Space Weather.

[m0lsx]

When I took my full (Advanced) Amateur Radio exam a sizeable percentage of the questions related to the Ionosphere & how radio waves behave within it. And part of the how & why of the Ionosphere is Solar Weather. The sun not only warms us up, it also warms the Ionosphere up & when it does the Ionospheres F1 & F2 layers separate & make very long distance shortwave transmissions possible.
To give some idea of what space weather is. In 1941 a massive soalr geomagnetic storm hit the world knocking out shortwave transmissions, causing beautiful Northern Lights & resulting in power levels surging within electrical networks. It was the most powerful storm ever recorded. In March 1989 during an incredibly cold period in Canada an electromagnetic storm hit the earthjs atmosphere, causing a 9 hour power outage in the Quebec area.
Solar weather has the power to heavily effect us here on Earth. The Northern Lights may look beautiful. but the cause, Solar (electromagnetic) winds, have the power to blow power stations electrical systems, knock satellites & even aircraft out of the sky & black out mobile phone & internet communication.


Dr Tamitha Skov is the Space Weather Woman & she makes some fascinating reports on her youtube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkXjdDQ-db0xz8f4PKgKsag

 

[m0lsx]

https://eos.org/features/the-geomagnetic-blitz-of-september-1941

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_1989_geomagnetic_storm

 

[Jess S]

Looking forward to checking out those links. Prior to tarantulas taking over my life my last big interest was reading about physics, space and astronomy. Unfortunately I'm just not mathematically minded enough to understand these disciplines on any deep level, 100's of hours of reading and I barely scratched the surface of understanding, but still find physics and space interesting.

 

[m0lsx]

Prior to tarantulas taking over my life my last big interest was reading about physics, space and astronomy. Unfortunately I'm just not mathematically minded enough to understand these disciplines on any deep level, 100's of hours of reading and I barely scratched the surface of understanding, but still find physics and space interesting.

It is the technical side of radio that fascinates me, not that I fully understand a lot of it. I have had a play with Radio Astonomy & with VLF signals, where solar winds & things like sferics can be heard. As well as bats & insect wings etc.

https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2001/ast19jan_1

If humans had radio antennas instead of ears, we would hear a remarkable symphony of strange noises coming from our own planet. Scientists call them "tweeks," "whistlers" and "sferics." They sound like background music from a flamboyant science fiction film, but this is not science fiction. Earth's natural radio emissions are real and, although we're mostly unaware of them, they are around us all the time.

You can hear these sounds via files at..http://www.astrosurf.com/luxorion/audiofiles-geomagnetosphere.htm

A few years ago NASA had a small experiment called SuitSat. They basically threw an old Russian Space suit out of the ISS with a small amateur radio handheld tranciver inside it. To see if in an emergency it could work. It was a successful failure. The tranciver went onto low power as the battery failed in the cold of space. But many of us heard it.

I have worked the guys on the ISS twice, once from my car & without the ability to take Doppler effect into account. Doppler means the signal is plus & minus the frequency, as it first approaches & then passes into the distance again. And all of that within a pass of less than 2.5 minutes depending upon how low to the horizon the ISS is for us.

We also have a whole load of satellites to work. Plus it's possible to bounce signals off the northern lights, meteors & even aircraft.

 

[Jess S]

It is the technical side of radio that fascinates me, not that I fully understand a lot of it. I have had a play with Radio Astonomy & with VLF signals, where solar winds & things like sferics can be heard. As well as bats & insect wings etc.

https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2001/ast19jan_1



You can hear these sounds via files at..http://www.astrosurf.com/luxorion/audiofiles-geomagnetosphere.htm

A few years ago NASA had a small experiment called SuitSat. They basically threw an old Russian Space suit out of the ISS with a small amateur radio handheld tranciver inside it. To see if in an emergency it could work. It was a successful failure. The tranciver went onto low power as the battery failed in the cold of space. But many of us heard it.

I have worked the guys on the ISS twice, once from my car & without the ability to take Doppler effect into account. Doppler means the signal is plus & minus the frequency, as it first approaches & then passes into the distance again. And all of that within a pass of less than 2.5 minutes depending upon how low to the horizon the ISS is for us.

We also have a whole load of satellites to work. Plus it's possible to bounce signals off the northern lights, meteors & even aircraft.

It is the technical side of radio that fascinates me, not that I fully understand a lot of it. I have had a play with Radio Astonomy & with VLF signals, where solar winds & things like sferics can be heard. As well as bats & insect wings etc.

https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2001/ast19jan_1



You can hear these sounds via files at..http://www.astrosurf.com/luxorion/audiofiles-geomagnetosphere.htm

A few years ago NASA had a small experiment called SuitSat. They basically threw an old Russian Space suit out of the ISS with a small amateur radio handheld tranciver inside it. To see if in an emergency it could work. It was a successful failure. The tranciver went onto low power as the battery failed in the cold of space. But many of us heard it.

I have worked the guys on the ISS twice, once from my car & without the ability to take Doppler effect into account. Doppler means the signal is plus & minus the frequency, as it first approaches & then passes into the distance again. And all of that within a pass of less than 2.5 minutes depending upon how low to the horizon the ISS is for us.

We also have a whole load of satellites to work. Plus it's possible to bounce signals off the northern lights, meteors & even aircraft.

Thanks for the links!