COURTESY OF SOHO VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
This undated photo made available in London yesterday shows one of the biggest solar flares that erupted from the sun, threatening to disrupt power and communications on Earth. The Sun's peak wavelength -- 500 nanometers, or 5000 Angstroms -- is in the green part of the visible spectrum.
Solar radiation
storm due to hit
Earth todayThe particles pose no health
threat but may disrupt electronics
A gigantic eruption on the surface of the sun could cause one of the worst solar storms in years today, potentially disrupting satellites and power systems while exposing astronauts on the International Space Station to heightened radiation levels, as charged particles from the sun bombard the Earth.
The coming geomagnetic storm, rated as severe by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, poses no direct threat to health on Earth, but it could play havoc with anything that relies on electronics, from cell phones to air travel.
NOAA forecasters say the storm, which is forecast to hit Earth at 6 a.m. Hawaii time and last for about 24 hours, is far more powerful than one last week that prompted warnings but did little damage other than disrupting airline communications.
"This is the real thing," said John Kohl, a solar astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass. "The eruption was positioned perfectly. It's headed straight for us, like a freight train."
University of Hawaii solar astronomer Jeff Kuhn said yesterday that scientists at the Mees Solar Observatory on Haleakala did not observe the last solar flare because it occurred Monday night.
Since then, Kuhn said, a powerful stream of particles has struck the Earth's upper atmosphere and he predicted that slower-moving particles will affect Earth's magnetic field over 24 hours.
"This was a very large flare event," said Kuhn, who is head of the Institute for Astronomy's Maui Science Division. "The X-ray energy at the Earth was about 1,000 times greater than normal solar X-ray output."
Kuhn added, however, that "its effect is on technology ... satellites, cell phones, radio communications ... all those things could be affected.
"There's no danger for sunbathing or for being outside."
Despite its seemingly steady orange glow, the surface of the sun is ever changing, as sudden bursts of electromagnetic radiation called solar flares shoot into space at millions of miles an hour.
The storm forecast for today began with a solar flare 13 times bigger than the Earth. It is the biggest Harvard-Smithsonian solar specialists have seen in 30 years, sending enormous amounts of energy and matter directly toward our planet.
Severe solar storms cause a sudden shift in the electromagnetic field surrounding the Earth, triggering power surges that can knock out satellites or blow out electric transformers on the ground. A solar storm in 1989, one of the worst on record, caused a blackout over much of Quebec Province.
NOAA issues regular solar weather forecasts, allowing companies and government agencies to take precautions if a storm is coming. A major New England electricity provider halted all maintenance work on transmission lines on Friday because of the risk of power surges from solar flares last week.
On Oahu, Hawaiian Electric Co. officials have taken a wait-and-see position.
"Historically, we haven't seen any problems before," said HECO spokesman Jose Dizon. "We have not been affected in the past by solar flares."
Solar storms are especially hazardous for astronauts, who don't have the Earth's atmosphere to protect them from the sun's radiation. The astronauts on the International Space Station did not detect elevated radiation during last week's storm, but space can be highly radioactive: At the height of a 1989 storm, an astronaut on the surface of the moon would have faced a near-lethal dose of radiation.
Harvard's Kohl said that everyone -- from NASA to emergency workers using satellite phones to battle the California wildfires -- needs to pay attention to today's storm: "Last week's (storm) hit the Earth with only a glancing blow... (The latest) eruption was pointed directly at us and is expected to have major effects."
The Boston Globe and Star-Bulletin reporter Rod Antone contributed to this report.
