Dr. Don Lincoln, a senior physicist at Fermilab, does research using the Large Hadron Collider. He is the author of "The Large Hadron Collider: The Extraordinary Story of the Higgs Boson and Other Things That Will Blow Your Mind," and produces a series of science education videos. Follow him on Facebook. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his. Mother Nature has had a hectic past couple of weeks of hurricanes, an earthquake, wildfires andflooding. But while our attention has been turned to these humanitarian crises, Earth ducked a cosmic bullet the likes of which could have crippled human technological civilization. Over the last week or so, the sun has experienced a series of solar flares, including the most energetic one in a decade. A solar flare occurs when magnetic energy in the vicinity of a sunspot is released, resulting in a bright spot on the sun that takes place over a time scale of perhaps 10 minutes -- or even less. The flare can shoot out a broad range of electromagnetic energy, from visible light to X-rays to the even more energetic gamma rays. If this emitted energy is aimed at the Earth, it can have a significant impact, including enhanced auroras at lower latitudes, and airline passengers can experience a higher radiation dose than usual, especially for flight paths near the Earth's poles. This radiation dose is not deadly, although during especially bright solar flares, the airlines alter flight paths to avoid getting closer than 780 nautical miles to the poles. read more http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/15/opinions/earth-dodges-a-cosmic-bullet-opinion-lincoln/index.html
