Expert: Tom Whiting - 4/19/2011

Question
Hey Tom,

Bit of an odd question this, but for the purpose of a screenplay I'm writing, I have a scene that involves the phenomennon of Red Rain. Something that some say is caused by red algae and some say is the result of an exploding meteorite tainting rain clouds-

-And that's where you come in :) The question being-

During a Solar flare are meteorites affected? Are there more meteor showers? Or can meteorites be caught up in the force of a powerful CME or Solar Wind Shockwave?

I want red rain to coincide with the suspected 2013 Solar Flares so, assuming the red pigment is caused by meteorite dust, I'm hoping that either meteorites are effected or that maybe even the red skies caused by Solar Flares and Geometric Storms could also effect clouds and rainfall.

The upshot of all this may be simply... '..uhhh....no'. But I thought it worthwhile to ask anyway :)

regards

Alex

Answer
Hi Alex,
You get the answer you probably expected (and should have known)...
'..uhhh....no'.  And what you want is not what... is actual and real.
1. No. (Solar flare and meteors)
2. No.  (more meteor showers)
3. No.   (meteors caught up in a CME)
There is absolutely no connection between meteors, meteorites (meteors that have hit the surface, and meteoroids before entering the atmosphere... to understand the correct terminology here.),
and solar activity. (Actually, the sun is putting out solar flares right now, now that the sunspot activity is on the rise.) Also, there is no guarantee that the next maximum will occur in 2013.  The sunspot cycle can range from 9 to 13 years, 11 years being average. (11.1 years to be exact).

Colored liquid precipitation can occur when pollen, clay, and other particulate matter gets swept up into the clouds by high surface winds, so parts of some countries can experience yellow or greenish rain, especially in the spring pollen season; other spots where dry reddish clay (say southern Utah) is swept up, a reddish rain can result.  (Colored snowfalls for the same reasons can occur too.)
But unfortunately for you, all this has zero correlation to activity on the solar surface 93 million miles away. The solar wind also has no effect on meteors either.
Meteors come primarily from mainly comet dust tails (comets that have passed close to our orbit that we, the Earth, intercepts, or nearly intercepts) and fractured pulverized asteroid particles out in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Of course, if you're writing a science fiction story, you have the literary license to do whatever you want... and with the USA in dead last place now in science and math, you can now get away with almost anything, even gross... overstatements;  and it will be believed by most younger Americans.  (but not by me, or most seniors whose education was back in the mid-century).
Clear Skies,
Tom Whiting
Erie, PA USA