Solar

A powerful eruption on the sun's surface yesterday has sent a storm of solar particles and magnetic energy hurtling toward Earth at more than a million miles per hour. Scientists aren't sure yet what to expect when it arrives late tomorrow or early Friday. But electric utilities and satellite operators have been advised to prepare for possible disruptions from what is being described as the first big event of the current 11-year solar cycle. "It's rare. It's unusual. And we do anticipate a strong geomagnetic storm on June 8 and 9," said Ernie Hildner, director of the federal government's Space Environmental Center in Boulder, Colo.

VIOLENT sun storms are reaching their 11-year cyclical peak this year, the so-called solar maximum, and the potential for earthly damage is greater than ever. With ever more reliance on vulnerable networks of technology, the Earth's power grids and radio communications and even space satellites can sustain heavy damage from a blast of solar radiation. But scientists are finding new ways to predict these massive solar eruptions and give more time to protect satellites and power systems from the brunt of the storms.

On Jan. 11, a speck appeared on the left side of the sun. Tiny at first, in less than 48 hours it blossomed into a vast, dark sunspot complex 10 times the size of the Earth. It was one of the largest sunspot formations of the current 11-year cycle of solar activity. So astronomers declared a solar "flare watch" campaign, dropped whatever they were doing and turned their instruments toward it. "We knew something would come," said Bernhard Fleck, a European Space Agency scientist at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt.

NASA officials say a broken antenna motor is about to silence the $1 billion SOHO spacecraft, one of the world's most complex and successful solar observatories. The failure will cause a 19-day loss of signal once every three months. It will interrupt some scientific research and crimp the system that warns of approaching geomagnetic storms. Sweeping outward from the sun, these storms can damage satellites, endanger spacewalking astronauts and disrupt communications and power distribution on the ground.

A series of eruptions on the sun delivered a rare and colorful display of the northern lights to Marylanders and sky watchers across much of the United States late Sunday. Those who missed the first show might be able to catch an encore this week. Norm Lewis, WMAR-TV's weatherman, got a good look at Sunday's display of the aurora borealis from his backyard observatory in Mt. Airy. "I've seen it before out here, but last night was unbelievable," he said. "Most of it was green, with some red mixed in. It started out ... looking like a long cloud.

Consider the myriad mobile electronic devices available to us today. There are PDAs, cell phones, MP3 players, digital cameras, portable electronic games, GPS navigation devices, satellite radio receivers, and products that combine many of these functions. But if there is a single weakness common to all of them, it would have to be that they all run on batteries. And batteries run out of power at the most inopportune moments. When the power dies, we hope to have a set of backup batteries in a pocket or we've lugged along the usually clunky AC adapter and cable so we can plug it back in and recharge while we continue using it. That's assuming, of course, there's a nearby wall socket available.

The evening skies blushed red and pink over Maryland this week, thrilling sky-watchers with an unusual display of Northern Lights south of the Mason-Dixon Line The vivid light shows on Wednesday and Thursday evenings were triggered by powerful solar eruptions, called coronal mass ejections, blasted toward the Earth earlier in the week. "There were gasps and wows galore," said Jerry Persall, president of the Howard Astronomical League, who watched Thursday's events with a half-dozen HAL members at Carrs Mill Park near Lisbon.

A bill that would give Howard County residents a property tax credit for installation of solar or geothermal energy-saving equipment is to be introduced at Tuesday night's County Council meeting. Councilman Guy Guzzone, a North Laurel-Savage Democrat, is sponsoring the measure, which would limit the credits to $5,000 per house and $250,000 a year in the county overall, according to the legislation. The credit could not exceed the total property tax bill for a residence. Guzzone, who is running for House of Delegates, has vowed to introduce statewide credit legislation, if elected.

On one of the fields where students learn about agriculture, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore will soon be planting a new kind of crop with a constantly renewable yield - 20 acres' worth of photovoltaic panels, the largest solar farm in the state. The 2.1-megawatt system, to be built by Beltsville-based SunEdison, will generate electricity for the 4,100-student campus in Princess Anne when it's finished, which is expected by the end of the year. "We hope it will be a model for other universities as well as the surrounding businesses in the area," said Suzanne Street, the university's spokeswoman.

SAN DIEGO - Tom Day sees a lot to love about his family's brand new house. Perched in a high-end subdivision on this city's booming northeast fringe, the dun-hued Mediterranean boasts a castle-turret entry, a lofty master suite, a mesa-top view. But aesthetics aren't all that attracted Day. His new home will also help pay the power bill. With photovoltaic panels on a triangle of south-facing tile roof and a solar water heater along a western ridge, the two-story house is part of a quiet revolution taking shape in these times of energy anemia.