NASA MONITORS BIGGEST SOLAR STORM SINCE 2005
01.25.12
NASA MONITORS BIGGEST SOLAR STORM SINCE 2005
The sun erupted late on January 22, 2012 with an M8.7 class flare, an earth-directed coronal mass ejection (CME), and a burst of fast moving, highly energetic protons known as a “solar energetic particle” event. The latter has caused the strongest solar radiation storm since September 2005 according to NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center.
Interview Excerpts RT: 0:58
Center Contact: Susan Hendrix 301-286-7745
HQ Contact: Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
For more info: http://www.nasa.gov/sunearth
Antti Pulkinnen, NASA Solar Scientist
Cut 1 – TRT- 00:15 – “This is in some sense the strongest eruption that we have had in many years, especially in terms of generations; these fast moving charged particles that generate elevated radiation conditions in space.”
› Play Now
Antti Pulkinnen, NASA Solar Scientist
Cut 2 – TRT- 00:23 – “We’re not expecting any major problems in terms of operating technological systems in space or on the ground. We’re for example not expecting any major impact on the high voltage power transmission systems. Perhaps the greatest impact that we’re expecting from this ongoing event is that we can have great oral displace, hopefully for example tonight.”
› Play Now
Antti Pulkinnen, NASA Solar Scientist
Cut 3 – TRT- 00:17 – “We’re expecting to reach the solar maximum in terms of activity, sometime around next year. So we’re expecting to have more of these kinds of solar eruptions in the coming two or three years.”
› Play Now
