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Ancient Texts Can Shed Light on Auroras

58 points by Petiver 3y ago

its_ethan 3y ago
It is so incredibly cool that solar flares can leave a radioactive signature in tree rings. Like that sounds like it should be fake - corroborating it with written accounts must've been such a mind blowing process. This also reminds me of the national parks up in NorCal that have cross sections of tree trunks that show which rings of the tree correspond with significant historical events. It's great perspective to see that a tree was halfway through it's life when the magna carta was written.
JKCalhoun 3y ago
I have only seen a full display of the Northern Lights once, but I encourage everyone to try to do so sometime in their lives. Mind blowing.
- brightball 3y ago
  It's on the bucket list. My wife and I keep talking about planning a trip to see them one day.
finnh 3y ago
Terrifying article about the impact of solar weather on our (electricity-dependent) society: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/03/04/what-a-major-solar-storm-could-do-to-our-planet https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/03/04/what-a-major-s...
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- taejavu 3y ago
  I've been talking to a friend about this lately, in the context of "prepping". Curious if anyone here knows whether a laptop computer could potentially get fried from a solar storm if it were unplugged? I'm guessing it's just things connected via wires that would be destroyed. If I'm mistaken, would a faraday cage keep the laptop safe?
  - pyinstallwoes 3y ago
    Anything that acts like a circuit is at risk
  - yencabulator 3y ago
    A faraday cage with the right hole size, or a faraday shield of sufficient thickness, should protect it against very intense effects, up to EMPs. Just being disconnected already helps, it comes down to strength of the solar flare vs length of metal piece. I know some military hardware is built with a metal box with holes on the inside of the plastic case -- a faraday cage -- though that probably also serves to minimize RF leaks.
NKosmatos 3y ago
It would be good if similar research was performed on/for other ancient civilizations to better understand our sun. A big Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) is going to cause a lethal geomagnetic storm, it’s not a matter of “if” but of “when”. Our modern lifestyle is heavily dependent on electronics and we’re going to be heavily impacted :-(

58 points by Petiver 3y ago

It is so incredibly cool that solar flares can leave a radioactive signature in tree rings. Like that sounds like it should be fake - corroborating it with written accounts must've been such a mind blowing process. This also reminds me of the national parks up in NorCal that have cross sections of tree trunks that show which rings of the tree correspond with significant historical events. It's great perspective to see that a tree was halfway through it's life when the magna carta was written.

JKCalhoun 3y ago

I have only seen a full display of the Northern Lights once, but I encourage everyone to try to do so sometime in their lives. Mind blowing.

brightball 3y ago
It's on the bucket list. My wife and I keep talking about planning a trip to see them one day.

finnh 3y ago

Terrifying article about the impact of solar weather on our (electricity-dependent) society: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/03/04/what-a-major-solar-storm-could-do-to-our-planet https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/03/04/what-a-major-s...

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
taejavu 3y ago
I've been talking to a friend about this lately, in the context of "prepping". Curious if anyone here knows whether a laptop computer could potentially get fried from a solar storm if it were unplugged? I'm guessing it's just things connected via wires that would be destroyed. If I'm mistaken, would a faraday cage keep the laptop safe?
- pyinstallwoes 3y ago
  Anything that acts like a circuit is at risk
- yencabulator 3y ago
  A faraday cage with the right hole size, or a faraday shield of sufficient thickness, should protect it against very intense effects, up to EMPs. Just being disconnected already helps, it comes down to strength of the solar flare vs length of metal piece. I know some military hardware is built with a metal box with holes on the inside of the plastic case -- a faraday cage -- though that probably also serves to minimize RF leaks.

NKosmatos 3y ago

It would be good if similar research was performed on/for other ancient civilizations to better understand our sun. A big Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) is going to cause a lethal geomagnetic storm, it’s not a matter of “if” but of “when”. Our modern lifestyle is heavily dependent on electronics and we’re going to be heavily impacted :-(