[ericcooper1956]

Will this latest solar storm black out our tv viewing tomorrow?

 

[P Smith]

Eric, it was all over Internet - these Sun flares what did reach Earth's ionosphere wasn't strong enough to knock out communications.

 

[Davenlr]

I think he was talking about the one due tomorrow:
http://www.theweatherspace.com/news/TWS-12212-mclass-solar-flare-earth-wednesday.html

 

[phrelin]

Will this latest solar storm black out our tv viewing tomorrow?

Theoretically it could. Probably won't.

The LA Times summary is "The bombardment is expected to reach us Tuesday morning, but the threat to satellites and power grids appears to be low."

The article is long and informative and in the middle it says:

X-rays traveling at the speed of light hit the Earth in about eight minutes. These can interfere with radio communications.

A burst of radiation traveling at near-light speeds begins pelting Earth 20 minutes to an hour later. This radiation causes what are known as "single event upsets." Essentially, a high-energy proton traveling through a satellite can interfere with the charges in the silicon-based hardware, which can cause it to spit out spurious signals.

The third and final attack comes from the burst of charged particles that affects Earth's magnetosphere, potentially interfering with airplane navigation systems. This particular worry is expected to force rerouting of some flights during the storm.

These are not hypothetical fears....

It's a pretty good article. I figure "the big one" will occur on December 21, 2012 - you know, the Mayan Calendar thing.

 

[dpeters11]

If it knocked out my TV temporarily, I'd be fine with it, as long as it was a clear night and it was strong enough for me to see Northern Lights.

 

[Michael P]

If it knocked out my TV temporarily, I'd be fine with it, as long as it was a clear night and it was strong enough for me to see Northern Lights.

Seeing the northern lights in Cincinnati? I'm in Cleveland and the weatherman says we'd need to be 500 miles farther north to see them.

If the solar radiation was that strong that you could see the northern lights in Cincinnati we'd all be toast, not just the satellites.

 

[dpeters11]

No, we didn't. But I'd allow an outage to see them...

Actually, there were people that saw them here in October, other reports in Missouri and Arkansas. So wouldn't take a devastating event.

 

[sattvmax]

It's also possible for the sun to align with the satellite and be focused into you lnb at certain times of the year loosing the signal for a few minutes.