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Re: [Phys-L] satellite Sun outages



Still a bit puzzled.

Don't most of these satellites orbit the equator? I would think solar
radiation always hits the satellites. The satellite has to be directly
aligned with the Sun and Earth for disruption to occur? Radiation most
intense then?




Phys-L@Phys-L.org writes:
On 02/28/2014 10:02 AM, Anthony Lapinski wrote:
I've heard of solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) disrupting
satellites, but I've ever heard of this (which a friend just sent me):

http://www.optimum.com/sun-outage.jsp

Why does this happen only twice a year? Why not every day when the
satellite (geosynchronous?) is aligned with the Sun?

It happens this way for the same reason that you don't
get an eclipse every month. The moon does cross the
RA of the sun ("longitude") but it misses the declination
("latitude").

===

If you lived at the equator, clumps of sun outages would occur
twice a year, on the equinoxes.

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