Lubbock Almost Lost All Electronic Communication Because of the Sun

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Who would have thought that all of our electronics depend so much on the sun not going crazy?

Last Tuesday, February 15th, the Solar Orbiter spacecraft captured the largest solar eruption in a single image ever. Now, it wasn't the largest of all time, just the largest ever captured at once.

Space.com defines solar eruptions (or solar prominences) as eruptions of charged particles the sun emits from time to time. So every now and then, the sun kinda explodes a little. No big deal. We're pretty far away from it, so it shouldn't matter, right?

Well, this recent solar eruption was pretty damn big. If it was aimed at Earth, it would've caused a massive worldwide aurora effect, according to Jim Todd, the director of space science education at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. Luckily, this happened on the far side of the sun.

Apparently, something similar happened in 1859 called The Carrington Event. Back then, all telegraphs were knocked out. Considering how much more reliant the world is on electronics these days, it would've been a whole lot worse for us if this eruption was aimed our way. Lubbock alone wouldn't be affected, either. It'd be the entire planet.

Imagine you're in the middle of class at Texas Tech. You're listening to a lecture after a long night of playing Final Fantasy (roll with me) and you're dozing off. Then, bam, all electronics go out. What would you even do? Was the Final Fantasy point necessary? Of course it was.

It's kinda scary to think about the colossal things that happen out in space and how they may affect us down here. Regardless, space is sick. Check out the stars sometime, Lubbock. It's pretty neat up there.