric grid and anything plugged into it on the other hand…

[multigraincracker]

28. Sounds like a crank up SW radio

wasn't a total waste. Can still come in handy when the lights go out. You can get one for about $35.

[BootinUp]

16. Looks like he needs some tums.

[mahina]

21. Am I the only one who came for the Far Side cartoon?

?

All interesting to the degree that I can understand it.

[canetoad]

25. Nah

I did too.

[mahina]

26. Super cool space weather stuff though

No boneless chicken ranch

[Ford_Prefect]

29. Isn't that the cause of Global Warming?

[Omaha Steve]

30. Kick