The Dangers of Solar Storms and Solar Cycles

 For every 1 million atoms of hydrogen in the entire sun  98,000 atoms of helium  850 of oxygen  360 of carbon  120 of neon  110 of nitrogen  40 of magnesium  35 of iron  35 of silicon

 Plasma  Gas whose temperature is so hot it becomes sensitive to magnetism  Ionized due to high temperatures

 Most energy is lost to electromagnetic radiation  Visible light  Infrared  Particle radiation also emits energy  Flares and coronal mass ejections release intense concentrations of energetic particles  Hazardous to astronauts in orbit and satellites

 The sun’s magnetic field resembles that of a bar magnet  Field gets distorted by two things  Sun rotates more rapidly at the equator  The inner parts of the sun rotate more rapidly than the surface

 Magnetic concentration: thousands of times stronger  Creates loops in the solar atmosphere  Sunspots form at the points where the loops cross the surface  The number of sunspots depends on the distortion of the field lines  Sunspot cycle lasts approx. 11 years  Field switches polarity with each cycle

 What are They  What Causes Them  Etc.

 Minimums  Maximums  Etc.

 Impact on Communications  Earth’s Magnetic Field  Etc.

 Overview

Detection and Preparation  Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)  Launch date: 1995 The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory's spectrographs and cameras have provided much of what we know about space weather and solar physics today.  Location in orbit (L1 position)  What  Where  When  Why  How

Detection and Preparation  Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO)  Launch date: 2006 A pair of satellites, the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory, will generate the first 3-D views of solar flares and coronal mass ejections and will predict which events threaten Earth.  What  Where  When  Why  How

Detection and Preparation  Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE)  What  Where  When  Why  How

Detection and Preparation  Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)  Launch date: 2008  NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory will observe processes like convection and sunspot formation, with the goal of predicting solar storms weeks before they erupt.  What  Where  When  Why  How

Detection and Preparation  Solar Sentinel  Launch date: 2015  Four satellites in Solar Sentinel will fly in varying orbits around the sun, monitoring a solar storm's path all the way to Earth. A fifth orbiter will watch the far side of the sun.  What  Where  When  Why  How

 Basic Calculation Related to Solar Storms  Wavelength/Energy Related  Speed at which CME Travels  Something Related to 11.3 yr cycle  Nuclear Calculation  Solar Storm Magnetic Energy Required to Produce X Amps of Current in an Alaskan Pipeline  Something about Increased Corrosion Rate

Team Gemini