Episode 539 - Dangerous but beautiful space weather

Lagrange Point

Weather in space, can seem far away but it's dazzling effects come with some danger. Aurora localised entirely around a satellite can cause a steamy situation for communications. Analysing space weather can lead to better designed satellites capable of withstanding 1-100 year solar storms. It's a balancing act when protecting satellites from solar weather, too much and too little protection can lead to disaster. Meteor showers are beautiful but how do you get one without an icey comet? The only way to get an asteroid to make a lovely meteor shower unfortunately involves a violent collision or big explosion.

1. Nigel P. Meredith, Thomas E. Cayton, Michael D. Cayton, Richard B. Horne. Extreme Relativistic Electron Fluxes in GPS Orbit: Analysis of NS41 BDD‐IIR Data. Space Weather, 2023; 21 (6) DOI: 10.1029/2023SW003436
2. W. Z. Cukier, J. R. Szalay. Formation, Structure, and Detectability of the Geminids Meteoroid Stream. The Planetary Science Journal, 2023; 4 (6): 109 DOI: 10.3847/PSJ/acd538