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This is a bit concerning.

Basically, every few hundred years the earth is hit by a solar flare powerful enough to pretty much destroy all modern tech, and probably give anyone flying in a plane at the time cancer.

These are much bigger than the Carrington Event, which was the last really big solar flare recorded.

One day, without warning, the sun will just wipe out tech slate clean.

And there is apparently nothing we can do about it.


Link Post: The Carrington Event of 1859 Disrupted Telegraph Lines. A “Miyake Event” Would Be Far Worse daily.jstor.org/the-carrington…
in reply to Sarah Brown

@andrewducker On the plus side, if that means that I can have a few days in which I don't get any emails, then it won't be all bad.
in reply to Sarah Brown

*looks at sun*

Nice star. Good star. Please don’t kill us. There’s a good star.

in reply to Sarah Brown

@andrewducker

Pretty sure people flying in aircraft with modern avionics during a Carrington event will have more immediate concerns than cancer

in reply to Chris Packham

@Chris Packham @Andrew Ducker These are about 60 times bigger than carrington events.

Also many jetliners can still function as gliders with total loss of electrical systems. It’s just hard work physically.

in reply to Sarah Brown

@andrewducker as I understand it, there are kinda sorta some things we can do, if we’re able to anticipate it, which is why there are a bunch of researchers working on #heliophysics (aka #SolarWeather) to better understand these phenomena. I think the best defense we have is to shut down electrical grids if we anticipate impacts. Also, I think only the side facing the sun gets hit, so it’s not everywhere that’s impacted at once, for better or worse.
in reply to Sarah Brown

Keep some cash handy, you'll be needing it when all those card payment points go "ping"
in reply to Susan Lewis

@Susan Lewis I think the total failure of every electrical system on the planet might make that the least of our worries