Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Solar storm due Friday may disrupt communications, power grids

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2003 07:39:36 -0400

Big solar storm will hit Earth Friday

Thu, 23 Oct 2003
BOULDER, COLO.

A strong geomagnetic storm is expected to hit Earth on Friday. Scientists
say it may knock out electrical grids and satellite communications.

A "sunspot cluster" said to be 10 times the size of Earth could damage
satellites and power grids, as well as cable TV, pager and cellular
telephone service.

Forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in
Boulder, Colo., say it is one of the largest sunspot clusters in years.

Larry Combs, a forecaster at the federal Space Environment Center in
Boulder, says the sunspot cluster released a chunk of the sun's outer
atmosphere early Wednesday morning.

NASA's Goddard Space Center says the sunspot clusters produce a "coronal
mass ejection" - an explosion of gas and charged particles from the
outermost layer of the sun's atmosphere.

In 1997, television networks in the U.S. were affected when satellites used
to beam programming to local stations were knocked out of service.

 http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/10/23/sun_spots031023

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