As the sun awakens, the power grid stands vulnerable
Happy Solstice everyone, and if you haven’t noticed the Sun is waking up after a slumber.
As the sun awakens, the power grid stands vulnerable
View Photo Gallery — The sun is nearing the peak of its activity cycle, spitting out flares and plasma like a dragon.
And on June 7, it woke up Michael Hesse. At 5:49 a.m., the solar scientist received an alert on his smartphone. NASA spacecraft had seen a burst of X-rays spinning out from a sunspot. The burst was a solar flare — and a “notably large one” at that, Hesse said later.A solar flare has erupted from the sun in an impressive display captured by NASA cameras. NASA says the flare peaked on Tuesday and created a large cloud that appeared to cover almost half the surface of the sun. (June 8)
The sun has been quiet for years, at the nadir of its activity cycle. But since February, our star has been spitting out flares and plasma like an angry dragon. It’s Hesse’s job to watch these eruptions.
If a big one were headed our way, Hesse needed to know, and fast, so he could alert the electric power industry to brace for a geomagnetic storm that could knock some of the North American power grid offline.