The Sun And Your T.V.

[Christina]

This article is from 2003 but it might give you and idea of what we might expect the next week ......................................................................................................2003DENVER -- A strong geomagnetic storm was expected to hit Earth on Friday with the potential to affect electrical grids and satellite communications. "People that have cell phones or TV connections or anything with a satellite hookup could see problems from these storms," said Larry Combs, a forecaster for Space Weather in Boulder, Colo. Solar storms can damage to satellites, power grids and pipelines, as well as other electrical disturbances that can affect cable TV, pager and cellular telephone service. Satellites in orbit high above the Earth's protective atmosphere are particularly susceptible to solar radiation. High-energy electrons from the storm can penetrate spacecraft, zapping the electronics and turning data bits from "0" to "1" or vice versa, causing the satellites to go into unexpected modes and maneuvers. The list of major satellites knocked out by solar storms is long and costly. A recent example is the $200 million AT&T Telstar 401 satellite that experienced a massive power failure in 1997 only days after a solar storm arrived at Earth. Among networks affected were ABC, Fox and PBS, which used the satellite to beam programming to affiliate stations. The satellite also carried pager service, which was knocked out to 45 million people. At over 869,919 miles wide, the sun contains 99.86 percent of the mass of the entire solar system: well 1 million Earths could fit inside it. The total energy radiated by the sun averages 383 billion trillion kilowatts, the equivalent of the energy generated by 100 billion tons of TNT exploding every second.

 

[gibby]

I watch maybe an hour total of T.V. a week and only about 5 minutes total a month on my cell phone so no huge loss on my end.

 

[David]

(gibby;4774)
I watch maybe an hour total of T.V. a week and only about 5 minutes total a month on my cell phone so no huge loss on my end.
Hey that awesome!I don't watch any TV a month and I don't even have a cell phone*, so there is like nothing for me to even think about.

* why buy one when everyone and their brother already has one…