Level S4 solar radiation event • Hacker News Board

Re: Level S4 solar radiation event

#101

Post by tbrownaw » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 3:10 AM UTC

andrewinardeer wrote: post #88

Any tips on best practices in how one can protect homelab rigs from a Carrington level event? Let's say we were given two days notice that the mother of all S4s was inbound. Just switch everything off? What if one of my homelabs needed 100% uptime to meet my wife's SLA for messaging? Is this able to be protected?

Make sure you have a surge protector or ups, in case it makes the power grid go funky. Which you should have anyway.

Also, it could be a convenient excuse to upgrade to fiber internet service if you haven't already. (Yes, excuse. Equipment should have more than good enough isolation to not care.)

Re: Level S4 solar radiation event

#102

Post by qingcharles » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 3:10 AM UTC

celsoazevedo wrote: post #81

repeekad wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Queue Chernobyl documentary clip measuring the radiation as low because that’s as high the meter went

3.6 roentgen. Not great, not terrible!

*skin sloughs off*

Re: Level S4 solar radiation event

#103

Post by TacticalCoder » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 3:21 AM UTC

bartman wrote: post #9

We had intense aurora in Berlin, Germany. Green clouds dancing in the sky levels. Started around 22:10 local time or a bit earlier, and at this point there's only a faint red/green glow remaining.

I tought I was seeing aurora borealis here at 4 am local time in the neighboring Grand Duchy of Luxemburg but it was just visual pollution due to lights from a city.

Re: Level S4 solar radiation event

#104

Post by _blk » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 3:41 AM UTC

Nice. And it's somewhat relieving to read this over a Starlink connection.

Re: Level S4 solar radiation event

#105

Post by keepamovin » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 3:42 AM UTC

irthomasthomas wrote: post #56

jjcm wrote: post #11

If anyone is interested in what "G4" means in context, here's the scale: https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/noaa-scales-explanation

We are at kp 8.67. The Carrington event was a kp 9

This is also related to weaker solar events leading to stronger Earth storms due to Earth's weakening magnetic field.

Re: Level S4 solar radiation event

#106

Post by _blk » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 3:42 AM UTC

cbeach wrote: post #38

Probably a stupid question, but should I unplug my EV? (UK)

Yes! Absolutely, but only if you want to drive it.

Re: Level S4 solar radiation event

#107

Post by pilaf » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 3:46 AM UTC

tramtrist wrote: post #44

We never get aurora in Japan :(

Hokkaido got some back in November: https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/16155623

Re: Level S4 solar radiation event

#108

Post by AnishLaddha » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 4:00 AM UTC

fascinating, hope our critical infrastructure can handle this. how long does something like this last, and will it have an effect on artemis 2?

hypothetical: if a carrington event-esque storm happens during the mission, how badly will the houston orion module communication links be affected?

Re: Level S4 solar radiation event

#109

Post by sparin9 » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 4:02 AM UTC

TL;DR: A severe (G4-level) geomagnetic storm hit Earth on January 19, 2026 due to a solar coronal mass ejection. It can disrupt power grids, GPS, satellite systems, and radio communications, while creating visible aurora displays at higher latitudes.

Re: Level S4 solar radiation event

#110

Post by Helmut10001 » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 4:07 AM UTC

jjcm wrote: post #11

If anyone is interested in what "G4" means in context, here's the scale: https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/noaa-scales-explanation

Interestingly, there are about 100 events of this severity (G4) per cycle, and a single cycle lasts 11 years. This means there are about nine G4 events on average per year.