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These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 250 00:16:10,308 --> 00:16:13,435 which was the first indication that the Sun rotated. 251 00:16:15,117 --> 00:16:17,073 Not only does the Sun rotate, 252 00:16:17,087 --> 00:16:21,709 but sunspots themselves can actually spin like hurricanes on the solar surface. 253 00:16:22,498 --> 00:16:26,799 And when they do, their magnetic field lines become extremely twisted. 254 00:16:28,181 --> 00:16:30,941 Twisted magnetic field lines mean more energy 255 00:16:31,307 --> 00:16:34,707 and more energy means the potential for huge eruptions. 256 00:16:36,013 --> 00:16:38,238 Think of a rubber band as magnetic field line. 257 00:16:38,956 --> 00:16:43,005 If you twist it, and you twist enough it's goin to have all that energy, 258 00:16:43,712 --> 00:16:45,759 and when you let it go it's going to release. 259 00:16:47,519 --> 00:16:51,960 If you just take an untwisted rubber band and release it it's not going to fly. 260 00:16:57,536 --> 00:17:00,569 When a sunspot unleashes its magnetic energy, 261 00:17:00,710 --> 00:17:04,879 what results are the most colossal explosions in the Solar System: 262 00:17:04,982 --> 00:17:06,550 solar flares. 263 00:17:07,233 --> 00:17:11,599 A single flare releases as much as a billion megatons of energy. 264 00:17:12,125 --> 00:17:16,012 The combined power of a million volcanic eruptions on Earth. 265 00:17:17,590 --> 00:17:19,009 They appear as these very... 266 00:17:19,010 --> 00:17:22,966 bright regions and they're so bright because the temperature is so high, 267 00:17:23,238 --> 00:17:27,125 on the order of ten million degrees and they can last for hours. 268 00:17:28,477 --> 00:17:30,385 But the energy is massive. 269 00:17:32,593 --> 00:17:34,424 The whole explosion... 270 00:17:34,565 --> 00:17:37,348 is equivalent to millions of nuclear bombs 271 00:17:37,349 --> 00:17:39,997 leaving the surface of the Sun all at once. 272 00:17:41,808 --> 00:17:45,566 Solar flares don't just explode out into space. 273 00:17:45,667 --> 00:17:48,210 They also funnel high energy particles 274 00:17:48,211 --> 00:17:51,549 down to a layer of the Sun called the cromosphere, 275 00:17:51,588 --> 00:17:54,124 where they quickly transfer their energy 276 00:17:54,125 --> 00:17:57,504 like a cue ball striking the rack in the game of billiards. 277 00:17:58,141 --> 00:18:00,223 So you have a cue ball, actually is like one of these 278 00:18:00,224 --> 00:18:02,525 very high energy particles coming from the flare region. 279 00:18:04,066 --> 00:18:07,157 The cue ball smacks very quickly into the 8-ball rack, 280 00:18:07,458 --> 00:18:09,694 and once it impacts that head ball, 281 00:18:09,895 --> 00:18:11,644 it's going to transfer that energy 282 00:18:11,645 --> 00:18:13,829 to the balls behind it and then 283 00:18:13,830 --> 00:18:17,868 they will all fly out because the energy is transferred to all of them. 284 00:18:19,730 --> 00:18:23,736 If a large flare shoots enough high energy particles at once, 285 00:18:23,837 --> 00:18:26,472 strange things start to happen. 286 00:18:28,196 --> 00:18:30,512 This is actual footage 287 00:18:30,513 --> 00:18:32,519 of a sunquake. 288 00:18:33,174 --> 00:18:34,493 In 1998 289 00:18:34,494 --> 00:18:36,643 there was a solar flare up in the 290 00:18:36,644 --> 00:18:40,361 corona that was so powerful that the material flying down 291 00:18:40,462 --> 00:18:42,038 toward the surface of the Sun 292 00:18:42,239 --> 00:18:44,238 actually slapped the surface and 293 00:18:44,239 --> 00:18:46,962 caused ripples to spread out from there. 294 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:50,761 While thay may look like ripples on a pot, 295 00:18:50,762 --> 00:18:53,618 these are actually waves two miles high 296 00:18:53,663 --> 00:18:55,867 travelling at a maximum velocity of 297 00:18:55,868 --> 00:18:58,725 250 thousand miles per hour. 298 00:18:59,326 --> 00:19:01,340 The 1998 sunquake 299 00:19:01,341 --> 00:19:04,692 would have measured an 11.3 on the Richter scale. 300 00:19:04,793 --> 00:19:06,984 More than one million times stronger 301 00:19:06,985 --> 00:19:09,422 than the 1989 earthquake that 302 00:19:09,423 --> 00:19:11,578 shook San Francisco. 303 00:19:14,914 --> 00:19:18,084 In order to shake the surface of the Sun that much, 304 00:19:18,185 --> 00:19:21,936 the solar flare had to release a colossal amount of energy. 305 00:19:23,155 --> 00:19:25,535 It turns out it's almost the same amount of energy 306 00:19:25,536 --> 00:19:29,836 as if you cover the entire landmass of the Earth with dinamite, 307 00:19:30,037 --> 00:19:31,420 about a yard thick. 308 00:19:33,857 --> 00:19:35,578 And set it all off at once. 309 00:19:38,322 --> 00:19:40,222 So, these explosions are not small. 310 00:19:43,936 --> 00:19:48,576 Earthquakes aren't the only natural disasters with equivalents on the Sun. 311 00:19:51,845 --> 00:19:55,361 A flare can also kick-off a solar tsunami, 312 00:19:56,549 --> 00:19:59,841 as waves of plasma in the Sun's atmosphere rock it up 313 00:19:59,842 --> 00:20:02,639 at 700 thousand miles per hour, 314 00:20:02,740 --> 00:20:05,309 spreading around the entire face of the star 315 00:20:05,310 --> 00:20:07,183 in a matter of hours. 316 00:20:18,016 --> 00:20:20,247 While sunquakes and solar tsunamis 317 00:20:20,248 --> 00:20:22,088 pose no danger to Earth, 318 00:20:22,089 --> 00:20:23,781 the violent action of a flare 319 00:20:23,782 --> 00:20:26,153 frequently triggers dangerous eruptions 320 00:20:26,154 --> 00:20:30,435 called coronal mass ejections, or CMEs. 321 00:20:31,789 --> 00:20:32,966 In a CME 322 00:20:32,967 --> 00:20:35,357 energy from a flare flings a blob of 323 00:20:35,358 --> 00:20:37,788 highly charged radioactive plasma 324 00:20:37,789 --> 00:20:39,731 out of the solar atmosphere. 325 00:20:40,290 --> 00:20:41,826 Coronal mass ejections 326 00:20:41,827 --> 00:20:44,214 range in speeds, but they can occur 327 00:20:44,215 --> 00:20:45,902 as quick as 328 00:20:45,903 --> 00:20:48,758 800-900 miles per second, 329 00:20:48,959 --> 00:20:50,958 which is extremely fast and they 330 00:20:50,959 --> 00:20:53,636 expell a massive amount of material. 331 00:20:53,837 --> 00:20:56,775 It can be the same amount of mass as, say, mount Everest, 332 00:20:56,776 --> 00:20:58,749 coming out from the Sun and 333 00:20:58,750 --> 00:21:00,715 flying out into space. 334 00:21:01,706 --> 00:21:04,699 Where does this blob of superheated radioactive 335 00:21:04,700 --> 00:21:07,292 plasma go when it leaves the Sun? 336 00:21:07,393 --> 00:21:10,900 Sometimes it sails out harmlessly into space. 337 00:21:11,001 --> 00:21:14,884 Other times it may head closer to home. 338 00:21:15,829 --> 00:21:18,205 Coronal mass ejections from the Sun 339 00:21:18,206 --> 00:21:22,077 are perhaps the most dangerous threat you've never heard of. 340 00:21:22,178 --> 00:21:24,237 Also known as solar storms, 341 00:21:24,338 --> 00:21:27,741 they hurl a large masses of supercharged particles 342 00:21:27,742 --> 00:21:30,845 across 93 million miles of space. 343 00:21:30,946 --> 00:21:34,828 Most take several days to travel from the Sun to the Earth, 344 00:21:34,929 --> 00:21:37,445 but some rocket across the Solar System 345 00:21:37,546 --> 00:21:39,979 at up to 6 million miles an hour, 346 00:21:39,980 --> 00:21:43,266 reaching our planet in less than 16 hours. 347 00:21:44,815 --> 00:21:48,184 These storms can induce currents in the outer atmosphere 348 00:21:48,185 --> 00:21:51,337 knocking out satellites and cross-country power grids 349 00:21:51,338 --> 00:21:52,899 and carry the potential to 350 00:21:52,900 --> 00:21:55,478 wreak just as much havoc on our infrastructure 351 00:21:55,479 --> 00:21:57,701 as a hurricane or a tornado. 352 00:21:58,802 --> 00:22:01,251 But who on Earth is keeping an eye 353 00:22:01,252 --> 00:22:04,632 on this potentially hazardous cosmic blasts? 354 00:22:06,562 --> 00:22:08,127 This is the headquarters 355 00:22:08,128 --> 00:22:11,625 of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 356 00:22:11,626 --> 00:22:14,950 home to the US government's national weather service. 357 00:22:15,354 --> 00:22:18,511 Their daily forecasts, watches and warnings 358 00:22:18,512 --> 00:22:22,312 are essential information for everyday life on our planet. 359 00:22:23,633 --> 00:22:27,281 But there is a lesser known group of forecasters working here 360 00:22:28,819 --> 00:22:32,769 in a special division called "The Space Environment Center". 361 00:22:34,516 --> 00:22:37,312 Out primary job is to monitor the Sun 362 00:22:37,413 --> 00:22:40,170 and put out the alerts, watches and warnings 363 00:22:40,171 --> 00:22:41,574 for solar activity. 364 00:22:41,844 --> 00:22:44,299 Good morning and welcome to our *10 briefing. 365 00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:47,844 We have one long duration C-flare from the east limb, 366 00:22:47,945 --> 00:22:49,928 that's a possible CME. 367 00:22:50,029 --> 00:22:52,920 We have not had protons but we have had electrons. 368 00:22:53,221 --> 00:22:55,127 One thing you notice is that this region 369 00:22:55,128 --> 00:22:56,687 produced all the activity in december 370 00:22:56,688 --> 00:22:59,739 so things might be picking up here in the next couple of weeks. 371 00:22:59,830 --> 00:23:01,507 These space forecasters 372 00:23:01,508 --> 00:23:03,728 are on high alert for solar storms 373 00:23:03,729 --> 00:23:05,912 that might disrupt life on Earth. 374 00:23:06,745 --> 00:23:10,037 Solar storm clouds are made up of charged particles, 375 00:23:10,038 --> 00:23:12,519 so they are initially diverted around the planet 376 00:23:12,520 --> 00:23:14,257 by our magnetic field, 377 00:23:14,258 --> 00:23:17,174 just like waves breaking around the bow of a boat. 378 00:23:17,575 --> 00:23:19,343 That turns out to be very important 379 00:23:19,344 --> 00:23:21,906 because if it impacted the outer atmosphere directly, 380 00:23:21,907 --> 00:23:25,239 it would knock little bits of the atmosphere off into space. 381 00:23:25,340 --> 00:23:27,700 One reason why Mars doesn't have an atmosphere 382 00:23:27,701 --> 00:23:30,238 is that it doesn't have a strong internal magnetic field. 383 00:23:31,001 --> 00:23:32,815 And so gradually over 384 00:23:32,816 --> 00:23:34,831 millions or maybe billions of years, 385 00:23:34,832 --> 00:23:37,408 the atmosphere was gradually knocked off into space 386 00:23:37,409 --> 00:23:39,162 by the influence of the solar wind 387 00:23:39,163 --> 00:23:41,962 and by the CMEs that came past the planet. 388 00:23:44,363 --> 00:23:48,827 But our magnetic field is not the perfect force field of sci-fi movies. 389 00:23:50,472 --> 00:23:52,563 Some particles can penetrate it 390 00:23:52,564 --> 00:23:55,045 charging up the upper atmosphere. 391 00:23:55,046 --> 00:23:58,535 Solar storms will even bend and break the magnetic field lines 392 00:23:58,536 --> 00:24:00,386 on the far side of the Earth, 393 00:24:00,387 --> 00:24:04,043 allowing charged particles to zip back down the field lines 394 00:24:04,044 --> 00:24:06,015 toward the north and south poles. 395 00:24:06,016 --> 00:24:09,490 Extremely powerful storms distort the magnetic field 396 00:24:09,491 --> 00:24:12,529 even futher, inducing electric currents 397 00:24:12,530 --> 00:24:14,309 that span the continents. 398 00:24:15,962 --> 00:24:19,797 When this happens technology like long-distance powerlines, 399 00:24:19,798 --> 00:24:21,996 can become overloaded. 400 00:24:22,697 --> 00:24:26,133 It can cause damage to trasformers at either end of the line. 401 00:24:26,406 --> 00:24:28,817 In fact, in 1989 402 00:24:28,918 --> 00:24:31,630 most of the canadian province of Quebec 403 00:24:31,676 --> 00:24:34,658 blacked-out because a transformer was blown out 404 00:24:34,659 --> 00:24:36,180 by a solar event. 405 00:24:37,986 --> 00:24:40,329 If we have that storm that hits our 406 00:24:40,330 --> 00:24:42,669 communication system and hits our 407 00:24:42,681 --> 00:24:45,833 our power companies and all these things that we depend on, 408 00:24:46,994 --> 00:24:49,718 there is all kinds of chaos that can lay out there. 409 00:24:54,155 --> 00:24:56,948 If power operators have time to react, 410 00:24:56,949 --> 00:24:58,295 thay can reduce the current 411 00:24:58,296 --> 00:24:59,897 being sent over their wires 412 00:24:59,918 --> 00:25:02,121 and avert disaster. 413 00:25:05,245 --> 00:25:07,140 Satellite operators can also 414 00:25:07,141 --> 00:25:08,868 prepare for the onslaught 415 00:25:08,869 --> 00:25:10,743 with proper warning. 416 00:25:10,744 --> 00:25:12,999 When there's a big space storm coming, 417 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:15,806 they'll actually put some of their satellites to sleep, 418 00:25:16,007 --> 00:25:17,499 so that the storm 419 00:25:17,500 --> 00:25:19,750 doesn't cause an electrical short 420 00:25:19,751 --> 00:25:22,138 or otherwise somehow knock out the satellite. 421 00:25:22,139 --> 00:25:24,672 So the more warning time they have, the better. 422 00:25:28,279 --> 00:25:29,776 We wouldn't go sailing 423 00:25:29,777 --> 00:25:31,751 unless we knew what the weather is going to be. 424 00:25:32,639 --> 00:25:35,453 Similarly when we have a large system 425 00:25:35,454 --> 00:25:38,960 like a power system or a telephone grid that can be affected 426 00:25:38,961 --> 00:25:40,800 by the weather in space, 427 00:25:40,805 --> 00:25:42,773 we need to know what the weather is going to be 428 00:25:42,774 --> 00:25:44,650 so that we can try and mitigate it. 429 00:25:46,670 --> 00:25:50,654 Solar storms can also disrupt high frequency radiocommunications 430 00:25:50,655 --> 00:25:52,241 used by aircraft. 431 00:25:52,242 --> 00:25:53,700 In the 1980's 432 00:25:53,701 --> 00:25:57,882 Airforce One was transporting president Reagan on a trip to China 433 00:25:57,883 --> 00:26:00,173 when a solar storm struck. 434 00:26:00,474 --> 00:26:02,366 All communications were lost 435 00:26:02,367 --> 00:26:03,877 for several hours, 436 00:26:03,878 --> 00:26:05,800 effectively severing the head of 437 00:26:05,801 --> 00:26:07,668 the United States government. 438 00:26:08,669 --> 00:26:11,277 The urgency is just like our ERS weather. 439 00:26:13,161 --> 00:26:15,037 When we have a tornado warning 440 00:26:15,038 --> 00:26:17,462 we know the urgency to get that out to the public 441 00:26:17,478 --> 00:26:19,580 to let the people know that this is happening. 442 00:26:19,581 --> 00:26:21,458 The same thing is with space weather. 443 00:26:21,459 --> 00:26:23,326 Users of this information 444 00:26:23,327 --> 00:26:25,623 need to know it and they need to know it now. 445 00:26:27,089 --> 00:26:30,547 Just a few hours back we experienced a coronal mass ejection. 446 00:26:30,548 --> 00:26:33,164 We wanna see where this blast is going out, 447 00:26:33,165 --> 00:26:34,624 and then we can measure that and see 448 00:26:34,625 --> 00:26:37,625 how long it might take from that to reach the Earth from the Sun. 449 00:26:40,070 --> 00:26:43,395 We're seeing a very huge explosion 450 00:26:43,496 --> 00:26:45,548 of material that's coming out 451 00:26:45,549 --> 00:26:48,223 and if you look at this small image here, 452 00:26:48,162 --> 00:26:49,925 here's the Sun that's covered up, 453 00:26:49,926 --> 00:26:53,574 and look at the mass that's being thrown out into space. 454 00:26:53,667 --> 00:26:55,106 So it's huge, very huge. 455 00:26:56,842 --> 00:27:00,710 Because magnetic field lines emanate from the North and South Poles, 456 00:27:00,810 --> 00:27:04,924 energy from solar storms has easy access to those regions. 457 00:27:05,164 --> 00:27:08,668 For that reason, experts worry that airplane passengers 458 00:27:08,743 --> 00:27:11,623 flying over the Poles during a powerful storm, 459 00:27:11,730 --> 00:27:14,890 might be exposed to harmful levels of radiation, 460 00:27:15,103 --> 00:27:18,781 perhaps are those equal to a hundred chest x-rays. 461 00:27:19,233 --> 00:27:22,493 It's not something that we want to mess around with, because we never know 462 00:27:22,517 --> 00:27:24,679 when that radiation might all of a sudden become 463 00:27:24,737 --> 00:27:27,943 a lot more intense while there's an airplane in the sky. 464 00:27:28,338 --> 00:27:31,719 The threat from solar radiation is just one more reason 465 00:27:31,755 --> 00:27:34,843 for scientists to keep a close watch on our Sun. 466 00:27:34,890 --> 00:27:38,388 It matters, especially in modern times, what the Sun is doing. 467 00:27:38,389 --> 00:27:39,887 Earth is not an island. 468 00:27:40,049 --> 00:27:43,466 We are participant in the activities of the Solar System. 469 00:27:44,012 --> 00:27:47,830 Sunspots are the triggers for more severe solar storms, 470 00:27:47,831 --> 00:27:50,352 so forecasters track them carefully, 471 00:27:50,383 --> 00:27:53,459 as they rotate across the surface of the Sun. 472 00:27:53,589 --> 00:27:59,377 Location, location, location. We see CMEs all the time from the Sun. 473 00:27:59,583 --> 00:28:04,065 A lot of them, as the center is rotated around, are from the backside of the Sun. 474 00:28:05,451 --> 00:28:09,291 That would not be face towards the Earth, so that would be less of a concern. 475 00:28:10,291 --> 00:28:15,148 As the Sun rotates around and that active region gets more into the center of the disk, 476 00:28:15,195 --> 00:28:19,105 looking at us, then that's when we would be concerned with. 477 00:28:19,223 --> 00:28:24,115 From the center of the Sun, as it rotates around, is the kill zone. 478 00:28:32,707 --> 00:28:36,230 As the sunspot rotates around and begins to face directly at Earth, 479 00:28:36,289 --> 00:28:38,942 that's when we really have to worry about a storm. 480 00:28:39,012 --> 00:28:41,595 If a big storm leaves off then, 481 00:28:41,654 --> 00:28:46,361 it can aim directly at Earth, and the full force of the storm slams into the planet. 482 00:28:51,170 --> 00:28:54,040 It's like a shotgun aiming at a target. 483 00:28:56,142 --> 00:28:58,068 The more dead on the shot, 484 00:28:59,159 --> 00:29:02,365 the more likely serious damage will be inflicted. 485 00:29:09,874 --> 00:29:14,418 With great danger also comes astonishing beauty. 486 00:29:15,478 --> 00:29:19,986 Solar storms generate majestic planetary lightshows. 487 00:29:20,391 --> 00:29:24,207 The shimmering courtains of colour called the Aurora. 488 00:29:28,137 --> 00:29:32,375 Auroras work like neon signs, on an enormous scale. 489 00:29:33,451 --> 00:29:39,099 In a neon sign, electricity introduces charged particles into a gas-filled tube. 490 00:29:39,315 --> 00:29:42,802 The particles in the gas are excited and start to glow. 491 00:29:42,906 --> 00:29:46,687 If the tube has only neon inside, it will glow red. 492 00:29:46,730 --> 00:29:51,732 By adding other gases, like argon, a whole range of colors can be produced. 493 00:29:52,009 --> 00:29:56,869 The neon sign is driven by the electric field inside the tube, 494 00:29:56,903 --> 00:30:02,474 whereas the Auroras are actually driven by the magnetic field and energy from the Sun. 495 00:30:03,261 --> 00:30:06,044 As the energetic particles in a solar storm 496 00:30:06,079 --> 00:30:09,508 stream along Earth's magnetic field towards the Poles, 497 00:30:09,596 --> 00:30:14,245 they excite elements in our atmosphere causing them to glow. 498 00:30:22,014 --> 00:30:25,454 Oxygen molecules emit a green or red color. 499 00:30:25,497 --> 00:30:29,297 And nytrogen emits pinks, blues and violets. 500 00:30:31,374 --> 00:30:34,473 While these ghostly lights are usually confined to the Poles, 501 00:30:34,497 --> 00:30:38,673 extremely strong solar storms can drive them closer to the Equator. 502 00:30:39,185 --> 00:30:44,116 In 1859 a geomagnetic storm ignited by a huge solar flare 503 00:30:44,316 --> 00:30:47,287 created Auroras as far south as Rome. 504 00:30:47,999 --> 00:30:51,533 The 1859 storm was an unusually powerful event 505 00:30:51,556 --> 00:30:55,192 that some have called "the perfect solar storm". 506 00:30:55,274 --> 00:30:59,041 The 1859 storm taught us a little something about what the Sun can do. 507 00:30:59,082 --> 00:31:03,414 The storm was so intense and the alignment was so perfect, 508 00:31:03,485 --> 00:31:06,491 that it simply overwhelmed Earth's natural defenses. 509 00:31:10,816 --> 00:31:15,156 A huge solar flare erupts on the surface of the Sun. 510 00:31:16,750 --> 00:31:20,496 Less than a day later and 93 million miles away, 511 00:31:20,555 --> 00:31:25,214 the wires the carry communications across the Earth, begin to spark. 512 00:31:25,273 --> 00:31:27,877 Business grinds to a halt worldwide 513 00:31:27,878 --> 00:31:31,746 as wild fires are ignited by the smoldering lines. 514 00:31:31,910 --> 00:31:37,699 At the same time, colorful Auroras light up the skies of cities around the globe. 515 00:31:38,185 --> 00:31:43,305 Earth has just been visited by the perfect solar storm. 516 00:31:43,430 --> 00:31:47,187 The Sun kicked up this just incredible solar flare 517 00:31:47,257 --> 00:31:50,715 and a massive amount of energy headed towards Earth. 518 00:31:51,349 --> 00:31:54,904 Not only was this storm one of the two most powerul on record, 519 00:31:54,963 --> 00:31:57,276 it was also one of the fastest. 520 00:32:00,047 --> 00:32:03,532 Ejecting from a sunspot aimed directly at Earth, 521 00:32:03,555 --> 00:32:08,221 it raced from the Sun to our planet in less than 18 hours. 522 00:32:12,012 --> 00:32:16,697 Now, it takes a really fast rocketship years to get to the Sun. 523 00:32:16,995 --> 00:32:19,801 This storm, this cloud of electrified particles, 524 00:32:19,802 --> 00:32:22,091 managed to get here in less than a day. 525 00:32:22,173 --> 00:32:23,711 That's incredibly fast. 526 00:32:25,945 --> 00:32:30,689 Fortunately, the perfect solar storm took place in 1859, 527 00:32:30,900 --> 00:32:35,448 when the only technology vulnerable to the onslaught was the telegraph. 528 00:32:36,435 --> 00:32:40,591 Since the era in wich we've become dependant on high technology, 529 00:32:40,650 --> 00:32:43,996 we've yet to see another perfect solar storm. 530 00:32:44,532 --> 00:32:48,090 The question remains: Could it happen again? 531 00:32:48,341 --> 00:32:52,063 What if we have another one like that? Can we have another perfect storm? 532 00:32:52,181 --> 00:32:55,598 I'd say yes we can, there's no doubt about that. 533 00:32:55,734 --> 00:33:03,663 The effects that would be on us today compared to 1859 could be devastating. 534 00:33:07,843 --> 00:33:12,325 The effects on Earth and on our communication systems, 535 00:33:12,384 --> 00:33:14,908 we don't exactly know. That's the scary part. 536 00:33:15,855 --> 00:33:19,248 It's likely that our modern technologies would be battered 537 00:33:19,284 --> 00:33:22,278 like beachfront houses during a hurricane. 538 00:33:25,967 --> 00:33:30,230 Imagine if we lost all the satellites that relay cellphone calls, 539 00:33:30,253 --> 00:33:32,977 television signals and bank transactions. 540 00:33:33,079 --> 00:33:34,661 And what if at the same time, 541 00:33:34,708 --> 00:33:40,826 the failure of power grids cascaded whole regions into darkness for hours, or weeks. 542 00:33:42,240 --> 00:33:45,684 If these essential services couldn't be restored quickly, 543 00:33:45,709 --> 00:33:48,417 chaos wouldn't be far behind. 544 00:33:51,604 --> 00:33:54,258 It would definitely be a ripple effect upon society 545 00:33:54,317 --> 00:33:57,064 and every man and woman and child that lives on this Earth. 546 00:33:58,772 --> 00:34:02,505 Solar storms can be as hard to predict as hurricanes. 547 00:34:02,942 --> 00:34:07,318 While forecasters lack the technology to foretell the next pefect storm, 548 00:34:07,361 --> 00:34:10,153 they do know that one would be more likely to hit 549 00:34:10,165 --> 00:34:14,110 at the peek of the Sun's eleven-year sunspot cycle. 550 00:34:14,460 --> 00:34:18,540 What happens is the Sun reverses the direction of its magnetic field 551 00:34:18,541 --> 00:34:19,723 every eleven years. 552 00:34:19,770 --> 00:34:23,081 So in 22 years it reverses and comes back to where it was. 553 00:34:23,398 --> 00:34:26,275 As we near the reversal every eleven years, 554 00:34:26,334 --> 00:34:31,283 the number of sunspots increases and there's a spike in solar activity. 555 00:34:31,306 --> 00:34:33,343 We call that period solar maximum 556 00:34:33,437 --> 00:34:37,212 and those periods are interspersed about 5 years apart 557 00:34:37,213 --> 00:34:39,683 from periods we call solar minimum. 558 00:34:40,806 --> 00:34:43,158 So you have this eleven year back and forth 559 00:34:43,159 --> 00:34:45,831 between the Sun being sometimes very feroscious, 560 00:34:45,878 --> 00:34:49,878 and it goes crazy and it's like the 4th of July with fireworks all the time. 561 00:34:49,901 --> 00:34:51,392 And then it starts to ramp down 562 00:34:51,393 --> 00:34:53,940 and for a few years it gets quieter until we get to 563 00:34:53,975 --> 00:34:58,087 a low point where there is a firecracker now and then but not a lot going on. 564 00:34:58,333 --> 00:35:02,936 Just like hurricane seasons, solar maximums vary in intensity. 565 00:35:03,237 --> 00:35:07,030 Some produce many more powerful storms than others. 566 00:35:07,276 --> 00:35:11,503 Although we're currently at solar minimum, scientists are watching carefully 567 00:35:11,522 --> 00:35:15,315 to see what mayhem the next solar max might unleash. 568 00:35:15,350 --> 00:35:18,000 The last solar maximum was in about 2001 569 00:35:18,023 --> 00:35:21,968 and so the next one ought to be about 2012, but there are different predictions. 570 00:35:22,011 --> 00:35:25,460 The whole field of solar physicists is basically waiting with bated breath 571 00:35:25,461 --> 00:35:26,978 to see what actually happens. 572 00:35:27,255 --> 00:35:30,660 There are some wildly divergent opinions on what's gonna happen. 573 00:35:30,766 --> 00:35:34,324 One group is suggesting that this next solar cycle 574 00:35:34,325 --> 00:35:37,114 could be the strongest in modern times. 575 00:35:40,114 --> 00:35:45,461 If those predictions are correct, Earth could be in for a wild ride. 576 00:35:45,766 --> 00:35:49,618 We might have to worry about a repeat of the 1859 event. 577 00:35:49,682 --> 00:35:52,511 If that would happen today it would wreak untold damage. 578 00:35:52,593 --> 00:35:55,326 We're gonna learn a whole lot about what can happen 579 00:35:55,357 --> 00:35:58,070 to modern technology when the Sun bows its top. 580 00:35:59,723 --> 00:36:02,505 Much of the violence in the Sun erupts here, 581 00:36:02,608 --> 00:36:06,187 in the hellish outer atmosphere known as the corona. 582 00:36:06,948 --> 00:36:10,642 This region has long held one of the great solar mysteries. 583 00:36:10,897 --> 00:36:15,431 Because even though it's half a million miles from the heat-generating core, 584 00:36:15,541 --> 00:36:18,212 it burns at millions of degrees. 585 00:36:18,489 --> 00:36:21,599 This seems to violate the very laws of physics. 586 00:36:22,235 --> 00:36:24,687 That's very strange. I have a thermometer here. 587 00:36:24,771 --> 00:36:27,400 If I hold the thermometer close to the fire, 588 00:36:27,760 --> 00:36:29,581 it reads a very high reading. 589 00:36:29,669 --> 00:36:32,628 Where the probe is right now it's over 200 degrees. 590 00:36:33,019 --> 00:36:35,967 And if I pull the probe out a little farther from the fire, 591 00:36:36,071 --> 00:36:38,497 ok, it drops down to about 90 degrees. 592 00:36:39,165 --> 00:36:42,452 Now, the farther I get from the center, the cooler it gets. 593 00:36:42,677 --> 00:36:46,804 In the atmosphere, the corona of the Sun, the temperature soars as hot as the core. 594 00:36:46,903 --> 00:36:50,054 That's as if, I were to say, well, way off behind me there, 595 00:36:50,106 --> 00:36:52,950 the heat from the fire is as hot as the fire itself, 596 00:36:53,054 --> 00:36:55,164 even though it's very far from the fire. 597 00:36:56,023 --> 00:36:59,884 What force could possibly cause the superheating of the corona? 598 00:37:00,535 --> 00:37:03,091 The answer will rock you. 599 00:37:05,292 --> 00:37:09,247 The hellish solar corona rages at millions of degrees. 600 00:37:09,586 --> 00:37:12,236 For centuries scientists have been baffled 601 00:37:12,372 --> 00:37:15,113 how anything so far from the Sun's core 602 00:37:15,169 --> 00:37:17,436 could still burn so hot. 603 00:37:18,168 --> 00:37:22,771 Recently, as improved satellites offered a closer view of the solar surface, 604 00:37:22,932 --> 00:37:25,066 clues began to emerge. 605 00:37:25,500 --> 00:37:29,872 Below the corona the Sun's surface is literally boiling. 606 00:37:30,414 --> 00:37:33,252 The reason is that the entire surface of the Sun 607 00:37:33,299 --> 00:37:37,348 is covered with convection cells, hot material from the inside of the Sun, 608 00:37:37,520 --> 00:37:41,516 that rises up through, reaches the surface, cools off by glowing, 609 00:37:41,623 --> 00:37:44,649 giving off sunlight and then sinks back down. 610 00:37:44,976 --> 00:37:48,597 Each bubble of material that comes up is about the size of Texas. 611 00:37:48,680 --> 00:37:52,775 It spreads out across the surface, cools off and sinks down in 5 minutes. 612 00:37:53,000 --> 00:37:56,266 So, that's a tremendously violent process 613 00:37:56,339 --> 00:37:59,232 that's happening in, literally, almost a million places 614 00:37:59,263 --> 00:38:03,301 over the entire surface of the Sun, all the time around the clock, 24/7. 615 00:38:06,001 --> 00:38:09,883 This boiling is not only violent, it's also extremely loud. 616 00:38:11,172 --> 00:38:14,297 The Sun is a tremendously loud place. 617 00:38:17,379 --> 00:38:20,666 If you could imagine covering the entire surface of the Sun 618 00:38:20,906 --> 00:38:25,122 with speakers being driven as hard as the loudest rock concert you've ever been to, 619 00:38:25,477 --> 00:38:29,974 that would be comparable to how loud it really is on the surface of the Sun. 620 00:38:31,106 --> 00:38:34,468 The Sun's churning surface creates enough sound energy 621 00:38:34,531 --> 00:38:37,891 to superheat the corona to millions of degrees. 622 00:38:38,550 --> 00:38:42,281 Scientists believe that a combination of these sound waves and energy 623 00:38:42,323 --> 00:38:43,993 from the Sun's magnetic field 624 00:38:44,070 --> 00:38:48,338 is responsible for the extreme temperatures found in the corona. 625 00:38:49,674 --> 00:38:52,857 The only time you can actually see the corona from Earth 626 00:38:52,998 --> 00:38:57,412 is at the climax of one of the most dazzling displays in the Solar System, 627 00:38:57,636 --> 00:38:59,661 a total solar eclipse. 628 00:39:00,469 --> 00:39:02,509 Before scientists understood them, 629 00:39:02,561 --> 00:39:06,318 these awe inspiring events instilled only fear. 630 00:39:06,610 --> 00:39:11,034 The ancient Chinese believed that a dragon was devouring the Sun. 631 00:39:11,619 --> 00:39:14,666 So what's really happening in a solar eclipse? 632 00:39:14,781 --> 00:39:19,147 In simplest terms it's when the Moon blocks our view of the Sun. 633 00:39:20,493 --> 00:39:23,718 Imagine that you're sitting in a movies watching very happily 634 00:39:23,739 --> 00:39:26,389 something going on on the screen and then somebody 635 00:39:26,546 --> 00:39:29,635 in the row in front of you comes across 636 00:39:29,859 --> 00:39:31,612 and blocks your view. 637 00:39:31,731 --> 00:39:33,776 In a movie theater you might not want that person 638 00:39:33,777 --> 00:39:35,478 to come across in front of you, but at... 639 00:39:35,479 --> 00:39:39,277 an eclipse we're very lucky to have the Moon come across the Sun, 640 00:39:39,313 --> 00:39:41,807 and we're lucky to have it come right across the middle. 641 00:39:42,745 --> 00:39:47,254 We're also lucky that the Moon, although it's 400 times smaller than the Sun, 642 00:39:47,286 --> 00:39:50,322 is also 400 times closer to us. 643 00:39:50,458 --> 00:39:53,458 This cosmic coincidence means that the two objects 644 00:39:53,531 --> 00:39:56,636 just happen to be the same apparent size in our sky, 645 00:39:56,724 --> 00:40:00,225 which allows for one to completely block out the other. 646 00:40:01,832 --> 00:40:04,597 This magnificent cosmic event only happens 647 00:40:04,629 --> 00:40:08,562 when the path of the Moon intersects the line between the Earth and the Sun. 648 00:40:08,700 --> 00:40:12,016 The Moon's orbit is tilted slightly about 5 degrees. 649 00:40:12,125 --> 00:40:15,548 If it wasn't we would have an eclipse every month. 650 00:40:15,898 --> 00:40:17,327 And then we'd be bored, 651 00:40:17,359 --> 00:40:19,858 but we're not bored because most months 652 00:40:19,949 --> 00:40:22,839 the Moon goes above or below 653 00:40:22,920 --> 00:40:26,542 the place where the line goes from the Earth to the Sun. 654 00:40:27,897 --> 00:40:30,673 So instead of one every month we get a total eclipse 655 00:40:30,725 --> 00:40:33,908 somewhere on Earth about once every year and a half. 656 00:40:34,623 --> 00:40:36,824 As the Moon slides in front of the Sun, 657 00:40:36,862 --> 00:40:39,121 it casts a shadow onto the Earth. 658 00:40:39,241 --> 00:40:41,850 The outer part, where the shadow is fainter, 659 00:40:41,898 --> 00:40:43,756 is called the penumbra. 660 00:40:44,595 --> 00:40:47,392 If you're standing within the swath traced by the penumbra, 661 00:40:47,455 --> 00:40:49,479 as it moves along the Earth's surface, 662 00:40:49,526 --> 00:40:51,884 then you'll see only a partial eclipse. 663 00:40:54,391 --> 00:40:57,720 But travel to a spot within the path of the dark inner shadow, 664 00:40:57,768 --> 00:40:59,124 called the umbra, 665 00:40:59,173 --> 00:41:03,117 and you'll experience the majesty of a total eclipse. 666 00:41:06,895 --> 00:41:10,558 There's another option if you can't travel to the path of totality, 667 00:41:10,954 --> 00:41:13,009 wait in one place long enough 668 00:41:13,067 --> 00:41:15,932 and a total eclipse will pass right over your head 669 00:41:16,036 --> 00:41:18,749 about once every 300 years. 670 00:41:23,287 --> 00:41:26,902 The Sun, that shining star of our Solar System, 671 00:41:27,037 --> 00:41:31,642 is capable of both astonishing beauty and ferocious violence. 672 00:41:32,991 --> 00:41:35,203 It seems impossible to believe, 673 00:41:35,391 --> 00:41:37,613 but it won't be around forever. 674 00:41:39,564 --> 00:41:42,976 Eventually even the Sun must die. 675 00:41:43,466 --> 00:41:46,889 The Sun has a fixed amount of fuel in its core, 676 00:41:47,243 --> 00:41:51,992 it is undergoing fusion at a rate that you can calculate. 677 00:41:52,274 --> 00:41:54,465 So here's the rate it's using its fuel, 678 00:41:54,810 --> 00:41:56,432 here's how much fuel you have, 679 00:41:56,747 --> 00:42:00,827 so it's a simple calculation to show when the Sun will die, 680 00:42:01,132 --> 00:42:03,323 and that's in about a five billion years. 681 00:42:03,930 --> 00:42:06,507 Well, unfortunately the Sun will not go out with a bang. 682 00:42:06,556 --> 00:42:09,415 It's too small to erupt in a supernova. 683 00:42:10,410 --> 00:42:12,789 However stars do a peculiar thing, 684 00:42:12,821 --> 00:42:16,087 they're one of the few things around that get hotter as they cool off. 685 00:42:16,993 --> 00:42:20,771 As it exhausts its hydrogen fuel, our nearest star will cool 686 00:42:20,844 --> 00:42:23,682 and gradually collapse under the force of gravity. 687 00:42:23,870 --> 00:42:27,177 Energy from this collapse will start heating up the core again 688 00:42:27,209 --> 00:42:31,988 to hundreds of millions of degrees, hot enough to start burning helium. 689 00:42:32,849 --> 00:42:34,988 Onto the extra heat of the helium burning, 690 00:42:35,019 --> 00:42:39,444 the star will expand into a monstrous orb called a red giant. 691 00:42:39,876 --> 00:42:42,714 It'll get so big it will engulf 692 00:42:43,022 --> 00:42:47,530 the entire orbits of Mercury, Venus and Earth. 693 00:42:48,488 --> 00:42:49,753 You don't want to be around for that. 694 00:42:49,791 --> 00:42:52,554 You want to be planet-hopping your way to safety 695 00:42:52,691 --> 00:42:54,444 long before this happens. 696 00:42:55,659 --> 00:42:59,149 The Earth is likely to change its orbit slightly as the star expands, 697 00:42:59,190 --> 00:43:01,089 so that it won't be engulfed. 698 00:43:01,161 --> 00:43:04,230 Still, talking about global warming, you wouldn't want to be here. 699 00:43:04,983 --> 00:43:08,897 The outer layers of our Sun will eventually become so unstable 700 00:43:09,032 --> 00:43:11,244 that they will fly off into space, 701 00:43:11,296 --> 00:43:15,347 leaving behind a small core about the size of the Earth. 702 00:43:16,057 --> 00:43:18,445 So remember we've shrunk most of the Sun, 703 00:43:18,477 --> 00:43:21,408 which is a million miles across, to the size of the Earth which is 704 00:43:21,585 --> 00:43:24,371 more like 6000 miles across. 705 00:43:24,653 --> 00:43:28,957 Our once great star reduced to a slowly cooling cinder. 706 00:43:29,661 --> 00:43:32,708 Life as we know it on Earth will cease to exist. 707 00:43:33,303 --> 00:43:35,839 And that is the death of the Sun. 708 00:43:37,665 --> 00:43:40,816 All of this is bad news for the human race, 709 00:43:41,605 --> 00:43:43,452 but look on the bright side. 710 00:43:44,182 --> 00:43:47,740 We've got five billion years to prepare for this disaster. 711 00:43:49,222 --> 00:43:52,671 For now, humanity basks in the glow of a Sun 712 00:43:52,744 --> 00:43:54,822 in the prime of its life. 713 00:43:55,018 --> 00:43:58,869 Science has uncovered many of the secrets of our nearest star, 714 00:43:59,037 --> 00:44:01,571 but we remain awed by its beauty, 715 00:44:01,644 --> 00:44:05,171 and ever more wary of its wrath.38442

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