Solar Flares and Health

[rfp]

Originally Posted by Glitch

Humans are not effected my electromagnetic energy. What effects humans are the high-energy cosmic particles ...

The greatest contributor to melanoma is exposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays (i.e., electromagnetic energy) from natural sources such as sunlight (and tanning beds).

High energy cosmic particles? Not so much.

[Glitch]

Originally Posted by rfp

The greatest contributor to melanoma is exposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays (i.e., electromagnetic energy) from natural sources such as sunlight (and tanning beds).

High energy cosmic particles? Not so much.

I think we are talking about two different things. You are certainly correct in that UV, x-rays, gamma-rays, etc., are all part of the short-end of the electromagnetic spectrum, and harmful to humans and most life. This is what I was referring to by "high-energy cosmic rays."

What I was referring by "electromagnetic energy" was electromagnetism (and it is entirely my fault for not being more clear). You can stand under a very powerful electromagnet and not be effected at all. In fact, it would require close proximity to something as powerful as a Magnetar (an extremely magnetic neutron star) before magnetic energy would have any effect on the human body.

We may have magnetic personalities, but our physical bodies do not react to magnetism.

[509]

Here are the pictures from Friday's Aurora from Wenatchee, Washington.

usbackroads™: Aurora Borealis, Wenatchee, Washington

[Glitch]

Originally Posted by 509

Here are the pictures from Friday's Aurora from Wenatchee, Washington.

usbackroads™: Aurora Borealis, Wenatchee, Washington

Nice. We could not see them in Alaska. The sun stays up too late to really be dark. It is 11:30 PM as I type this post and the sun is just now setting. The sun will rise again in a few hours, so this time of year we go directly from dusk to dawn with very little night in-between.

The colors of an aurora tells you something about it. If you see a red aurora (rare) it is caused by excited nitrogen and appears low in the atmosphere, about 100 km up. If you see a green aurora (most common) it is caused by excited oxygen and appears about 400 km up. If you see a dark red aurora (very rare) it is also caused by excited oxygen and appears about 800 km up.