• cfi@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      39
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      9 months ago

      I don’t know, I feel pretty strongly that they’re linked. Clearly the cell phone outage caused the solar flares.

        • BBQThunder@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          9 months ago

          But if we’re observing the visible light from the flares on earth, wouldn’t that mean the other electromagnetic interference has also arrived? Or is the interference caused by heavier radiation particles? Actually curious - I assumed that satellite to ground transmissions would be light or radio-based and therefore not affected by heavy radiation, only EM (which travels at the speed of light)…

            • BBQThunder@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              9 months ago

              OK, I had to Google it. Turns out radio blackouts with satellite comm systems to happen simultaneous with the Flare being observed. The intense EM radiation basically ionizes part of the ionosohere, causing the radio signals to be absorbed. So we WOULD expect potential disruption to comms as soon as the Flare was observed.

              Source