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Re: (meteorobs) Massive solar flare



thanks for the many emails of support and information.  I wish I could read
them with the attention they deserve.

I am a long-time lurker on this list and will continue to be.

the 2003 Perseids are going to be the most memorable event of my 20 year
astronomy career.

this is a crazy hobby, isn't it?  You go out onto roads and fields you have
never been in the middle of the night, in the heat and the cold. All you
pray for is no clouds and a lack of some stray mercury vapor light in
someones yard a mile down the road. that is not too much to ask, is it?
Chuck Urrey
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Linnolt" <mlinnolt@alum.mitdot edu>
To: <meteorobs@atmob.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 28, 2003 3:00 PM
Subject: Re: (meteorobs) Massive solar flare


Shielding from the high-energy protons, electrons and ions of a CME consists
of 2 parts: The Earth's magnetic field, which directs the particles into the
polar regions, and the atmosphere. The latter works simply by virtue of the
density of air and the height of the atmosphere. This guarantees a high
probability most of the particles getting past the magnetosphere will be
stopped by the random chance collision with an air molecule before it
reaches the Earth's surface.  Since the air is much denser near the surface
at low altitudes, persons at high altitudes or on planes receive a much
higher dose. Anyway, there is no way this mechanism can "fail". That would
mean a spontaneous "hole" would have to open up through the whole atmosphere
above, which is absolutely "impossible" from statistical physics considering
the number of atoms involved. Another consideration is the amount of
shielding provided by a typical wood house. If you do a simple calculation
of the number of atoms in a column of atmosphere 50km high compared to the
number in a few inches of wood or sheetrock, you will see the atmospheric
shielding is several orders of magnitude better, and the house really won't
make much difference anyway... So, one need not be an "expert" to know what
not to be worried about.

Mike Linnolt

--- Jill and Nevyn <mirage@gilanet.com> wrote:
> Well the experts have spoken...no
> problem...hmmmm...you know I have two
> grandchildren and my email to my son was: Keep them
> indoors.  Sometimes our
> experts are not always correct...and in this I think
> I would rather make an
> error on the side of over caution.  From what I have
> gathered so far our
> atmosphere shields us from most of this radiation.
> But what if something
> fails?  Anyway thanks for any info.
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