An upcoming paper to be published in Astrophysical Journal Letters suggests that sun-grazing comets could trigger a cosmic ray shockwave large enough to disable the world’s electronics in a manner usually associated with electromagnetic pulse weapons or nuclear warfare.
According to David Eichler, an astrophysicist at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beer-Sheva, Israel, a large sun-grazing comet may have triggered a solar flare and cosmic ray shockwave as recently as 775 A.D., based on tree ring analysis that indicates a spike in atmospheric Carbon 14. Eichler theorizes that such events happen every several thousand years.
Eichler explains that the cosmic ray waves emitting from the sun-grazing comet would be funneled in along the earth’s magnetic poles, where magnetic resistance is the weakest. He likens the concept of shockwaves hitting the earth’s magnetic field to the concept of the hammer of a piano hitting a string and making it vibrate.
According to Eichler, when a magnetic field line vibrates, it creates an electric field that “can excite the current and burn out the circuit … that’s the danger of giant electromagnetic pulses; these huge electric fields hit tiny micro-circuitry designed to handle only small currents.”
If such an event were to occur, astronomers would receive a few years notice prior to the arrival of the sun-grazing comet.
