Comments on: Is Earth Doomed by Sun Plasma? Our Bad Astronomy Expert Weighs In http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2009/04/02/so-are-we-doomed-if-the-sun-sends-plasma-our-way-our-bad-astronomy-expert-weighs-in/ Quirky, funny, and surprising science news from the edge of the known universe. Fri, 25 May 2012 18:28:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: QUASAR http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2009/04/02/so-are-we-doomed-if-the-sun-sends-plasma-our-way-our-bad-astronomy-expert-weighs-in/comment-page-1/#comment-22429 QUASAR Thu, 02 Apr 2009 17:23:58 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2009/04/02/so-are-we-doomed-if-the-sun-sends-plasma-our-way-our-bad-astronomy-expert-weighs-in/#comment-22429 A massive solar flare is a potential armageddon scenario! A massive solar flare is a potential armageddon scenario!

]]> By: Uncle Al http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2009/04/02/so-are-we-doomed-if-the-sun-sends-plasma-our-way-our-bad-astronomy-expert-weighs-in/comment-page-1/#comment-22428 Uncle Al Thu, 02 Apr 2009 17:03:47 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2009/04/02/so-are-we-doomed-if-the-sun-sends-plasma-our-way-our-bad-astronomy-expert-weighs-in/#comment-22428 Scenario: On 21 December 2012 ISS FUBAR asstronaughts enjoy a big supper of NASA Boston baked bean blinis. The ISS FUBAR toilet goes ballistic, shorting out 32,528 ft^2 of solar arrays, launching an electromagnetic pulse that shatters the magnetosphere as the Earth below is triggered into overdue magnetic pole inversion, ending the geomagnetic field for decades. The quietest sun since 1913 belches the largest coronal mass ejection in history (dwarfing 1859), equatorially, smiting the Earth at 2700 km/s like a stellar Mjöllnir. Only the Carbon Tax on Everything can Save Our Children! Simultaneously (our time) Betelgeus goes supernova . It would have sent Kip Thorne to Sweden in 2013 if First World civilization had persisted. Folks at 03, 19,21.6 RA 03, 22,13 DEC (Kappa Ceti) 29.9 lightyears distant, flip the switch on their giant new SETI array 35 years later (our time) and wonder why the galaxy is silent in our direction after the optical signal was sent by Sol. Scenario: On 21 December 2012 ISS FUBAR asstronaughts enjoy a big supper of NASA Boston baked bean blinis. The ISS FUBAR toilet goes ballistic, shorting out 32,528 ft^2 of solar arrays, launching an electromagnetic pulse that shatters the magnetosphere as the Earth below is triggered into overdue magnetic pole inversion, ending the geomagnetic field for decades. The quietest sun since 1913 belches the largest coronal mass ejection in history (dwarfing 1859), equatorially, smiting the Earth at 2700 km/s like a stellar Mjöllnir. Only the Carbon Tax on Everything can Save Our Children!

Simultaneously (our time) Betelgeus goes supernova . It would have sent Kip Thorne to Sweden in 2013 if First World civilization had persisted. Folks at 03, 19,21.6 RA 03, 22,13 DEC (Kappa Ceti) 29.9 lightyears distant, flip the switch on their giant new SETI array 35 years later (our time) and wonder why the galaxy is silent in our direction after the optical signal was sent by Sol.

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