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it's an alien landscape where magnetic
tornadoes twist upward tens of thousands
of miles mysterious dark spots large
enough to engulf the earth a band flow
and violent eruptions shoot tons of
charged particles into space at speeds
of over 2 million miles per hour
this is not some strange world on the
other side of the galaxy
this is our son
and now new technologies are allowing us
to see like never before
satellites are giving investigators new
insights into centuries-old mysteries
whoa did you see that boom there goes a
flare that is really a Clausen leaf in
solar physics a continuous eye on the
Sun how does our some work where does
its power come from and how can its
inner workings impact us some 93 million
miles away finding answers has a new
urgency for these birth by about 16 and
the bigger hands bigger here
our Sun has a dark side
it's violent storms capable of taking
down the electrical grids that power our
daily lives the pair could take weeks
months and even in a worst-case scenario
at up to 10 years for a full recovery if
you can imagine a world without
electricity you're really going back in
time now join scientists on a quest to
understand the secrets of the Sun dive
deep into its cool and ride out its
spectacular storms right now on this
Nova National Geographic special
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dawn February 15 2011 Boulder Colorado
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the team at the National Space Weather
Prediction Center begins its day as it
usually does carefully watching the
surface of the Sun okay a ten-centimeter
came in
although 93 million miles away horses
here can impact earth in surprising and
destructive ways for the smaller
VM stakes you see this the very first
one is the m6 today after years of
relative calm a satellite detects
something a dramatic explosion on the
sun's surface
a violent solar storm that would dwarf
earth is erupting releasing a massive
shockwave
hurtling towards us at over a million
miles an hour right now no one is sure
what to expect
well I think that the m6 is going to get
here we have to determine when that
thing is gonna impact Earth's magnetic
field eight hours that's gonna be
sometime tomorrow perhaps later in the
morning
later at night that's with tekmoto
trying to determine in fact I have to
join the discussions right now so I'll
get back with you the team models the
approaching storm Excel 15 Z for the
arrival of the CSV as I did here right
there their simulation shows it racing
out from the Sun on the Left towards the
small dot on the right earth
the solar storm carries a one-two punch
first is a solar flare releasing an
outburst of x-rays that can reach earth
within minutes the second more ominous
threat arrives a few days later a
phenomenon called a coronal mass
ejection or CME it's a wave of billions
of tons of electrically charged
particles seen here in this repeating
image as it ripples away from the eye of
the storm together they could hit like a
cosmic tsunami
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delivering a surge of radiation and an
electrical spike of trillions of watts
potentially crashing the power grid
sound far fetched in March 1989 in
Quebec Canada that's exactly what
happens one by one our stations crash
disabled by the overwhelming power surge
caused by a cma wave in less than two
minutes six million people are left
without power
recently NASA's Jim Green finds evidence
that an even bigger solar storm hit
earth in 1859 and what we found was the
granddaddy of geomagnetic storms and
that was just a hundred and fifty years
ago the reports telev or auras brilliant
displays in the sky they're so bright
that miners in Colorado wake up and go
to work thinking it is dawn other
reports tell of a more harmful impact on
the lone electrical system of the day
The Telegraph one for instance because
of the induced current on their system
overheated the battery and started a
fire nearly burnt down the telegraph
office another operator was burnt so
badly ended up into the hospital Green
uncovers numerous reports of a warez
seen not only across the United States
but around the world the evidence is
clear earth was struck by a superstorm
in 1859 the result of two massive CME
waves those two storms were not only
enormous but they happened one right
after the other no one alive has seen
anything like it if we had a jumik that
external that intensity today the
National Academy suggested that the
impact on critical infrastructure could
be catastrophic
and the big big concern is the electric
power grid the massive electrical surge
from a CME wave could overload power
lines and melt transformers blocking out
entire cities repair could take weeks
months and even in a worst case scenario
the National Academy suggested up to 10
years for a full recovery if that
occurred if you can imagine a world
without electricity you're really going
back in time it's not just the power
grid that's at risk more and more we
rely on technology that could be
affected by the Sun global positioning
satellites long-distance communications
airplane tracking astronauts in space
Roger Harvard right so there's an
urgency in understanding what it is that
the Sun is doing what's it gonna do next
and how can we prepare for that and
respond to it or it or you do not worry
well I would be just a little bit wary
skipping work yeah a concern right now
we'll be watching and monitoring it very
closely here in the coming days
we've gazed at the Sun since antiquity
we've worshipped it and built entire
cultures around its power
we marvel when it's eclipsed during the
day and when its power lights up the
night sky with dancing curtains of light
the Aurora
it's power and size are awesome
it is so huge a million earths could fit
inside it
temperatures at its core soared to 27
million degrees Fahrenheit it's been
shining for over four billion years and
will do so for at least four billion
more yet for something that has such an
overwhelming influence on our lives Sun
is mysterious how does that energy
generate it in its cruel reaches as
sunlight what processes artwork inside
the Sun out of these powerful inner
workings generate explosive solar storms
these are some of the mysteries
scientists must understand to protect us
from the sun's darker side
the Sun can really surprise us the Sun
is elusive crazy complicated crazy
incredibly dynamic crazy with explosive
potential the key to that explosive
behavior lies deep beneath the sun's
blinding surface until recently seeing
inside the Sun was impossible
understanding its internal processes a
pipe dream
but an accidental discovery changes
everything until the 1960s much of solar
physics relied on things that were like
solar Dermatology it was it was things
that were right at the surface or or
just skin deep but as physicists study
the Sun in more detail they make a
surprising discovery the surface seems
to be vibrating like ripples on a pond
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initially they think the vibrations are
the result of defective instruments
they couldn't get rid of them they built
better instruments the ripples were
still there they looked at it for 10
years
anything conferences they all talked
about it in a romped but what it turned
out to be was just sound waves it is an
astonishing revelation no one expects
that the Sun can generate sound waves it
leads scientists to see the Sun in a
completely new way our Sun vibrates like
a giant pipe organ but instead of air
producing the notes churning gases deep
inside sends sound waves rippling
through its interior
because a sound wave changes as it moves
through different material we can look
at the different frequencies and
determine what's happening inside the
Sun geologists are familiar with this by
studying sound waves passing through the
Earth's crust they can see the layers
below our feet a technique called
seismology similarly sound waves moving
through the sun's interior reveal how
it's made up I can use this organ to
illustrate how sound waves work inside
the Sun for example I hit this logo it
comes from one of these big plates make
deep sound and on the Sun that
corresponds to a wave that goes very
deep into the Sun and brings back the
information
deep down in the Sun if I turn to a high
note it comes from a much shorter pipe
in on the Sun that's telling us
information about very close to the
surface of the Sun not very deep it long
for the Sun there are 10 million
different frequencies resonating in the
Sun deciphering them leads to a seismic
shift in understanding its structure
creating a new science helioseismology
once the helioseismology came along we
could not only see what the surface was
but we can actually tell what the
physical processes were underneath so by
looking inside we can actually see what
the Sun is doing
it is a powerful tool to see beneath the
sun's surface
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studying the Sun soundwaves reveals a
complex multi-layered machine directly
beneath its blazing surface is a zone of
Perpetual churning next is a layer where
light takes thousands of years to cross
at the center is the Sun's core it's the
smallest region but it's over 25 times
the diameter of Earth this is the
powerhouse of our star everything we
experience on earth sunlight heat and
the effects of solar storms starts here
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so what's it like here what's the core
made of the sun's a crazy place right
it's far too hot to be a solid we know
that we heat it up it's far too hot to
be a liquid and so you think well it's a
gas right well not really
it is this gaseous soup of charged
particles that we call plasma you're
more familiar with this soup then you
might think there are plenty of examples
fluorescent light bulbs flames neon
lights
perhaps fancy TVs that I can't afford
but these are all plasma plasma sort of
all around you but plasma is radically
hotter at the Sun's core the closest
thing on earth is lightning
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during thunderstorms electric charges
build up creating lightning bolts that
reach tens of thousands of degrees
that's pretty hot but it's nowhere near
as hot as in the core of the Sun so if
you're to travel into the core of the
Sun the plasma would be 15 million
degrees as the Sun formed hydrogen gas
at its heart was crushed under the
weight of the material above eventually
temperature and pressure rose so high
the hydrogen atoms broke apart into
electrons and protons creating plasma
and it's under these extreme conditions
that something really really cool
happens nuclear fusion
it's the same atomic process inside the
hydrogen bomb under tremendous pressure
protons in the plasma fused together
releasing photons minuscule packets of
heat and light an unimaginable number of
photons are made every second generating
the sun's incredible power some of which
reaches us as sunlight this atomic
alchemy converts over 4 million tons of
mass into energy every second in an
endless loop that much mass into energy
is the equivalent of 10 billion hydrogen
bombs being created every second the Sun
does this day-in day-out it's been doing
it for 4 billion years and it's gonna
continue to do so long after I'm gone
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you
the energy of billions of bombs is
released in the core every second
this begs a simple question so you could
ask well why doesn't the Sun blow itself
apart it's because there's this
beautiful balancing act that occurs and
the core of the Sun you've got this
pressure from all of this fusion pushing
outwards and the Sun is huge so you have
all this gravitational pressure pushing
downwards and so you've got gravity
pushing down and the Sun trying to blow
itself apart from the inside and it is
this beautiful balancing act between the
two that keeps the Sun in one piece
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this light born at the core reaches us
after our remarkable journey away from
the core pressure and temperatures drop
and nuclear fusion stops now each photon
begins a tedious journey through the
sun's thickest layer of plasma a region
called the radiative zone although
squeezed less than at the sun's center
the plasma is still very dense and
photons struggle to move through it each
packet of energy is continuously
absorbed then spit out by the plasma
particles in that particular part
there's no energy being generated but
the energy is transmitted by the
radiation so that's why we call it the
radiative zone not to surprisingly the
photons slowly bounce through the plasma
here ricocheting in a zigzag path called
the random walk so imagine that you're
in a crowded room and you're trying to
make your way through and you greet
other people and each person you greet
you have to say hello to and then you
move off in another direction so it
takes you a long time to get from one
place in the room to another because
you're just kind of meandering your way
around the room so the same way the
photons and the inside of the Sun they
don't have a preferred direction all
they want to do is they want to be
moving and they want to be greeting
other particles
though moving at the speed of light
186,000 miles a second it takes photons
over a hundred thousand years to cross
the zone eventually the photons reach a
boundary where pressures dropping in the
plasma thins and moving through it gets
easier the photons still pack a lot of
energy
now they leak out into the convection
zone heating it from below the thinner
plasma in this zone makes the photons
move in a different way so instead of
bouncing all of a sudden there's an
ordered motion so it's as if all of a
sudden someone said launched and all the
particles decided oh we all have to go
this direction you still have to wait in
line to get out so it takes a month to
get from the bottom of the convection
zone to the surface but it's a
relatively short period during this
short period heat from the photons sends
plasma here into perpetual motion a
maelstrom of churning 125,000 miles
thick think of it like a massive lava
lamp
there's heat that enters at the bottom
from the light bulb it heats the
material and the blob rises to the
surface when it gets to the top it cools
off and when it cools it gets more dense
and falls back down
this is a good analogy for what's
happening inside the Sun we have the
core of the Sun heating the material at
the bottom of the convection zone
material expands and it carries the
energy upward until it gets to the
surface
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these incredible images reveal
convection at the sun's surface rising
and sinking plasma that creates a
mesmerizing structure called granulation
the granulation cells are about the size
of the state of Texas it will last for
about 12 minutes so there's an
incredible amount of energy it's a very
dynamic very chaotic place and all of
the activity is going on surface and
somewhere we can see it photons produced
at the core finally reached the surface
they merge as a weakened form of solar
energy this weakened energy reaches
earth in eight minutes we know it as
sunlight so a hundred thousand years
about a month and then eight minutes
once you get to the surface of the Sun
it just takes eight minutes to get to
where you can see it
unimpeded the trip from the core to the
surface would take the photons a matter
of seconds
in reality the sunlight that shines on
us today may have been created during
the last ice age
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energy reaching the sun's surface
doesn't just result in sunlight it can
also trigger solar storms understanding
the sun's destructive power requires
24-hour precision surveillance something
that until recently was impossible to
achieve five four go for main engine
start three two one zero and ignition
and liftoff of the Atlas 5 with the
Solar Dynamics Observatory
February 2010 NASA launches its most
sophisticated solar satellite yet
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the Solar Dynamics Observatory or SDO
for short
hahaha
SDO is the first satellite to deliver
almost continuous super high-resolution
coverage of our newest star giving
researchers unprecedented access to the
Sun and its secrets the first day of it
was very exciting we knew we were going
to open our doors that actually let the
sunlight into the instrument for the
first time
we start looking at the first pictures
and it was almost in focus and as soon
as we focus it was just beautiful
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the new images reveal the Sun like never
before
an alien landscape were strange
structures have banned flow giant
tornadoes hundreds of thousands of miles
high that could easily engulf the earth
and superheated bubbles of plasma the
size of Alaska when I look at the
pictures I think they're really
beautiful I'm struck by the dynamics of
it things are changing all the time no
matter where you look and I'm also
pretty daunted by the complexity of it
all that's not surprising previous
satellites only revealed a portion of
the Sun in higher resolution now they
see it in mind-boggling detail now in
order to look at the Solar Dynamics
Observatory images that we're bringing
in every day we've built this very
special wall which is a nine
high-definition television screens
together that can display these images
so that the instrument and the display
system together are an entirely new way
of looking at the Sun we can see all the
details of what is going on and that is
really a quantum leap in solar physics
being able to see all of that all the
time a continuous eye on the Sun one of
the most important aspects of SDO
is its ability to see sunlight across a
range of wavelengths the equivalent of
looking at things glowing at different
temperatures our eyes are most sensitive
to sunlight glowing at around 10,000
degrees Fahrenheit at this temperature
the Sun surface looks almost featureless
but at hotter wavelengths normally
invisible a far more dynamic picture
emerges
the February 15th 2011 storm is a
perfect example in this repeating image
at around 90,000 degrees Fahrenheit
SDO captures just a ghostly trace of the
CME wave but at just over a million
degrees the superhot plasma rippling
away from the eye of the storm is much
clearer this allows researchers to see
coronal mass ejection waves evolving
across the entire Sun this is an
absolutely amazing time for solar
physics because of these beautiful
high-resolution images that allow us to
to understand better the physics behind
what's going on when solar storms are
erupt who's that one blast back at the
National Space Weather Prediction Center
bill Murtagh tracks the storms CME wave
it carries a billion tons of plasma and
is now only about 20 hours from Earth
we're bringing it in mid to late on the
17th into the what they see is alarming
well there's actually three CMEs of real
good
so we bumped up some numbers it's late
tomorrow
yeah it's not a single cm II wave but
one two three of them we won't call it
the perfect storm yet or anything but
conditions are lining up for some
significant space weather their models
show trajectory and speed but the big
unknown for Murtagh is how powerful the
waves will be when they hit
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the answer lies in a force that governs
the Sun magnetism we're all familiar
with magnets they produce an invisible
force that pushes and pulls on charged
particles in fact Earth has a magnetic
field that protects us against threats
from the Sun
but we are less familiar with the sun's
magnetic power which researchers believe
plays a major role in driving solar
storms we've essentially learned that it
takes two things to make an a-star
magnetic it needs to have these
convective motions right underneath the
surface the bubbling of the gas it needs
to spin and the faster it spins the more
active it becomes and wherever those two
things the bubbling and the spinning can
interact that's where we see the
strongest magnetic activity and stars
astronomers know that the surface of the
Sun spins in a strange way travel from
the poles of the Sun towards its equator
and you'd notice it turns faster
analyzing soundwaves inside the Sun
reveals that the plasma layers beneath
the surface also spin at different
speeds that's because they act like
fluid which gets denser towards the core
the interior of the Sun is a place of
spectacular turmoil turmoil that's the
key to the sun's magnetism the motions
they're the convection the differential
rotation the motion from equator to pole
are driving a new force are driving a
magnetic field there's a dynamo at work
here a dynamo that's generating a force
that we actually experience here on the
earth
it works like a giant wind turbine
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churning plasma in the convection zone
stirs a powerful electrical currents
which generate a huge magnetic field up
close hearing down flows coming down
this way right the holy grail for
scientists is understanding exactly how
this dynamo generates solar storms the
clue lies deep within the convection
zone
magnetic field lines normally run from
pole to pole but with all the turmoil in
the convection zone that pattern can't
last rotating layers stretch them
horizontally convection twists and
braids them under immense strain they
began to kink upwards towards the
surface
imagine this spring is a magnetic field
line the magnetic field inside the Sun
is amplified is strengthened by the
rotating motions and the shearing
motions and the churning motions inside
the Sun it wants to expand upwards and
it does until it pokes out through the
surface of the Sun tracking invisible
field lines is normally impossible but
plasma plays a critical role even though
the magnetic field lines themselves are
invisible the plasma which is heated and
hot can light up along these paths in
maybe the same way you could think of a
highway and at night you wouldn't see
the highway at all but with the cars
with their headlights on you'd see the
path of the highway
watching field lines is critical to
understanding solar storms
as field lines emerge they form loops
one end has a positive pole and the
other a negative pole churning plasma
beneath the surface twists these loose
pumping them with energy
if twisted enough positive and negative
parts of the loops cross when they do
they short-circuit with a tremendous
explosion the energy released heats the
plasma to millions of degrees resulting
in a spectacular solar flare
it's the final dramatic stage a very
long journey photons formed in the core
make their way to the surface some pass
directly into space as sunlight but in
the process that surging energy disturbs
the convection zone generating a
magnetic field the field lines wind up
to the point that it explodes and solar
flare now SDO provides a complete and
unprecedented picture as these events
evolve this is beautiful because the hot
gas outlines the magnetic field lines
that we would otherwise not be able to
see and here you can see even a twisting
structure as some of the mass drains
back down to the surface and a lot of it
escapes in the eruption this is the
essence of space weather or solar storms
this explains how flares form but it's
not the end of the story
crossing magnetic field lines can cause
Nets of plasma to be flung into space
this is a coronal mass ejection a CME
wave
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you
the portrait of how solar flares and
CMEs form is coming into focus but a key
question remains
see any waves can travel 93 million
miles to earth in a matter of hours so
what gives them such explosive energy
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part of the answer is hidden here in the
sun's atmosphere the corona it's made of
superhot plasma the blisters at over
three million degrees Fahrenheit three
hundred times hotter than the sun's
surface some scientists suspect that
this heat powers massive gusts of energy
that blast CME waves toward Earth at
incredible speeds but why the corona is
so hot is an enduring mystery
understanding it's essential if we want
to get to the bottom of how the Sun
drives space weather and the impact of
the Sun on the earth the fact that the
corona is so much hotter than the
surface flies in the face of physics the
Sun's corona is very odd place take the
spire for example as I put my hands
close sure it's warm because I pull them
away it gets cold that's not the case on
the Sun at all as you go and cook close
it's definitely warm but as I pull away
it actually is warmer still
recently Japanese investigators observe
high-velocity Jets of plasma shooting up
from the near surface McIntosh suspects
these Jets deliver heat to the corona
but he doesn't have a way to confirm it
visually until he turns to sto for help
lo and behold we actually - to join the
dots and see yeah these objects that we
could see moving out of the lower
atmosphere at high speeds kind of like
these lakes of flame really were
reaching a couple million degrees
that was really ashes mulch this moment
we kind of look to each other and said
wow what have we just done
they've shown that the plasma Jets
accelerating upwards from near the sun's
surface generate tremendous heat as a
result temperatures in the corona soared
to three-and-a-half million degrees if
confirmed it represents a huge leap
forward in understanding CME behavior
the immense heat of the corona acts like
a wind in a raging Gale it's constantly
pushing on the plasma draped on the
field lines billowing them out like
sails pulling on a mast like solar
flares when magnetic lines cross there
can be an immense explosion in this case
the lines are cut and the sail whips off
into space loaded with a billion tons of
highly charged plasma the CMA wave can
wreak havoc on electricity dependent
Earth at the National Center for
Atmospheric Research this violent event
is captured by satellites no to see the
CME
we need to create a little artificial
Eclipse to do that we block out the
light from the disk of the Sun and
that's this little circle here but what
that allows us to do is to see this
extremely faint high-speed thing
shooting away from the Sun this one
moves about a thousand kilometers per
second by enhancing the picture and
slowing it down it's possible to see the
shockwave moving at over two million
miles per hour
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that we have a better understanding of
what causes solar storms and how they
reach us there is still a final pressing
problem trying to predict when solar
storms are going to occur on the Sun
really requires a lot of detective work
basically we're looking for clues and
observations to tell us when potential
storms might occur the best clue comes
from these sunspots dark patches which
can linger on the sun's surface for
weeks at a time a sunspot is a massive
region several times the size of the
earth which appears on the Sun as a dark
spot it's dark because it's relatively
cool compared to its surrounding and
it's cool because the magnetic fields
are so strong that they're suppressing
the flow of heat from below the strong
magnetic fields which create sunspots
are the breeding ground for solar storms
the challenge is trying to decipher a
pattern for when and how many will
appear as we watch sunspots over a
period of many years we see something
very interesting the number of sunspots
at any given time will wax and wane over
a period of about eleven years and since
we now know that sunspots are associated
with strong magnetic fields this tells
us that the sun's magnetic fields are
likewise going through a cycle the
constant churning and twisting inside
the Sun creates a powerful dynamo the
biggest electrical generator in the
solar system the magnetic field lines it
produces get so wound up that roughly
every 11 years the magnetic poles of the
Sun reverse after that calmer magnetic
activity prevails and fewer sunspots
form a period called solar minima but
because of the sun's turbulent nature
the field gradually winds up again as it
does magnetic outbursts are far more
common a period called solar maximum the
solar cycle actually determines the
personality of the Sun during solar
maximum it can get very angry and it can
throw off solar storms that are
sometimes directed at the earth and
during solar minimum it becomes much
more subdued there aren't as many
sunspots aren't as many solar storms
occurring the activity cycle basically
determines how the Sun is going to act
prior to the solar storm of February 15
2011
things were pretty quiet on the Sun but
that outburst marks an ominous turning
point the sun's magnetic activity is
winding up again as it heads towards
solar max just a few days ago bill
Murtagh and the team at the Space
Weather Prediction Center witnessed the
Turner 1 X 2 and the m6 if it comes in
with any G effectiveness between 12 and
18 to that size it's now time to let the
world know that it might expect in the
next couple of minutes here we're going
to have to make a decision and make the
prediction that this chromis objection
is going to arrive at whatever time
tomorrow and they call the geomagnetic
storm on us - of course once it arrives
with the event we had Murtaugh knows
that the severity of the storm depends
mainly on two things how strong the
CMI's magnetic field is and at what
angle it hits Earth's own magnetic field
cma waves approach earth like a slowly
rotating shield one end is positively
charged the other negative with
magnetism opposites attract and like
poles repel if the waves positive pole
winds up with the Earth's positive Pole
most of the power of the storm will be
repulsed but if opposite poles line up
the plasma the waves are carrying will
hit with full force did you say came in
at 115 one one former Tom makes his
final assessment only hours before
impact if we large are more complicated
typically than just your single I think
yes
before tracks okay I'd like to think so
according to the observations the CMA
wave will be repelled we don't expect it
to be too strong
we'll see moderate storming levels which
is good enough to produce some juice
some aurora borealis down in the United
States down along the Canadian border
northern tier States and it will cause
some minor problems to the power grid
and whatnot space weather for the next
24 hours is expected to be minor radio
blackouts reaching the r1 level are
expected this time we dodged a bullet
but disturbing evidence suggests the
earth will not always be so lucky it's a
cautionary tale NASA's Jim Green
discovered it while researching a book
on the American Civil War at the Library
of Congress Green found news accounts
from 1859 which caught his eye I would
run across articles about Aurora
fabulous Aurora and this really piqued
my interest because it's in my field it
seemed as though the armies of heaven
were engaged in terrific though
noiseless conflict this terrific aspect
soon subsided into a more beautiful and
brilliant appearance a few of which I
can only refer to
on the day before the waves hit the
British astronomer observes a giant
sunspot group light up with two massive
flares
the second semi wave hit 18 hours later
allowing Greene to calculate its speed
five million miles an hour
plowing into Earth at almost four times
the speed the February 15 2011 zme waves
using the various reports Greene is able
to reconstruct the 1859 storm the
accounts suggest that the poles of the
CM e waves were aligned and instead of
being repulsed the waves hit with full
power the charged particles funnel down
into the atmosphere
electrifying it like a giant neon sign
producing dazzling aurora displays the
storm is so intense Earth's magnetic
field all but collapses millions of tons
of plasma spill towards the equator on a
powerful electric surge pulses over the
globe
for the largely pre electrified world
the moment passes with minimal damage
that might not be the case today
it has the potential of knocking out
power grids and if it burns out
transformers that are hard to replace we
may be without electricity in any areas
for a very long period of time there's
only a few places that make these
hundred and twenty-five kilovolt
transformers take several months to make
them and if you burn on half of them
we're gonna be shooting squirrels and
chocolate wood out the backyard for a
long period of time just to survive
[Music]
great everything grows yeah but the 3ds
really today's solar scientists believe
it's not if but when the next big one
will strike with the next solar maximum
do in 2013 it begs an all-important
question can we predict when the next
solar storm will hit no maybe no maybe
no maybe and the reason why is we've
learned so much about the Sun we're
getting better at it but we have a long
way to go and the more we look at some
of these historic events the more we get
a deeper appreciation for what we need
to know
today we see the Sun better than ever
before
[Music]
we're beginning to understand it from
the inside out but it's unpredictable
personality means there will always be
uncertainty when living with a star