Stephanie Osborn's DragonCon Schedule

by Stephanie Osborn
http://www.stephanie-osborn.com

Okay folks! Yours truly will be officially attending DragonCon this year! Due to circumstances beyond my control I was unable to attend Nine Worlds Convention and LonCon-3/WorldCon in London UK this year, as planned, but unless something really DRASTIC happens (and I'm talking somebody in the hospital or the morgue drastic), I WILL BE at DragonCon!

And since I thought a few of you might like to know my schedule, here it is, fresh from the planning folks.

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Title: Reading: Stephanie Osborn 
Time: Fri 04:00 pm Location: Roswell - Hyatt (Length: 1)
Description: From 'A Case of Spontaneous Combustion'
Track: Readings

Title: First Contact: Make & Create Aliens
Time: Fri 08:30 pm Location: Embassy A-B - Hyatt (Length: 1)
Description: Skilled professionals brainstorm an alien and the first contact that might result.
Track: Sci-Fi Literature

Title: The Detective & The Ripper
Time: Fri 10:00 pm Location: Augusta 1-2 - Westin (Length: 1)
Description: Victorian fact and fiction meld as panelists examine and share theories about the world's greatest detective and famed first serial killer.
Track: Alt Hist

Title: Practical Time Travel
Time: Sat 04:00 pm Location: Augusta 1-2 - Westin (Length: 1)
Description: The science and real theories behind time travel and a survey of time travel in speculative fiction and media.
Track: Alt Hist

Title: Race & Gender Issues
Time: Sat 07:00 pm Location: Augusta 3 - Westin (Length: 1)
Description: This discussion panel explores how to handle historical gender and race roles within the realm of alternate history.
Track: Alt Hist

Title: Autograph Session
Time: Sun 01:00 pm Location: International Hall South - Marriott (Length: 1)
Track: Autograph

Title: Putting Humans on Mars
Time: Mon 10:00 am Location: 309-310 - Hilton (Length: 1)
Description: A discussion of the issues that must be resolved before boots on Mars can be accomplished.
Track: Space

Title: Victorian Technology
Time: Mon 11:30 am Location: Augusta 1-2 - Westin (Length: 1)
Description: A panel discussion of the technology of the Victorian era and how to exploit it for stories or imagination.
Track: Alt Hist

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Do note that schedules can change at the last minute. Also note that in some cases I will be scuttling between hotels on bad knees, with more or less back to back panels. (Dragon is wise and allows half an hour between scheduled panels for people to make this traverse, but for those of us who are handicapped, it may still be difficult.) So if I'm supposed to be on the panel but it starts without me, hang on! I'll get there as soon as I can!

Space Weather - The Carrington Event

In August of 1859, during historic Solar Cycle 10, something very strange began to happen. The Sun, as it neared solar max, grew unusually active. It produced prolific numbers of sunspots and flares, some of which were visible to the naked eye. This continued through the end of the month, until, just before noon on September 1, British astronomer Richard Carrington, just 33 and already acknowledged as one of England's premier solar astronomers, observed an incredibly brilliant solar flare – a flare that was easily visible to the naked eye. In later times, this single flare became known as The Carrington Super-Flare. In his own words from his scientific records:

“...Within the area of the great north group [of sunspots]...two patches of intensely bright and white light broke out...My first impression was that by some chance a ray of light had penetrated a hole in the [projection] screen...for the brilliancy was fully equal to that of direct sun-light; but by at once interrupting the current observation, and causing the image to move by turning the R.A. [right ascension, an astronomical coordinate akin to longitude] handle, I saw I was an unprepared witness to a very different affair...The instant of the first outburst was not 15 seconds different from 11h 18m Greenwich mean time, and 11h 23m was taken for the time of disappearance [from the telescope's view]. In this lapse of 5 minutes, the two patches of light traversed a space of about 35,000 miles...”

British amateur astronomer Richard Hodgeson also observed it; Balfour Steward at the Kew Observatory noted a “crochet” effect on the observatory's magnetometer. (A “crochet” is also sometimes called a Sudden Ionospheric Disturbance, or SID. It is when a solar event produces an abnormally high plasma density – remember, plasma is like the stuff in your fluorescent lights – in one layer of the ionosphere. This in turn creates literal electric currents running through the ionosphere, which magnetometers pick up. It creates something of an invisible lacy pattern in the atmosphere, hence, I suppose, the term “crochet.”)

And all of the previous flares and coronal mass ejections had fairly effectively cleared the interplanetary medium between the Sun and Earth.

The enormous coronal mass ejection produced by the super-flare slammed into Earth in only 17 hours.

The resulting effects lasted several days.

What kind of effects?

Worldwide aurorae for starters. These aurorae were most noted in the Caribbean, where they had never been seen before. Colorado gold miners, awakened by the brightening skies, got up and began cooking their breakfasts, because they thought it was dawn. In Europe and the northeastern United States, newspapers could be read by the light of the aurorae.

Speaking of newspapers, the Baltimore American and Commercial Advisor spoke of the ongoing event in poetic terms. “Those who happened to be out late on Thursday night had an opportunity of witnessing another magnificent display of the auroral lights. The phenomenon was very similar to the display on Sunday night, though at times the light was, if possible, more brilliant, and the prismatic hues more varied and gorgeous. The light appeared to cover the whole firmament, apparently like a luminous cloud, through which the stars of the larger magnitude indistinctly shone. The light was greater than that of the moon at its full, but had an indescribable softness and delicacy that seemed to envelop everything upon which it rested. Between 12 and 1 o'clock, when the display was at its full brilliancy, the quiet streets of the city resting under this strange light, presented a beautiful as well as singular appearance.”

Those dealing in the business of telegraphy did not think so highly of the display. The incredibly intense event, a maximal G5 and S5 by any definition, created induced currents in telegraph wires that were simply impossible to control. Lines and pylons threw sparks, telegraph batteries were blown, telegraphers received severe shocks, and telegraph “flimsy” paper burst into flames.

And yet some telegraph systems continued to function, despite having no batteries to power them. The induced current was simply that strong.

This was the Carrington Event, the most powerful solar/geomagnetic storm ever to occur in recorded history. It was before the advent of electricity, or electronics, or integrated grids and networks, save for telegraph systems, with which it wreaked havoc. Imagine what effect it would have today.

Dibs on the story.    ;-)

-Stephanie Osborn

http://www.stephanie-osborn.com