Rarely, a Coronal Mass Ejection will do some damage to satellites, but these days we have enough warning to power them down into Safe Mode and wait it out. If it's a communication satellite, you might get some service interruptions, but that's more rare than the CME.
If you are a radio astronomer, you will notice disruptions of your work, but if you are a Solar astronomer, you are happy as a clam.
The earth's magnetic field deflects charged particles, so they don't strike the earth. And our atmosphere protects us from the high frequency ionizing radiation.
However very energetic particles could reach the surface.
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Not at all.
Rarely, a Coronal Mass Ejection will do some damage to satellites, but these days we have enough warning to power them down into Safe Mode and wait it out. If it's a communication satellite, you might get some service interruptions, but that's more rare than the CME.
If you are a radio astronomer, you will notice disruptions of your work, but if you are a Solar astronomer, you are happy as a clam.
That is about the only way way they do affect us.
The earth's magnetic field deflects charged particles, so they don't strike the earth. And our atmosphere protects us from the high frequency ionizing radiation.
However very energetic particles could reach the surface.
Look at this article :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_flares#Hazards