Date: Sat Mar 31, 2001 8:38 am
Subject: Space Weather


An explanation as to why the computers and internet are acting funny
today.
http://www.spaceweather.com/

SHOCK WAVE: An interplanetary shock wave passed NASA's ACE spacecraft
at 0030 UT on March 31st (7:30 pm EST on March 30th) and struck
Earth's magnetosphere about 30 minutes later. The leading edge of the
shock front was dense (~150 protons/cc) and strongly magnetized --
traits that can give rise to powerful geomagnetic disturbances.

Sky watchers living above ~40 deg. geomagnetic latitude (this
includes nearly all of the continental United States) should remain
alert for auroras after local nightfall. [NOAA geomagnetic latitude
maps: North America, Eurasia, South Africa & Australia, South America]

The March 31st shock wave might have been the first of two coronal
mass ejections (CMEs) that left the Sun earlier this week -- or
perhaps a cannibalistic combination of the two. The pair were hurled
into space by explosions near the giant sunspot 9393 on Wednesday and
Thursday. Thursday's X-class eruption (pictured right) also triggered
an ongoing S1-class proton storm around our planet.