12-07-2012, 07:04 PM
(This post was last modified: 13-07-2012, 06:12 PM by Robert Darwent.)
Hi Mark,
When a solar flare erupts that is pointing directly towards the Earth (as with the X-flare being reported) it sends a cloud of fast moving charged particles straight at us. It usually takes between 24 to 48 hours to reach us after the eruption is seen visually though.
When the flare arrives it collides with the Earths magnetosphere (essentially a protective 'umbrella' created by the Earth's magnetic field) which deflects the charged particles towards the poles and gives rise to aurorae (Northern and Southern Lights).
However it also collides with the Ionosphere, layers of charged particles always present around the Earth which short wave radio signals bounce off to reach around the globe. The flare basically saturates these layers for a period causing them to absorb radio signals rather than refract them back to the Earth, so effectively 'blacking-out' radio reception until the ionosphere returns to normal.
Obviously a lot more is going on than what I have described, but you get the rough idea I hope?
Regards
When a solar flare erupts that is pointing directly towards the Earth (as with the X-flare being reported) it sends a cloud of fast moving charged particles straight at us. It usually takes between 24 to 48 hours to reach us after the eruption is seen visually though.
When the flare arrives it collides with the Earths magnetosphere (essentially a protective 'umbrella' created by the Earth's magnetic field) which deflects the charged particles towards the poles and gives rise to aurorae (Northern and Southern Lights).
However it also collides with the Ionosphere, layers of charged particles always present around the Earth which short wave radio signals bounce off to reach around the globe. The flare basically saturates these layers for a period causing them to absorb radio signals rather than refract them back to the Earth, so effectively 'blacking-out' radio reception until the ionosphere returns to normal.
Obviously a lot more is going on than what I have described, but you get the rough idea I hope?
Regards
