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Solar tsunami seen in NASA video
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What impact could sun eruptions have on Earth?
- Duration 3:41
- Date Nov 19, 2012
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What impact could sun eruptions have on Earth?
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Well the sun is acting up yet again shooting -- solar flares so huge that NASA's cameras could not even capture all of it.
Look at that on the screen -- you can't do is author of physics in the future how science was -- human destiny in our daily lives by the year two.
1100.
Otherwise -- missed one -- 100.
And professor of physics at City University of New York how you do answer Gary gets you so -- screen behind this year that.
Show us the flair that you picked up over the weekend ever to put them in their huge right and the earth is about this decade compared to this gigantic solar flare this hurricane from hell.
You realize that the only -- -- incinerated if there was a direct hit.
Because of the enormous signed of these things fortunately we're 93 million miles away yeah right on how -- have fortunately for that but there were too when you can see them blast off the surface of the sun that's right we're -- an enormous ball of hot plasma about 101000 degrees Fahrenheit shooting about -- space.
And fortunately we dodged the bullet this time.
However one day we don't know when and if there's a direct hit it could be like being in the middle of a shooting gallery.
And they'll we could suffer a tremendous amount of damage to -- satellites and power plants is there any way to predict this or does it just happened and then.
All we insist every eleven years the sun has a temper tantrum and we're entering now the next -- solar cycle.
So -- the next few months watch for it there's going to be daily news when the rewards for modest base showing that once again this punish a huge solar flares -- the space since.
And once every few hundred years if it -- a direct hit.
They could cause property damage twenty times that a hurricane -- that's remarkable let me get to that in a moment or is that significant thing you said but next -- we can expect more of -- -- -- this is is that because the -- -- or -- that's right -- eleven years the North -- in the assault pull the -- -- Releasing a burst of radiation and gigantic bullets of hot plasma are shooting -- -- -- space.
And what are these days when these bullets can actually hit the art and so and so what what what happened that.
I mean you're gonna lose your Blackberry and what else he gonna lose -- -- -- a Fox News telecommunications.
Will be knocked us satellites will be fry it.
And again this is an unlikely event.
But power stations can't get shorted out.
And physicists have estimated property damage at the level of two trillion dollars or about twenty times the damage of Hurricane Katrina.
And these numbers were done by the military and by the American physical society remarkable was the last time that happened of that -- have to go back to -- 1859 or so of the Carrington event.
To see that event that.
Huge but remember we're very young in this space -- we -- have satellites back in the eighteen that's true.
And we've only had a few cycles with the space -- to worry about.
And already power plants have been knocked -- -- went back and other cities because of the solar flares which -- the aren't.
But a direct hit though rare.
Could be catastrophic so this was a 150 or a 160 years ago and certainly the world is a much different place that -- what happened that.
How do -- affect folks here on -- telegraph wires were shorted out.
And you could mean the newspaper at night in Cuba with the light of the northern lights in Cuba that's how -- the northern lights went.
And from that we physicists can estimate.
By going backward and see exactly how ferocious that solar flare was.
That -- -- thrive on our satellites.
All lead the Internet the GPS telecommunications.
Power plants.
Your refrigerator your telephones.
We're talking about a complete blackout not just in one city now.
But the entire planet earth -- great stuff for great analysis to when when you see there.
The force in the power of this.
Shear off the sun and something else thank you know it's you know nice to see you again and we'll talk again real soon.