<div><a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-10722-Austin-Science-Policy-Examiner~y2010m8d3-Large-solar-storm-headed-our-way">http://www.examiner.com/x-10722-Austin-Science-Policy-Examiner~y2010m8d3-Large-solar-storm-headed-our-way</a></div>
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<div>From website above:</div>
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<div><font size="4">Large solar storm headed our way</font> </div>
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<div class="new_timestamp">August 3, 6:59 AM<img style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px" border="0" align="absMiddle" src="http://image.examiner.com/img/greydot.gif"><a style="TEXT-DECORATION: none" onclick="s_objectID='article-head_examiner-index';" href="http://www.examiner.com/x-10722-Austin-Science-Policy-Examiner"><font color="#006699">Austin Science Policy Examiner</font></a><font color="#006699"><img style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px" border="0" align="absMiddle" src="http://image.examiner.com/img/greydot.gif"></font>Steven Andrew</div>
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<div>Above, courtesy of <a href="http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/"><font color="#006699">NASA/SOHO</font></a>, a solar flare shoots out of the sun headed for earth. After traveling 93 million miles, the stream of charged particles are channeled by the earth's geomagnetic field into columns leading to the poles. The energetic particles strike the upper atmosphere above the arctic and antarctic circle at hundreds of miles per second and light up the air, somewhat like the electrons in a TV light up the screen. We see the display from the ground as aurora. Depending on the earth's orientation, fall/spring vs winter/summer, exceptionally powerful streams of charged particles can produce aurora well past the polar regions and, in some cases, almost to the equator. The 1859 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859"><font color="#006699">Carrington Event</font></a>, the most powerful solar storm on record, lit up skies with aurora clear down to the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean islands.</div>
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<div>It remains to be seen if this deal will live up to expectations or how far south it will be visible if it does. Your best chance to find out is to be far away from city lights, under a clear sky, looking toward the north around midnight to 3:00AM Wednesday morning (After which the rising moon in its waning quarter could spoil viewing), or starting an hour or two after sunset on Wednesday evening through early Thursday morning. </div>
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<div>We are in new solar cycle 24 after leaving a deep solar minimum that was "...the deepest solar minimum in nearly a century."</div>
<div><a href="http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2009/03sep_sunspots/">http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2009/03sep_sunspots/</a> </div>
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<div>From NASA website above:</div>
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<div><strong>September 3, 2009:</strong> The sun is in the pits of the deepest solar minimum in nearly a century. Weeks and sometimes whole months go by without even a single tiny sunspot.</div>
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<div>Solar cycle 24 predictions presented by NASA Marshall Space Flight Center at websites below:</div>
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<div><a href="http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/images/ssn_predict_l.gif">http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/images/ssn_predict_l.gif</a></div>
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<div><a href="http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/predict.shtml">http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/predict.shtml</a></div>
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<div>Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett</div>