Scientists Are Just Beginning to Learn About the Sun. For thousands of years mankind has worshipped the sun, played in the sun’s light, and bathed in the sun’s rays to get that ‘healthy look’-- and a little sunburn. Until recently we were blind to the sun’s constantly explosive and dangerous nature. The brightness of the photosphere hid the sun’s angry inner corona. Only during an eclipse could scientists see the activity of the inner corona. Viewed from the Earth, the sun’s flares and other fiery prominences were hidden by the sun’s glare. It has been said that what we don’t know won’t hurt us; or ignorance is bliss. Now, however, in a mere thirty years, since Skylab in 1973 to be specific, our database of information about the sun is growing by leaps and bounds. New technologies such as x-ray photographic equipment, spectroscopic measuring devices, space stations, space telescopes, and satellite sensing equipment are uncorking the sun’s awesome secrets. Now, data pours in streams of solar information to scientists all over the world. We have a Solar Weather Bureau at the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), http://www.sec.noaa.gov/. NOAA scientists grade solar storms just like weathermen grade hurricanes. What have we learned about the sun is changing our minds. We have learned three things--and much more: 1. The sun’s outer corona (a broad-reaching magnetic field) reaches way past the orbit of the Earth, out into the solar system. Earth is under the sun’s influence in more ways than just sunbathing in its light. The effects this has upon the Earth are still being studied. 2. The violent twisting and snapping of the sun’s magnetic fields eject radiation and ionized particles towards the Earth. The holes in the magnetic fields themselves, as they arc within the sun’s chromosphere, emit radiation and streams of atomic particles. The most spectacular magnetic field upheavals and the holes within the magnetic field act like solar cannons firing deadly x-rays, gamma rays, ultraviolet rays, and nuclear particles at the Earth. 3. Very high levels of solar activity have been linked to upheavals in our man-made communications, defense, and power systems on Earth. Studying Solar Activity is becoming more and more important. It’s our fault. The more we use space to do our earth-bound business, the more we need to know and the faster we need to know it. We are exploring and growing our resources farther and farther from the Earth. Humans are curious, acquisitive, ingenious, pioneering, and entrepreneurial. Words everyone should know to help understand what motivates human beings to want more. In general, all these words suggest that if something is out there that’s worth getting, someone will find a way to go get it. If I tell you not to do something because it’s too hard or nobody has ever done that before, what do you want to do? Right. Go do it. At least the warning makes you curious. All people are that way to one degree or another -- especially scientists and engineers and business people. Scientific curiosity explains why you might have a microwave in your kitchen, a couple of TV’s in your house, a game boy, a phone in your pocket, a solar-powered calculator, a pocket computer linked to the internet via satellite, enough electricity to run just about any appliance you can dream of. We are sending robots and satellites to Mars and Jupiter searching for water and life, and teams of scientists, engineers, and technicians are building a laboratory in outer space where there is no gravity--and no protection from the sun’ deadliest radiation. There Are Two Reasons Why We Haven’t Had to Worry. First: our atmosphere protects us. As long as we stay close to home, when x-ray photons hit our atmosphere they hit molecules that ionize. The radiation from this collision is emitted in a lower form of radiation that is not as dangerous to life on Earth. A lot of this takes place in the ionosphere and the ozone layers around the Earth. The name ionosphere says it all. Second: the Earth’s own magnetic fields protect us. The Earth’s magnetic field serves us in two ways. First, the magnetic field above the Earth forms a magnetic container, a buffer zone. This container acts like a sponge and entraps high-energy particles from the sun. This charged-nuclear-particle-sponge is called the Van Allen Belt. Second, Earth’s magnetic field lines act like electric wires. A force called the Lorentz Force can explain the electric-wire effect. It is a force that was discovered by observing how magnetic fields affect electrical currents flowing through wires. Simply stated, when a charged atomic particle (meaning one that has a positive or negative charge) is shot out of the sun by a coronal mass ejection, or massive flare, towards the Earth and crosses perpendicular to one of the Earth’s magnetic field lines, a force, the Lorenz Force, is created. Now, a force is a push or a pull. When you push something, you exert a force. An electric push or pull is just the same. This force, however, doesn’t exist until the particles zip by the field lines. When the particle crosses the magnetic line, the push and pull cause the particle to begin to spiral around and travel down the magnetic field line like electricity down an electric wire. The particles follow the magnetic lines down toward the North or South magnetic poles. Here, the Earth’s magnetic lines enter the Earth and flow through the Earth’s core, only to reemerge at the other end. The particles following the electric-wire-like magnetic field lines enter the Earth’s ionosphere. When they do, they put on a light show. In the northern hemisphere we call this the aurora borealis, or northern lights. In the southern hemisphere it is called the aurora australis. During a heavy bombardment of solar particles and radiation, the northern lights dance all over the northern and southern skies, and, sometimes, can be seen as far south as the northern United States. The Sun Is a Power Plant in the Sky. When the particles from a particularly strong coronal mass ejection hit the Earth’s magnetic field and the particles begin to travel down the magnetic field lines, the interaction of the solar particles and Earth’s magnetic field act like an electric power generator, like a giant hydroelectric dam or a nuclear power plant, and can generate up to 100,000 volts of electricity. The power- generator-in-the-sky creates its own magnetic field, according to a law of science called Lenz’s Law. This electrical power aided by the, now two magnetic fields, spreads throughout the Earth’s upper atmosphere like an electric grid of wires spreading out from a power plant on Earth. Extra-strong instances of these high-altitude power surges are called geomagnetic storms. While on the surface of the Earth we are safe from this high-powered, electric grid. On the other hand, our communications satellites, our earth-bound power plants, and Space Station Alpha and its crew are all vulnerable to dangerous levels of radiation and to interruptions in Space Station Alpha’s life support systems.