• Massive solar flare erupts towards earth, predicted impact unknown
    19 replies, posted
"An X-Class solar flare — the most dangerous kind — erupted from the sun toward Earth today at 1:46 p.m. EDT from Active Region 2158." [quote]Tomorrow we will be able to see the flare in action, live on the Internet. The Slooh Space Telescope will be transmitting video of the sun from Prescott, Arizona, beginning on Thursday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. EDT. "What solar experts fear most," Slooh astronomer Bob Berman said in a statement, "is a recurrence of the huge Coronal Mass Ejection events of 1921 and 1859." Officials at NOAA's Space Weather Center think this flare may have created a CME, but can't be sure yet or be sure how strong it may be. CMEs are the blast of plasma fired off by very active flares. They can trigger geomagnetic storms on Earth two to three days after erupting from the sun, according to Space.com. They also create spectacular aurora. According to Berman: "A government-sponsored panel in 2008 estimated that such a solar event today would likely destroy the US electrical grid, inflict a staggering $1 to $2 trillion dollars worth of damage, and require over a year to repair. So it's more than of mere academic interest to monitor and observe these violent events as they unfold. Plus, they're amazing to watch." One of these dangerously strong solar flares barely missed Earth in 2012 — had it exploded outward from the sun just a week later, it would have cause catastrophic damage to our electrical systems. This time around, the flare "poses no danger to anyone on Earth or the astronauts living aboard the International Space Station," according to Space.com. But that being said, there could be impacts on high-frequency (HF) radio communications. "Impacts to HF radio communications on the daylight side of Earth are expected to last for more than an hour," according to NOAA's Space Weather website. As well as watching the solar flare in real time, viewers can ask questions of Slooh's astronomers on Twitter, using the hashtag #Sloohflare, during the broadcast. Watch the livestream here, starting at 1 p.m. EDT on Thursday, September 11. Here's a full list of times to watch around the world.[/quote] [url]http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-watch-extreme-solar-flare-2014-9[/url] [highlight](User was banned for this post ("Didn't read the article/possesses insider knowledge without sourcing" - Starpluck))[/highlight]
[QUOTE] This time around, the flare “poses no danger to anyone on Earth or the astronauts living aboard the International Space Station,”[/QUOTE]
How long until it comes close?
And the most Sensationalist Headline award goes to....
So it's not going to hit us. You got me.
For a second there i was hoping this was an excuse for school to be cancelled...
I don't have a torch, but I can still wave my fist angrily at you.
wouldn't it only take a few minutes to get to the earth.... by the time it erupts and is rated we're already boned
OP didn't even read the article he posted
[QUOTE=J!NX;45946660]OP didn't even read the article he posted[/QUOTE] Yes, this is SH after all
A massive solar flare caused a squirrel to climb into the transformer outside my place and blow it up It's like that one movie where all the birds are committing suicide
[QUOTE=Sableye;45946629]wouldn't it only take a few minutes to get to the earth.... by the time it erupts and is rated we're already boned[/QUOTE] Solar flares don't move at the speed of light. From what I understand it's a stream of charged particles and plasma shit rather than pure electromagnetic radiation
[quote=Article]"What solar experts fear most," Slooh astronomer Bob Berman said in a statement, "is a recurrence of the huge Coronal Mass Ejection events of 1921 and 1859."[/quote] No shit. That's like saying "What earthquake experts fear most, is a repeat of the 1906 San Fransisco quake" after an unknown-severity earthquake prediction somehow appeared. It was the worst event in modern history for that particular phenomenon, so naturally that's what experts are going to fear the most. Solar flares specifically are always rife with sensationalism in the news.
Scared the shit out of me, OP. I read the title and clicked on it and right then my internet stopped.
[QUOTE=Starpluck;45947218]No shit. That's like saying "What earthquake experts fear most, is a repeat of the 1906 San Fransisco quake" after an unknown-severity earthquake prediction somehow appeared. It was the worst event in modern history for that particular phenomenon, so naturally that's what experts are going to fear the most. Solar flares specifically are always rife with sensationalism in the news.[/QUOTE] that probably comes from a lot of people not really knowing what a solar flare really is and the "POTENTIAL DOOMSDAY!!1!" sells clicks like a motherfucker
when I read the article title I was like 'what' because solar flares rarely ever do jack shit Seriously, the Earth's magnetic field is far too strong for all but the strongest solar flares (and we won't get those for another many millions of years).
[QUOTE=ForgottenKane;45947771]when I read the article title I was like 'what' because solar flares rarely ever do jack shit Seriously, the Earth's magnetic field is far too strong for all but the strongest solar flares (and we won't get those for another many millions of years).[/QUOTE] I think the big issues come with how dependent we are on our tech and how it's happened once before where solar flares fucked up the power grid and how the bigger and more vulnerable parts of our power grid are made to order with a very, very limited stockpile and if they were to get hit we'd have to somehow have new ones made amidst societal breakdown. The prospect of being without power for a long period of time is terrifying to me.
For those of you that live in the right areas a solar storm has predicted to be a G3 (kp7) geomagnetic storm and to arrive at Earth around September 13. At a k-index of 7, auroras have been know to have been seen at these locations in the past: [QUOTE][B]North America:[/B] Salt Lake City (UT, USA) Denver (CO, USA) Nashville (TN, USA) Richmond (VA, USA) [B]Europe:[/B] London (England) Brussels (Belgium) Cologne (Germany) Dresden (Germany) Warsaw (Poland) [B]Southern Hemisphere:[/B] Melbourne (Australia) Wellington (New Zealand)[/QUOTE] So if you live between the poles and that those latitudes, you may be able to see an aurora.
so I was like ha finally the dangerous flare then reading further I discovered it's nothing to worry about ... what was the news about then?
[QUOTE=ForgottenKane;45947771]when I read the article title I was like 'what' because solar flares rarely ever do jack shit Seriously, the Earth's magnetic field is far too strong for all but the strongest solar flares (and we won't get those for another many millions of years).[/QUOTE] Well, there was that immense coronal mass ejection in 2012 that missed the Earth by a week. In that, the Earth passed through the space the CME shot through one week after the CME had passed. If we'd been a week ahead in our orbital path, or the CME had been delayed, it could've been really bad. Could've blown us back to the industrial revolution by zapping electronic infrastructure. But it didn't so we can only predict how bad it'd have been.
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