[HN Gopher] How Dangerous Are Solar Storms?
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       How Dangerous Are Solar Storms?
        
       Author : firebaze
       Score  : 39 points
       Date   : 2021-07-16 20:13 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (backreaction.blogspot.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (backreaction.blogspot.com)
        
       | barathr wrote:
       | There's a major research paper coming up next month on the effect
       | of solar storms on the Internet and well, the impacts can
       | potentially be enormous:
       | 
       | https://twitter.com/sangeetha_a_j/status/1389303295055831042
        
       | elevaet wrote:
       | Are solar storms and coronal mass ejections are underrated as a
       | danger to society?
       | 
       | It seems to me like yes. Anecdotally, every time I've brought the
       | topic up with people who work in fields like electrical
       | engineering or for power companies, it's not really something
       | that anyone's considering or planning for. Hardly anyone even
       | knows about the Carrington Event.
       | 
       | A Carrington Event in 2021 could be so crippling.
        
         | wyldfire wrote:
         | Less common but still underrated as a risk is asteroid strike
         | or near miss. Jupiter, Saturn, our Moon all keep us safer than
         | other Earth-like planets. But it seems like a risk that should
         | concern us. besides maybe subterranean shelter, IMO the best
         | hedge is interplanetary colonization. Ridiculously expensive
         | but not when measured against the cost of losing all of
         | humanity.
         | 
         | Maybe galactic risks like these are part of the Great Filter.
        
         | binbag wrote:
         | I don't think they are under-rated.
         | https://www.nationalgrideso.com/news/skys-cobra-series-solar...
        
       | systemvoltage wrote:
       | NASA is planning for Space Weather Follow-on mission in 2025
       | that's going to stick a probe at L1 point between the Earth and
       | the Sun, providing some ~22 mins of heads up when shit hits the
       | fan (Carrington-like event).
       | 
       | Unfortunately, I am not aware of any emergency procedures that
       | can benefit from such an alarm in DOE or any public electricity
       | infrastructure. They might very well exist, anyone knows?
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Weather_Follow_On-Lagran...
        
       | giantg2 wrote:
       | Didn't the Carrington event start fires too? I wonder how likely
       | it would be to start fires today, like inside a home.
        
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       (page generated 2021-07-16 23:00 UTC)