Re: Interstellar radiation spike

[Mike Grissom <mikeg@SLAC.Stanford.EDU>]

Radsafers,

This week's physnews [Thu, 01 Oct 1998 13:40:07
 -0400 (EDT); Subject: update.394) from the American
Institute of Physics has the following summary news
item on this issue:

----------

PHYSICS NEWS UPDATE                         
The American Institute of Physics Bulletin of Physics News
Number 394 October 1, 1998   by Phillip F. Schewe and Ben Stein

A BLAST OF GAMMA LIGHT, representing the largest batch of
energy to arrive at Earth from a star beyond our solar system,
struck the upper reaches of our atmosphere on 27 August 1998. 
The 5-minute pulse of high-energy radiation momentarily disrupted
some terrestrial radio traffic and sent detectors on several spacecraft
off scale.  The source of the blast is believed to be a neutron star
previously known for its intermittent gamma and x-ray emissions. 
The potency of the August event, however, would seem to
characterize the star as a very rare type of object that has come to
be known as a magnetar, so named because the star's magnetic field
is expected to be in the vicinity of 10^15 gauss, 100 times larger
than ordinary neutron stars, and essentially the largest known
magnetic field in the universe.  The gammas probably arise when
magnetic forces crack open the star's crust. Ionized particles above
the star ride the magnetic fields, spewing radiation as they go,
creating a much more potent version of the solar flares seen on our
sun.  (Science News, 12 September 1998.)

At 11:16 AM 10/1/98 -0500, you wrote:
>Has anyone seen an increased response in terrestrial systems that was
>linked to the August 27th event?...


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