OT Solar Storm

Texasmark1 · Mar 9, 2012

Usually don't pay attention to some of the dooms day hype that a lot of folks dump on the rest of us, but this time it's real.

Was ordering propane yesterday around noon or so and was talking to the sales rep on the phone. She was in the middle of a sentence and the call terminated and I got a dial tone.

I called her back and mumbled something about our getting disconnected and she said that she had been having phone problems all day. Said she never has phone problems.

Sooooo, I guess there is something to it after all.

Mark

RayP(MI) · Mar 9, 2012

And then again, it may have been a completely different cause all together. According to the latest reports, we missed the worst of it, and disruptions of all services was minimal. Thank goodness. According to reports I just read Mercury and Venus got hit pretty hard. Probably screwed up their communicatinons big time...

ONE OF THEST TIMES IT AIN"T GONNA BE PRETTY!

Bob Bancroft · Mar 9, 2012

Nothing noticed here in the northeast.
I suppose the folks at SpaceWeather.com were disappointed. I have that in my favorites, and check it from time to time. There are agencies and people all over the world watching the heavens all the time. That frees some of the rest of us up to gather on here around old farm equipment!

Earl Gray · Mar 9, 2012

The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

Anonymous-0 · Mar 9, 2012

We get it a little in the way of satellite TV outages about 3 weeks in march. Just a couple seconds mostly but once about 25 minutes.

MSD · Mar 9, 2012

Thats because of the sun coming back over the equator. The
satellites are placed over the equator and during the equinox, the
sun perfectly aligns with the satellite and its energy blocks out the
satellite's signal till it passes over. If you look at a round dish, the
feedhorn would be pointed directly in the center of it. As the sun
nears the satellite the shadow moves closer and closer to the
center. Once it gets there, the signal gets snowy till it moves on
past. It happens to each satellite in the arch, just at different times
and depending on your location.

buickanddeere · Mar 9, 2012

Weather prevented viewing of Northern Lights around here. Supposed to be good viewing of planetary lineup from Mercury to Saturn for the next few weeks just after dusk.

wisbaker · Mar 9, 2012

Full moon eliminated our northern lights show, suppose I could of gotten up at 2:30 this morning and drove to the edge of town to look but it seemed like a lot of effort, so I didn't

Anonymous-0 · Mar 9, 2012

Yep,

One of the parts guys in the dealership has been amusing himself by making brooms stand on end this morning. They stand pretty well until a customer knocks them over.

LJD · Mar 9, 2012

Scientific consensus is that it's the largest solar storm we've had in "half a decade." Hmmm. Big words that denote the "last five years" - not exactly big news. A few GPS, TV and other devices that depend on geostationary satellite communications have a few burps and the "Northern Lights" might be a bit enhanced.

Cow · Mar 9, 2012

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859

I work in IT. Honestly if something like the above even happened again I would probably take out a lot of stuff. You know what happens then? We fix it/replace it!

If that happened again, you might not have reliable power/communications for a week or two. This is in fact NOT the end of the world.

BCnT · Mar 9, 2012

John,have you noticed any power spikes in your solar array's or better output? i always wondered about the possibility of solar flares overcharging batteries.
thanx
chuck

Bryan inIowa · Mar 9, 2012

heres pic buddy sent me . Oil rig in western North Dakota

LJD · Mar 9, 2012

I've never heard of such a thing happening or even being possible with the correct equipment. Cold temps and bright snow cover can make panels overproduce and "spike." But that's what a controller is for. When you size a controller you figure in the cold/snow spikes and size accordingly. Usually sized 10-15% higher capacity then the rated charge limit of the solar panels. Sun spots might have the same effect- but cold and snow are ones that consistently happen in areas like I live in.

OT Solar Storm

Texasmark1

Well-known Member

RayP(MI)

Well-known Member

Bob Bancroft

Well-known Member

Earl Gray

Member

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member

MSD

Well-known Member

buickanddeere

Well-known Member

wisbaker

Well-known Member

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member

LJD

Well-known Member

Cow

Member

BCnT

Well-known Member

Bryan inIowa

Member

LJD

Well-known Member

Similar threads