New early-warning system could protect Earth from explosive space weather
Monday, November 23, 2015 - 09:00
in Astronomy & Space
The sun can erupt with flares more energetic than 30 billion times the yield of all nuclear weapons ever detonated. The energetic particles released by solar flares tunnel a path through our inner solar system with speeds regularly exceeding 6 million kph. If the Earth is unfortunate enough to sweep through the path of these particles, they can cause catastrophic problems by acting like bullets of radiation, damaging electrical and electronic equipment.