The 23rd Cycle
Learning to Live with a Stormy Star
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- £28.99
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- £28.99
Publisher Description
On March 13, 1989, the entire Quebec power grid collapsed, automatic garage doors in California suburbs began to open and close without apparent reason, and microchip production came to a halt in the Northeast; in space, communications satellites had to be manually repointed after flipping upside down, and pressure readings on hydrogen tank supplies on board the Space Shuttle Discovery peaked, causing NASA to consider aborting the mission. What was the cause of all these seemingly disparate events? Sten Odenwald gives convincing evidence of the mischievous—and potentially catastrophic—power of solar storms and the far-reaching effects of the coming "big one" brewing in the sun and estimated to culminate in the twenty-third cycle in the year 2001 and beyond. When the sun undergoes its cyclic "solar maximum," a time when fierce solar flares and storms erupt, fantastic auroras will be seen around the world. But the breathtaking spectacles will herald a potentially disastrous chain of events that merit greater preparation than Y2K. Is anyone listening?
The 23rd Cycle traces the previously untold history of solar storms and the ways in which they were perceived by astronomers—and even occasionally covered up by satellite companies. Punctuated with an insert containing dramatic color images showing the erupting sun, the book also includes a history of the record of auroral sightings, accounts of communications blackouts from the twentieth century, a list of industries sensitive to solar storms, and information about radiation and health issues.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
During the year 2000, the number of sunspots reached the peak of their 11-year cycle, the 23rd such cycle since scientists first discovered the dark solar blotches. So what? As Odenwald, a NASA staffer and Washington Post contributor (The Astronomy Cafe), and other scientists expected, this proliferation of solar storms produced marked effects on Earth, including an increase in the intensity and extent of auroras. Odenwald warns that the 23rd cycle may also produce other, less welcome effects before it reaches its quiescent end in 2006, and the 24th cycle will be even more problematic. His prediction is based on the increasing vulnerability of advanced technology to space weather phenomena, such as bursts of X-rays and energetic particles or geomagnetic storms. The failure of satellites and even gas pipelines have been attributed to the impact of solar storms; given our increasingly networked digital infrastructure and our growing reliance on space-based technology, Odenwald foresees future problems with communication, navigation and electric power grids, all subject to sudden failure from events that begin on the sun. Astronauts may suffer radiation sickness--even death-- if caught without warning or sufficient protection. The problems are sociological and political as well as technological, Odenwald asserts. As space-based business proliferates, it is often advantageous to hide small failures due to space weather or to attribute them to other causes. Practical technological needs carry little weight when NASA funding depends on scientific merit, Odenwald declares, calling for more funding to understand and predict space weather. "The sun is not the well-behaved neighbor we would like to imagine," he says. Odenwald offers a cogent warning, which deserves to have an impact beyond the book's own immediate readership of space science enthusiasts. B&w and color illus. not seen by PW.
