45Doll 5,848 Posted March 23, 2023 ELE - Extinction Level Event Our sun had a huge coronal mass ejection, and fortunately was facing away from us. The truth is it might not have extinguished us immediately, but how bad would it have been? And why haven't you heard anything about it? Dodging the Apocalypse - American Thinker Note: in the comments I have no clue why they're discussing George Floyd. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Displaced Texan 11,652 Posted March 24, 2023 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CMJeepster 2,766 Posted March 24, 2023 Trump's fault. 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
raz-0 1,256 Posted March 24, 2023 Two things to keep in mind in that article. First is that the telegraph system used thin wires over long distances. This made a giant antenna. The second thing is that for the most part, things were not destroyed, and when it stopped, they went back to working. Most of the issue was people getting shocked from things they expected not to have a charge, some equipment damage, and mostly communications disruption due to the charge caused by the solar flare in the wires impairing transmission. However, in many cases transmission was still possible, but impaired. What happened then wouldn't necessarily be what happens now. For example small electronics probably won't be toast. They probably would just crash like they got zapped with a HERF gun. Additionally, infrastructure won't just get randomly zapped. Unlike then, we have multiple solar observation satellites to give us warning, and steps can be taken to mitigate vulnerability. So the difference between the best case and worst case is likely to rely on human performance to a great degree, which could be good or terrible. Also, if you pay attention to astronomy or even just lightweight science news, this solar event was covered in various ways ranging from isn't this neat to the sun's gunna splode! 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites