Home World Security

"Back closer to home. Each day, every day, our spinning core in our planet keeps us safe. If for some reason our core would stop spinning, or if we would have an historic solar storm, things would get bad quickly." 

Quite a display! Northern lights at their finest. So, what is the big deal? The northern lights are really quite a disturbance within our sun. The Earth is being pelted with all kinds of deadly solar radiation. But - because of the unique nature of our planet, our spinning metal core sets up a magnetic "barrier" against these deadly solar rays. In other words, what we are seeing right now is in fact, our "home world security" in action!

This particular solar storm is freakishly strong. So strong it just about knocked one of our TV channels off the air. In fact, in 1859, we had a solar storm so strong, it caused as much havoc as a solar storm could cause in those days. The Carrington Event (as it is now called), if it occurred today, could really mess up our satellite communications. Would it have caused some awesome northern lights? Sure, but most folks would have been too worried about surviving the storm instead of enjoying the lights. 

But forget about the Carrington Event. Were the last couple nights the best thing possible, or what? Could there be anything more impressive? Actually, yes. Should Betelgeuse (from Orion's shoulder) explode and go super nova, it will really light up the night sky. Maybe the day sky also. Betelgeuse is 500 light years away. However, some of the effects of the explosion could still reach the Earth (and be taken care of by our "home world security). Not enough punch to cause major damage, but we could still feel it.

Back closer to home. Each day, every day, our spinning core in our planet keeps us safe. If for some reason our core would stop spinning, or if we would have an historic solar storm, things would get bad quickly. However, for moderate disturbances in the sun, we get to enjoy some beautiful dancing colors (and maybe a bad TV station).