Community | June 08, 2011 | 29 comments

Unusual Solar Flare Erupts

source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=w6UoL9lG2sw

letsliveinpeace
A solar flare has erupted from the sun in an impressive display captured by NASA cameras. NASA says the flare peaked on Tuesday and created a large cloud that appeared to cover almost half the surface of the sun.
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29 comments // Unusual Solar Flare Erupts // Video

  • ColossalView
  • letsliveinpeace
  • rodstradamus
    • -1
      rodstradamus  

    • Yes, but will the eco-commies ever admit that the variations in the cycles of the Sun and gigantic CMEs affect temperature, weather and climate? Probably not.

    • 12 months ago
  • coolplanet
  • letsliveinpeace
    • +2
      letsliveinpeace  
    • rodstradamus:

      They will never admit that something like this is possible, since it will take a lot of cash to set up the necessary safeguards. If it affects the bottom line they will fight tooth and nail. Look at what's happening with global warming, I don't remember weather like this when I was a kid. Look at the flooding, wildfires, tornadoes that are stirring up throughout the country, although it is ironic justice that the areas that are being hardest hit are the states where senators and congressmen are denying global warming in the first place. AND sure enough they who scream self sufficiency are screaming for federal help.

    • 12 months ago
  • letsliveinpeace
  • kennymotown
  • tommic
    • +4
      tommic  

    • the eleven year solar cycle is in play, and solar flares will grow in number, just hope a CME does not come our way, it would be very bad news, or maybe really good news. For it would end all electrical equipment useless as transformers and electrical grids will fry. And the world will be thrown back two hundred years for quite a while

    • 12 months ago
  • August_K
    • +2
      August_K  
    • tommic:

      You're right and most folks have NO idea how much damage could happen in an instant.
      We are basically at their mercy.

      I did hear that there is a little bit .....and I stress "little" bit of upgrading going on but it will be a long time before our grid will be protected from big flare ups and I don't think they have figured out how to protect all the satellites. If those get fried....we won't like it.

    • 12 months ago
  • letsliveinpeace
  • Omle_Du_Fromage
  • jamjaminyourmouth
  • coolplanet
  • iowawashington
  • coolplanet
  • robin49
    • +3
      robin49  
    • coolplanet:

      The Aztecs didn't know about solar flares. And their calendar doesn't foretell the end of time or the end of the world. They viewed time as cyclical, with no end, the end of their calendar would have been the beginning of new one.

    • 12 months ago
  • coolplanet
    • 0
      coolplanet  
    • robin49:

      Did I say the Aztecs predicted the end of the world?
      Along with the Maya their ancient calendars go back to zero in 2012, a time of new creation.
      There is solid evidence that they have been aware of the center of the Milky Way gallaxy for thousands of years. They devised the most accurate calenders ever devised by humankind and rivaled the Babylonians and Chinese in their knowledge of astronomy.
      What makes you think they had no knowledge of solar cycles?

    • 12 months ago
  • letsliveinpeace
  • JangoFetish
  • onemalefla
  • JangoFetish
  • onemalefla
  • Wyley_Wombat
  • letsliveinpeace
    • +3
      letsliveinpeace  
    • Image

    • Solar flare erupts, creating spectacular images
      WASHINGTON — A solar flare erupted from the sun in an impressive display captured by NASA cameras, but scientists say the medium-sized event will have a minimal impact, if any, on Earth.

      The flare peaked early Tuesday and created a large cloud that appeared to cover almost half the surface of the sun, NASA said. A cloud of charged particles erupted from the sun's outer atmosphere and is expected to pass by Earth late Wednesday or early Thursday, causing a minor disruption to Earth's magnetic field, according to the National Weather Service's Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colo.

      "This wasn't really such a big event," said Michael Hesse, chief of the space weather laboratory at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "It was spectacular to watch, but not big in terms of hazards to the Earth."

      At most, the cloud that erupted from the sun may cause some brief interruptions to high-frequency radio communications, especially closer to the North and South poles, said Joe Kunches, a space scientist at SWPC. Some global positioning devices also may make tiny errors, he said.

      "It doesn't look like it's going to be a direct hit on the Earth," Kunches said. "It's going to be, if you use a baseball analogy, a little bit low and outside on the pitch."

      The aurora borealis also may be more visible Thursday or Friday night, he said.

      Images of the flare were recorded by an orbiting satellite called the Solar Dynamics Observatory. The photos and video were the most spectacular that the satellite has captured since it was launched last year, Hesse said.

      A much larger solar flare erupted Saturday, but NASA didn't capture images because it happened on the side of the sun opposite Earth, Hesse said. Scientists have been expecting an increase in solar activity because the sun is moving into a more volatile period of an 11-year cycle in which its magnetic field reverses its orientation.

      "The sun has woken up and is becoming more active as we approach the solar maximum," expected in 2013, Hesse said.

    • 12 months ago
  • coolplanet
    • +3
      coolplanet  
    • Image
    • letsliveinpeace:

      http://www.examiner.com/exopolitics-in-seattle/2012-may-bring-the-perfect-storm-...

      Excerpt:

      Electrical grids & anticipated solar flares of 2012

      Mainstream scientific concern about 2012 has grown since a recent National Research Council report funded by NASA and issued by the National Academy of Sciences, entitled “Severe Space Weather Events: Understanding Economic and Societal Impact” which details the potential devastation of 2012 solar storms on the current planetary energy grid and because of the inter-linkages of a cybernetic society, on our entire human civilization.
      According to New Scientist, science’s concern is a repetition of the 8-day 1859 “Carrington event,” a large solar flare accompanied by a coronal mass ejection (CME) that flung billions of tons of solar plasma onto the earth’s magnetosphere and disrupted Victorian-era magnetometers and the world telegraph system.
      The New Scientist states, “The report outlines the worst case scenario for the US. The ‘perfect storm’ is most likely on a spring or autumn night in a year of heightened solar activity - something like 2012. Around the equinoxes, the orientation of the Earth's field to the sun makes us particularly vulnerable to a plasma strike.”
      The next solar maximum is expected to occur in 2012. New Scientist reports that Mike Hapgood, head of the European Space Agency's space weather team states, "We're in the equivalent of an idyllic summer's day. The sun is quiet and benign, the quietest it has been for 100 years," "but it could turn the other way."
      The modern electrical high-power grid magnifies the impact of solar flares. Since the grid is linked into major aspects of modern society, the effects of another Carrington event would be devastating. The National Academy of Sciences report states: “A severe space weather event in the US could induce ground currents that would knock out 300 key transformers within about 90 seconds, cutting off the power for more than 130 million people.” The New Scientist states: “According to the NAS report, the impact of what it terms a "severe geomagnetic storm scenario" could be as high as $2 trillion. And that's just the first year after the storm. The NAS puts the recovery time at four to 10 years. It is questionable whether the US would ever bounce back.”
      China, which is installing a high-power electrical grid more vulnerable than that of the U.S., Europe and other developed nations will be similarly impacted.
      The solar coronal mass ejection from the 1859 Carrington event arrived on earth in less than 15 minutes, which is faster that our early warning system NASA's Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) can detect.
      European Space Agency space weather head Mike Hapgood states, "I don't think the NAS report is scaremongering. “Scientists are conservative by nature and this group is really thoughtful," he says. "This is a fair and balanced report."

    • 12 months ago
  • letsliveinpeace
    • +3
      letsliveinpeace  
    • coolplanet:

      Improvements are needed in our power grid. Solar storms can have the same effect of pulse from an atomic bomb. We need to improve the detection of solar flares and be able to shut down the grid quickly before it can be damaged.

    • 12 months ago
  • figgdimension
  • letsliveinpeace
  • 14_Crusaders
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