According to Astronomy Now, the most powerful solar storm was recorded in 1859. It was known as the Carrington Flare in honour of the English Astronomer Richard Carrington who observed it at the Colaba Observatory in India. Thanks to this solar storm, auroras (or the Northern Lights) were seen at latitudes as low as Madrid and even the Caribbean Sea. And more importantly, the solar storm caused power outages and fires at telegraph facilities all over Europe and North America.
Ever
since, geomagnetic storms caused by the sun pose a serious threat to a society
that is increasingly reliant on technology by directly affecting power and
communication networks.
Recently
(10 October 2015), NASA's orbiting Solar Dynamics Observatory has mapped an
enormous coronal hole – a gap in the Sun's outer layer and magnetic field –
which is the size of 50 earths and is releasing an extra-fast solar wind in
Earth's direction.
The
gap lets out a stream of particles travelling at up to 800 kilometres per
second that if aimed towards Earth, could result in a geomagnetic storm, a
phenomenon that can affect power and navigation for satellites orbiting the
Earth as well as radio communication. Newspaper reports don’t say how big the
impact might be. Could it shut down the Internet or telephone networks?
But
it says as the coronal hole continues its slow march westward on the sun's
surface (to the right, from earth's perspective), solar winds will stay strong,
according to US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
***
As
far as I can understand, our life is dependent on huge cosmic forces over which
we have NO control. (And I don’t mean the positions of the so-called planets on
your astrological chart). What would happen if the coronal hole was the size of
500 Earths instead of 50? What if it was 5000?
Surely,
there is a tipping point. If the hole goes beyond that point, it might lead to
the end of the world as we know it. And this is just one aspect of the sun.
There would be thousands of other cosmic phenomena that might kill everyone on
earth, everyone, irrespective of whether they eat beef, pork, or just
vegetables.
India
has been one of the oldest civilisations on earth that nurtured rationality and
intellectual openness. It produced Boudhayana, who had propounded the
"Pythagorean Theorem" 200 years before Pythagoras, the same
Boudhayana and Aryabhatta who discovered irrational numbers, and finally,
Brahmagupata, who introduced the decimal system with place values in 628 AD,
the one revolutionary concept that changed the future of maths, accounting, and
science – yet, in the same country, THE RAGING DEBATE TODAY IS WHETHER THE
VEDAS APPROVE OF LYNCHING A MAN WHO MIGHT HAVE EATEN BEEF.
In
the last fortnight or so, three innocent law-abiding Indians like you or me
have been brutally murdered in three states in India merely on the suspicion
that they had eaten beef or killed a cow. Shame and disgust are bloody
inadequate words for what our ruling party, the BJP and its armies of goons are
systematically doing to our polity, or even at a more fundamental societal
level. If this violent march of unreason and hatred continues, India will be
destroyed as a country long before any solar flare destroys the earth.
Let’s
respect everyone’s right to eat what they wish, to do what they wish, as long
as it doesn’t harm others. Let me accept that you have the right to have an
opinion different from mine. Let everyone accept that intolerance to others’
views or beliefs or life-style is unacceptable in the civilised world. The
moment we start tolerating intolerance, we too begin our inexorable journey
towards being a Taliban or IS perhaps with a different religious tag.
And
certainly, the time has come when everyone must stand up and protest against
irrationality and bigotry that kill others. One must protest against the
not-so-hidden agenda of turning India into a Hindu Pakistan.
PLEASE
STAND UP NOW AND PROTEST!
If
you agree with my views, the least you can do is to share this post and spread
the message to a wider audience. Today. Because tomorrow may be too late.
If
you disagree, you are welcome to enter a civilised debate here. Will you?
Bengaluru / Monday,
19 October 2015
