Can someone answer the question I posed several days ago regarding this ACE solar flare Early Warning(ONE hour!) satellite that is orbiting the Earth WAY out there?

2000 is the year that the 11-year solar sunspot cycle reaches another maximum, but is this the one where the Sun literally "flips" its magnetic field?

Also, what is the point of having ONE measly hour warning about a massive solar flare(mass coronal ejection) coming to hit Earth at near-light speed, unless there must be some kind of REALLY frantic preparedness plan by ? to turn down the Grid before it gets its brains blown out?

You can bet that with only an hour warning, don't expect to get any news flash warnings anywhere--it will just happen--you WILL be in the dark.

But thepoint is, if there are plans for this, there must ALSO be plans we are not told about that involve segregating or shutting down power plants or whole sections of the grid if Y2K shows us a BAD preview when N.Z. starts the world rolling through the 24 time zones. You can bet that if this is the case, your power will just go out--there will be NO pre-alert. This would happen well BEFORE DEC 31 midnight local time wherever you are.

On the bright side, at least this ACE satellite is one that the Martians didn't get(yet).

-- profit of doom (doom@helltopay.ca), December 05, 1999

Answers

Profit: Go to the NASA page. There is a lot of solar information there. They have a daily email update, too. http://www.science.nasa.gov

-- Liz Pavek (lizpavek@hotmail.com), December 05, 1999.

Profit,

Chill dude, we got that HAARP lightning rod kickin' now, so we will all be fine. WMother earth is grounded.

--Hokie(tongue in cheek)

PS: Why is it profit and not prophet? Do you sell insurance or survival stuff? Just curious, I have a friend that goes by "profit" on heat.net

-- Hokie (nn@va.com), December 05, 1999.

186,000 Miles per Second. It's not just a good idea. IT'S THE LAW.

-- CD (not@here.com), December 05, 1999.

At 186,000 mi/sec it only would take 8 min to reach the earth. How could they have a warning system that lets them know a full hour befor it hits????

-- Sean Chamness (schamness@ibius.jnj.com), December 05, 1999.

There will be many upcoming gloom and doom scenarios as we head into the new millenium. If we survive the Y2K Bug the next scare is the so called pole shift. http://www.zetatalk.com/

-- otis (otis@sprynet.com), December 05, 1999.

We need to beware that when speaking of the possibility of a pole shift that we don't place to much emphasis on 5/5/2000. Although there will be a significant planetary alignment during that week, we need to recall that there was an even closer alignment on 2/5/1962 which proved insignificant.

I would be much more concerned with occultists in positions of power who may see "the dawning of the Age of Aquarius" (Spring, 2000 - anyone have the exact date?) as the ripe opportunity to do "cosmic things".

-- Zach Anderson (z@figure.8m.com), December 06, 1999.

Ummm........the 'Zetas' huh? And a Polar shift caused by a comet that will stop the rotation of the Earth for a few days...and afterwards they'll take us under their wings or something? Umm....they going to retrieve our frozen bodies from space amid all the junk...houses, cars, trees, whatenot that floats off the planet when the gravity stops with the rotation? Gee...guess we'll have to learn to breath without oxygen....

Will they transmogrify my dog too? I really like him.

-- Satanta (satanta@zdnetmail.com), December 06, 1999.

This last response epitomizes the scientific and technical understanding I've observed here. Gravity would stop if the earth stopped spinning??? Gimme a break.

BTW, ACE is simply a scientific satellite studying things solar - not some sort of early warning device.

-- spaceguy (lurking@ndlaugh.ing), December 07, 1999.

Spaceguy,

It would seem that Santana's tongue was firmly planted in cheek while typing that post.

Meanwhile, the scientific and technical understanding in posts here do vary considerably, as may be expected in a forum open to all comers. Hopefully, when some matter is on topic, but technically inaccurate, someone with appropriate knowledge might offer pertinent edification in a kindly manner. Your BTW about ACE might be regarded as an example.

Jerry

-- Jerry B (skeptic76@erols.com), December 07, 1999.

Oops, pardon my misspelling of Satanta.

-- Jerry (skeptic76@erols.com), December 07, 1999.