Speaker 1: Welcome once again to the Doctor Sky experience heard exclusively
Speaker 1: here on Talk Radio seventy seven WABC, as we like
Speaker 1: to mention and call it the crown Jewel of radio,
Speaker 1: the iconic seventy seven Talk Radio WABC, beaming out of
Speaker 1: New York City, the nation, the world, and I'm sure
Speaker 1: out to the cosmos. Yes you're listening to me, Steve Kates,
Speaker 1: Doctor Sky, and proudly here on this great radio station
Speaker 1: we bring you interesting information on solar cycle twenty five
Speaker 1: and the great solar storms that have been happening this
Speaker 1: particular week. Listening to this particular update, it's current as
Speaker 1: of May the eleventh, twenty twenty four, the current solar
Speaker 1: wind speed is now five hundred and sixty miles per second.
Speaker 1: That is the stream of particles that move out and
Speaker 1: permeate the solar system. There's a seventy five percent chance
Speaker 1: of more X flares on the Sun, and the massive
Speaker 1: Sunspot group Active Region thirty six sixty four, which now
Speaker 1: contains forty three very active and magnetically charged sunspots, will
Speaker 1: indeed give us some great information in the form of
Speaker 1: energy from the Sun as it now transitions to the
Speaker 1: right side of the Sun and soon to disappear to
Speaker 1: the backside of the Sun. The sunspot number as of
Speaker 1: this particular date is one hundred and fifty six on
Speaker 1: the Sun. But let's talk a little bit more about
Speaker 1: solar flares and what's been happening this week. We continue
Speaker 1: to update you on what happens on our star, the Sun,
Speaker 1: ninety three million miles away. Solar flares of sunspot cycle
Speaker 1: twenty five are interesting. Indeed, solar cycle twenty five began
Speaker 1: on December of twenty nineteen, and it should peak some
Speaker 1: astrophysicists and astronomers believe by late twenty twenty four or
Speaker 1: even early into twenty twenty five. These are geomagnetic stores.
Speaker 1: But let me qualify what we talk about here on
Speaker 1: the ductor Sky experience and Solar cycle twenty five. Sunspots
Speaker 1: appear in the photosphere of the Sun. That's the light area,
Speaker 1: the bright area that you see in need those protective
Speaker 1: solar glasses to view the Sun safely. The temperature of
Speaker 1: that photosphere is about twelve thousand degrees fahrenheit, and these
Speaker 1: sunspots are actually cooler regions on the Sun. Remember, the
Speaker 1: Sun is not solid. It's more described as gaseous, but
Speaker 1: it's more like a plasma. But more on that in
Speaker 1: future reports. Those sunspots, these cores that are darker, are
Speaker 1: about six thousand degrees fahrenheit, and they are surrounded by
Speaker 1: a pnumberal region which is a little bit fainter. What's
Speaker 1: interesting about these sunspots is they are magnetically charged, and
Speaker 1: they are full of magnetic energy. So when some of
Speaker 1: these sunspots butt up against another one, their opposite polarities
Speaker 1: plus minus or minus plus cause what we call the
Speaker 1: phenomenon of solar flares. Now, if you can imagine this,
Speaker 1: and it's hard to even be able to talk about
Speaker 1: because it's so out of this world, the average flare
Speaker 1: intensity is as if you detonated, let's say a hundred
Speaker 1: million hydrogen bombs. That energy, of course, is pushed out
Speaker 1: into space, and in many cases, the Sun pushes out
Speaker 1: other material called coronal mass ejections. These are highly charged
Speaker 1: particles protons that move out at a slower speed than
Speaker 1: the speed of light. A solar flare literally travels from
Speaker 1: the Sun to the Earth in about eight and a
Speaker 1: half minutes. That's the speed of light. But these coronal
Speaker 1: mass ejections, these particles can take upwards of fifteen to
Speaker 1: twenty hours or more. But here's a little history of
Speaker 1: Solar cycle twenty five as far as X flares and
Speaker 1: geomagnetic storms. Remember, geomagnetic storms go from a G one
Speaker 1: up to a G five, which we just had this
Speaker 1: past weekend. Let's do a little history. The first geostorm
Speaker 1: of this particular cycle happened on May twelfth of twenty
Speaker 1: twenty one. That was a G three storm, not seen
Speaker 1: widely around the world, but it did interfere with lie
Speaker 1: little bit with high frequency radio and communications. On July third,
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one, the first of the X flares of
Speaker 1: this solar cycle. On Halloween of twenty twenty one, another
Speaker 1: X flare from the Sun November fourth, twenty twenty one,
Speaker 1: our first G four solar storm. Unfortunately, at that time,
Speaker 1: auroras were not widely visible as they were over this
Speaker 1: past weekend. Moving through our time capsule, January twenty ninth
Speaker 1: of twenty twenty two, a solar storm actually wiped out
Speaker 1: thirty eight of forty nine small little satellites like the
Speaker 1: Little SpaceX satellites because of the intense radiation. Moving on
Speaker 1: to January twenty twenty three, another solar storm. But it
Speaker 1: gets more interesting. On March thirteenth, twenty twenty three, one
Speaker 1: of the fastest coronal mass ejections of this cycle were recorded.
Speaker 1: We talk about a speed of twelve hundred miles per
Speaker 1: second as opposed to the current wind speed of five
Speaker 1: hundred and sixty miles per second that hit the Earth
Speaker 1: within its energy in a little bit less than twenty hours.
Speaker 1: Moving on to March the twenty third of this particular year,
Speaker 1: as we continue to talk about these events in astronomy,
Speaker 1: that was a G four solar storm knocked out some
Speaker 1: power stations in the US, albeit on a minor scale.
Speaker 1: And then moving on to April twenty first of twenty
Speaker 1: twenty three, another G four solar storm. Now, what's going
Speaker 1: on with the latest on the Sun? A brand new
Speaker 1: CME just launched off the Sun today as we're doing
Speaker 1: this recording on May the eleventh. On the X scale,
Speaker 1: it was a five point eight, and that particular energy
Speaker 1: may energize the entire G numbers, meaning those geo storm
Speaker 1: levels all the way up to a number five like
Speaker 1: we had this past weekend. So in simple English, keep
Speaker 1: your eyes peeled to the northern sky in dark conditions,
Speaker 1: because you may get, indeed to see something, as many
Speaker 1: people did over this previous weekend and this weekend entirely
Speaker 1: when they saw the un auroras as far south of
Speaker 1: Puerto Rico into Mexico and areas to the south like Florida,
Speaker 1: and here in Arizona where I am a fascinating story
Speaker 1: again solar and sunspot active region as we talk about
Speaker 1: it here, This particular active region known as number three
Speaker 1: six sixty four thirty six sixty four with forty three
Speaker 1: very energetic sunspots, is now moving to the lower right
Speaker 1: side of the Sun. So if you still have those
Speaker 1: solar glasses from last month's eclipse, make sure they don't
Speaker 1: have any holes in them, and you can actually see
Speaker 1: this sunspot on the right edge of the Sun, one
Speaker 1: of the most massive sunspots of all time. But in conclusion,
Speaker 1: let's talk about the Great Carrington event. That's an event
Speaker 1: that was widely observed by Richard Carrington and another astronomer
Speaker 1: back in September of eighteen fifty nine when they observed
Speaker 1: a sunspot about as large as this group right now,
Speaker 1: and it produced one of the most massive X flares.
Speaker 1: We don't know the exact X number. And again that
Speaker 1: particular solar storm and sunspot group was literally placed at
Speaker 1: the front and center of the Sun. So we call
Speaker 1: it the kill shot when that giant sunspot group erupts
Speaker 1: and it sends out a CMA chronal mass ejection. Most
Speaker 1: damage on a very high leveled numbered X flare caused
Speaker 1: what happened in eighteen fifty nine, what did it cause
Speaker 1: during the Internet era, then the Victorian Internet, we use
Speaker 1: telegram and many telegraphers were actually shocked when they were
Speaker 1: keying out messages and many of the transmission telephone like lines,
Speaker 1: telegraph lines literally went a fire and a blaze. Now
Speaker 1: that's incredible. We live in a digital world. I need
Speaker 1: not remind you. And the problematic thing now is if
Speaker 1: we have a similar type X flare on the Sun.
Speaker 1: Not to be alarmist, but are we speaking truth and science,
Speaker 1: This could very well knock down not only power grids,
Speaker 1: but also could destroy satellites. And right now, this is
Speaker 1: very interesting story. Back in March of nineteen eighty nine,
Speaker 1: another massive X flare fifteen on the X flare scale,
Speaker 1: It actually hit and it hid an area in Canada
Speaker 1: and at Quebec, and it knocked out power by disrupting
Speaker 1: those generators to about thirty million people. And people may
Speaker 1: wonder why, Well, the real truth of the matter is
Speaker 1: the reason that that particular solar storm was so effective
Speaker 1: there is that the rock, or the surface rock of
Speaker 1: that part of the nation and part of the world
Speaker 1: is very hard, igneous rock. And when those solar protons
Speaker 1: and storms hit the earth in other areas that are softer,
Speaker 1: they get absorbed for a good portion of their energy
Speaker 1: into the ground. But in this particular case, the energy
Speaker 1: bounced off the hard rock and shot itself back up
Speaker 1: to transformers and power lines, causing that great damage. To
Speaker 1: listen to me, Doctor Sky and the Doctor Sky Experience,
Speaker 1: you can hear our updates with Frank Morono on the
Speaker 1: other side of Midnight and every other Wednesday at one am.
Speaker 1: He's kind enough to transform the name of the show
Speaker 1: to Cosmic Conversations with me, Doctor Sky, as we talk
Speaker 1: about the great realms of astronomy, space, aviation, and weather
Speaker 1: and privilege and honored to be with owner and operator
Speaker 1: John Katzimatides every Sunday morning as we take our minds
Speaker 1: off the political world and talk about the great vast
Speaker 1: unknown on the Cat's Roundtable, and then more and more
Speaker 1: as these events happen. Look for me Doctor Sky with
Speaker 1: the Doctor Sky Experience, updates on Kats and Cosby on
Speaker 1: the Great five PM Show. If you'd like to email me,
Speaker 1: that's simple. It's doctor Sky's show. Just Drsky Show at
Speaker 1: gmail dot com. And what do we say, folks, Always
Speaker 1: remember to keep your eyes to the skies as I
Speaker 1: try to earn that opportunity. It's a privilege and honor
Speaker 1: to be here on talk radio seventy seven WABC with
Speaker 1: all the listeners. As we call it the crown Jewel
Speaker 1: of radio mentioned before, the iconic seven Talk Radio w
Speaker 1: A b C beaming ourselves out from New York City,
Speaker 1: the nation, the world, and I'm sure the cosmos. I'm
Speaker 1: Doctor Sky with the Doctor Sky Experience. I'm your navigator
Speaker 1: on the highway to the heavens, a highway that has
Speaker 1: yet no tolls, so we can expand our minds and
Speaker 1: look deep into the cosmos on things that go bump
Speaker 1: in the day and bump in the night. I'm your navigator.
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining me.