1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:09,390 music 2 00:00:09,410 --> 00:00:10,330 silence 3 00:00:10,350 --> 00:00:15,090 music 4 00:00:15,110 --> 00:00:20,150 The fact that 2012, the date 2012, is close to 2014 is completely a coincidence. 5 00:00:20,170 --> 00:00:26,990 This up and coming solar cycle, roughly 2014, isn't going to be significantly different from the next one 6 00:00:27,010 --> 00:00:30,130 and the next one, and then the previous one. 7 00:00:30,150 --> 00:00:34,510 The sun is what we call and active star, and it has a cycle of activity. 8 00:00:34,530 --> 00:00:40,070 Over 11 years, we go to higher activity and back down to lower activity. 9 00:00:40,090 --> 00:00:45,720 So, this 11 years is fairly steady, and it has been happening through time as far as we can tell. 10 00:00:45,740 --> 00:00:51,100 And we always have solar flares. Some times we have big ones, some times we have small ones. 11 00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:54,190 We live on a planet with a very thick atmosphere. 12 00:00:54,210 --> 00:01:01,610 So, that atmosphere stops all of the harmful radiation that is produced in a solar flare. 13 00:01:01,630 --> 00:01:05,490 Even in the largest events that we've seen in the past 10,000 years, 14 00:01:05,510 --> 00:01:13,530 we see that the effect is not enough to damage the atmosphere so that we are no longer protected. 15 00:01:13,550 --> 00:01:17,320 Coronal mass ejections are happening on the sun all the time. 16 00:01:17,340 --> 00:01:21,250 And they hit the Earth once or twice a week, 17 00:01:21,270 --> 00:01:23,039 sometimes more, 18 00:01:23,060 --> 00:01:26,670 and in general, the effects are minimal. 19 00:01:26,690 --> 00:01:29,929 If we have a really big one, we can have a really strong aurora. 20 00:01:29,950 --> 00:01:34,840 But, then it can effect satellites and power grids, 21 00:01:34,860 --> 00:01:39,350 and these are the kinds of things that people who run these systems know about. 22 00:01:39,370 --> 00:01:40,630 And we have warning. 23 00:01:40,650 --> 00:01:47,900 These CMEs travel at speeds that mean they take probably 2-3 days to get here. 24 00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:49,440 We've learned more and more about storms. 25 00:01:49,460 --> 00:01:52,270 We've learned how to better predict the effects. 26 00:01:52,290 --> 00:01:55,660 Where they are going to go. Where they are going to hit. 27 00:01:55,680 --> 00:02:00,680 As long as we continue paying attention to it and learning more about it, 28 00:02:00,700 --> 00:02:05,000 treating it like we treat a hurricane coming or a huge thunderstorm coming, 29 00:02:05,020 --> 00:02:08,539 we can take appropriate measures to prepare for them. 30 00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:12,420 We understand the sun well enough 31 00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:14,590 with all the technology and all the science 32 00:02:14,610 --> 00:02:19,610 and all of the many spacecraft we have that are monitoring it 24 hours a day, 33 00:02:19,630 --> 00:02:28,420 7 days a week, to know that this stuper storm that's going to wipe out the Earth simply isn't going to happen. 34 00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:30,630 silence 35 00:02:30,650 --> 00:02:42,980 beeping