How Dangerous Are Solar Flares?

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We mostly talk about Earth's weather around here but there is a massive storm happening on the sun right now.

Our big -- are already fired a giant gas ball right toward earth luckily the burst of radiation basically struck a glancing blow but the danger is not over.

Solar flares like this one could short circuit satellites interrupting television and Internet transmissions.

They could also halt financial transactions believe it or not.

The flair could create giant power surges on earth that would trigger blackouts over huge areas and those are just some of the dangers.

Let's bring in me -- -- -- He is a physics professor at the City University of New York also the author of the book physics of the future.

And He knows just about everything so.

The solar flares.

We have seen them we've got pictures of them thankfully from NASA.

We can't really predict when they're gonna erupt no but we dodged the bullet this past weekend a gigantic solar flare just grazed by the -- lighting up.

The skies over southern England.

They saw the northern lights light up because of the Aurora Borealis and that -- -- on the sun is still shooting solar flares at the earth.

The sun is taking potshots at the earth the the sun does rotate just like the earth does.

And I guess we were lucky you said it was a glancing blow it's -- wasn't aimed at a certain but it is kind of spinning more toward us that threat -- a sunspot eight times bigger than the earth -- just opened up just a few days ago.

And it's erupting by shootings solar flares like a rifle pointed out more or less the direction of the -- But because of the Earth's spin and because of these -- rotation it was a glancing blow otherwise.

All hell would have broken -- over this past weekend because I mean talked about power outages that kind of thing communications outages because as the satellites get -- we're talking about some potentially.

Very disruptive problems that's -- our satellites are not reinforced many power plants don't have shielding around them so they would short circuit.

Financial transactions you mention credit card transactions commerce would come to -- halt.

If that thing had hit us just this past weekend and it's still firing away talking talking about satellites that NASA satellite that fell over the weekend there's some speculation out there that that NASA and the Defense Department really.

Knew where this thing was going to land -- But they kind of kept the mystery out there because they don't want our potential enemies -- to know how good we are at tracking some of these things well there's a -- on a black magic involved to an understanding where -- satellite falls because remember that we have solar flares that increases the atmosphere.

Also satellite skimmed the earth like a rock.

Skimming over the atmosphere and so -- it is -- -- was very quick to shower of ions in the blacks out.

We lose communication we -- contact with the satellite as did some -- -- into the atmosphere so you think that they are in the dark.

As much as I seriously think they're clueless as to precisely where that satellite that -- -- -- crackers always good start via.

Except when you're talking about these solar storm that's scary stuff thank you can.

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How Dangerous Are Solar Flares?

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