茫茫宇宙，如果地球是人类唯一的落脚点，太阳就是带给人类光、热和一切生命的源泉。但如果1859年的太阳风暴再现，就有可能会毁掉全球的信息、通信及供电系统，人类现在应做好迎接一场全球性灾难的准备。

关键词：科普、译文、太阳风暴

A DEVASTATING solar storm is a matter of WHEN and not if, say scientists, and it will have the ability to wipe out communications on Earth.

科学家说，一场毁灭性的太阳风暴只是何时发生的问题，而不是是否会发生的问题，它将有能力摧毁地球上的通信。

The European Space Agency is launching the Solar Orbiter probe in 2020 and hope that the machine will help scientists forecast potentially catastrophic phenomena.

欧洲航天局将于2020年发射太阳轨道探测器，并希望该机器能够帮助科学家预测潜在的灾难性现象。

Solar storms occur when the sun releases a barrage of solar radiation, either through a coronal hole or a solar flare, into deep space.

太阳风暴发生在太阳通过日冕洞或太阳耀斑向太空深处释放大量的太阳辐射时。

For the most part, these storms miss our planet however, sometimes Earth does get caught up in the storm's crosshairs.

在大多数情况下，这些风暴会错过我们的星球，然而，有时地球确实会陷入风暴的十字路口。

If such a storm is strong enough, it has the potential to wipe out Earth's technology.

如果这样的风暴足够强大，它有可能摧毁地球的科技。

Solar storms wreak havoc on global technology as the radiation which pummels our planet heats up the outer atmosphere, causing it to expand.

太阳风暴对全球技术造成严重破坏，因为撞击地球的辐射会使外层大气升温，使其膨胀。

This means satellite signals will struggle to penetrate the swollen atmosphere, leading to a lack of Internet service, GPS navigation, satellite TV such as Sky and mobile phone signal.

这意味着卫星信号将难以穿透膨胀的大气层，导致互联网服务，GPS导航，Sky等卫星电视和手机信号的缺乏。

Additionally, increased currents in the Earth's magnetic field - or magnetosphere - could theoretically lead to a surge of electricity in power lines, which can blow out electrical transformers and power stations leading to a temporary loss of electricity.

此外，地球磁场(或磁层)的电流增加理论上可能会导致电力线路中的电力激增，这可能导致变压器和发电站的电力中断，导致暂时性的电力损失。

The biggest storm known to us was the Carrington Event which occurred in September 1859.

我们所知道的最大风暴是发生在1859年9月的卡林顿事件。

[TECH WARNING: Huge solar storm WIPING OUT global technology is a matter of WHEN… not if (Image: NASA)]

[技术警告：巨大的太阳风暴摧毁全球技术只是时间问题，而不是如果（图片来源：NASA）]

During that solar storm, the sun unleashed a series of powerful solar flares that were so powerful telegraph operators' offices experienced a surge in electricity which resulted in some buildings setting on fire.

在那场太阳风暴期间，太阳释放了一系列强大的太阳耀斑，这些太阳耀斑如此强大，电报运营商的办公室经历了电力激增，导致一些建筑物起火。

The storm was so powerful its southern auroras could be seen as far north as Queensland in Australia and northern auroras were noted as far south as Cuba.

这场风暴的强度如此之大，它的南极光最远可以在澳大利亚的昆士兰看到，而北极光最远可以在古巴看到。

Researchers now believe the event was not a one-off and the sun could be set to release a storm just as powerful and they hope that the Solar Orbiter can help us prepare.

研究人员现在认为这次活动不是一次性事件，太阳可能会释放出同样强大的风暴，他们希望太阳轨道器可以帮助我们做好准备。

Catherine Burnett, head of the Met Office's Space Weather Monitoring Unit told the Telegraph: "Solar Orbiter is a research mission which in the long term will to understand much more about the Sun and why it behaves as it does, so in the future it should help us spot disrupting events so we can prepare for them.

气象局空间气象监测部门负责人Catherine Burnett告诉《每日电讯报》："太阳轨道飞行器是一项研究任务，从长远来看，它将更多地了解太阳及其行为的原因，所以未来它将帮助我们发现干扰事件，以便我们为它们做好准备。

[The Solar Orbiter will launch in 2020 (Image: ESA)]

[太阳轨道器将于2020年发射（图片来源：ESA）]

"The threat of space weather to national infrastructure, UK industry and the wider public is such that it is now part of the Government National Risk Register and there is a need for forecasting to try to mitigate that risk.

"太空天气对国家基础设施，英国工业和广大公众的威胁如此之大，使其现在成为政府国家风险登记册的一部分，因此有必要进行预测，以试图减轻这种风险。

"We try to advise when space weather will have an impact on technology, so we're looking for solar flares which can knock out high frequency telecommunications, coronal mass ejections which have the potential to take out our power grids and solar radiation which impact satellite communications systems and GPS.

"我们试图告诉人们太空天气何时会对科技产生影响，因此我们正在寻找可以摧毁高频电信的太阳耀斑，有可能摧毁我们的电网的日冕物质抛射，以及影响卫星通信系统和GPS的太阳辐射。

"We think that the big solar incidents, like the Carrington Event, happen between 1 in 100 or 1 in 200 years so it is a case of 'when not if' we have one."

"我们认为，像卡林顿事件这样的重大太阳能事件，在100年间或200年间会发生一次，所以这是一个'如果没有'的例子。"

（责任编辑：周姚）

（版权说明，转载自：微信公众号：科学猫科普）