Community | August 09, 2011 | 9 comments

Sun Unleashes Largest Solar Flare in Years

source: http://www.space.com/12580-sun-unleashes-major-solar-flare.html

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rodstradamus
An extremely powerful solar flare, the largest in over four years, rocked the sun early Tuesday (Aug. 9), but is unlikely to wreak any serious havoc here on Earth, scientists say.

"It was a big flare," said Joe Kunches, a space scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s Space Weather Prediction Center. "We lucked out because the site of the eruption at the sun was not facing the Earth, so we will probably feel no ill effects."

Today's solar flare began at 3:48 a.m. EDT (0748 GMT), and was rated a class X6.9 on the three-class scale scientists use to measure the strength of solar flares. The strongest type of solar eruption is class X, while class C represents the weakest and class M flares are medium-strength events.

The flare is the largest one yet in the sun's current cycle, which began in 2008 and is expected to last until around 2020. Solar activity waxes and wanes over an 11-year sun weather cycle, with the star currently heading toward a solar maximum in 2013.

"This flare had a GOES X-ray magnitude of X6.9, meaning it was more than 3 times larger than the previous largest flare of this solar cycle - the X2.2 that occurred on Feb 15, 2011," scientists with NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, a space observatory that monitors the sun, wrote in an update.

Before the Feb. 15 storm, the largest recent solar flare occurred in December 2006, when an X9-class solar storm erupted from the sun.

more at link...

Don't worry, Al Gore says that the Sun is "bullshit" and doesn't affect Earth's climate.
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9 comments // Sun Unleashes Largest Solar Flare in Years

  • rodstradamus
  • coolplanet
  • ksyellowdog
  • rodstradamus
    • -2
      rodstradamus  
    • ksyellowdog:

      Boo-hoo, did I offend your boyfriend Al? It is a fact that he called the sunspots "bullshit" this weekend to a bunch of yuppie scum at the Aspen Institute (very scientific!). As for my opinions, I have about 1,000 submissions on this site and they all sh!t on you.

    • 10 months ago
  • Varex_Sythe
    • 0
      Varex_Sythe  
    • rodstradamus:

      "Don't worry, Al Gore says that the Sun is "bullshit" and doesn't affect Earth's climate."

      I'd actually like to see your source for that. I don't recall Al Gore ever claiming that the sun does not affect the climate of the planet. I recall him claiming that the climate of the planet is affected by the contents of the atmosphere, which is something we can control to an extent... but that does not exclude the sun as a factor.

    • 10 months ago
  • coolplanet
    • +1
      coolplanet  
    • Varex_Sythe:

      Google "solar flare effect on global warming nasa" and you will find numerous studies by NASA and NOAA showing very little impact on Earth's climate. The solar argument was debunked at least 10 years ago!
      What you will also find is a lot of "godamn" denier "bullshit" and "crap" as Al Gore would say.

    • 10 months ago
  • Varex_Sythe
    • +1
      Varex_Sythe  
    • coolplanet:

      From what I understand about the sun, our atmosphere and the magnetic field that the Earth possesses, if a solar flare did hit us, it would potentially overload electrical grids and strip away mass from our atmosphere. But I have not heard anything that claims that a solar flare would strongly effect our climate.

      I do think the sun can, and does, affect our climate, in the same way that a heat lamp affects the climate within a terrarium. And I have to ask, which is more consistent with its power output, the sun or a heat lamp?

    • 10 months ago
  • coolplanet
    • -1
      coolplanet  
    • Varex_Sythe:

      Of course "the sun can, and does, affect our climate."
      Cro Magnons figured that out long ago, perhaps even the Neanderthals.
      But modern man with her technology proved that the sun is not a "heat lamp."
      Science has confirmed that the sun is not causing global warming, long ago.
      Educate yourself.

    • 10 months ago
  • Varex_Sythe
    • +1
      Varex_Sythe  
    • coolplanet:

      ...

      Turbo, read what I am writing. I did not claim that the sun is the, or a cause of global warming. I claimed that the sun is a factor in the process. Kind of like how having fuel in a cars gas tank is a factor in determining whether or not the car can actually run. It is not necessarily what causes the cars engine to run, that would be someone actually kicking the engine over, but it is a factor in the running of the engine.

      I do agree that people blaming the sun for climate change is silly, but the sun is a factor none the less. It is just a constant factor instead of a variable one.

    • 10 months ago
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