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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBig Solar storm headed toward Earth- will hit Tuesday
There's a solar Coronal Mass Ejection travelling towards us at 1,400 miles per second, the largest solar storm since 2005. It will hit Earth around 9am Eastern Time, causing fluctuations on the power grid and disruptions to the Global Positioning System.
There's something else, a strong proton stormranking S3 on a 5-level scalewhich is in full rage now and gradually increasing. While CMEs are normalabout 2,000 every 11-year solar cycleproton storms are very rare. Only a couple of dozen happen per solar cycle. And this one can be dangerous.
The storm has already affected aircraft traffic and may affect satellites' computers. On a telephone interview, NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center physicist Doug Biesecker told me that, fortunately, there are measures to avoid most dangers.
"Many airliners have been avoiding the North Pole routes because they are more exposed to the proton storm, which disrupts High Frequency radio communications," he said on a telephone interview. HF datalinks are crucial to modern airflight, as they keep aircraft connected to Air Traffic Control. Due to the structure of the magnetic field that surrounds Earth, the polar cusps have very little protection against outbursts of solar radiation, so any airplane crossing that area could be exposed to this mayhem.
We're experiencing technical difficulties
http://gizmodo.com/5878656/how-this-huge-solar-storm-is-going-to-affect-you
Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)ALMOST-X FLARE AND CME (UPDATED): This morning, Jan. 23rd around 0359 UT, big sunspot 1402 erupted, producing a long-duration M9-class solar flare. The explosion's M9-ranking puts it on the threshold of being an X-flare, the most powerful kind. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the flare's extreme ultraviolet flash:
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/
http://spaceweather.com/
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)We must assemble a team of psychokinetic warriors and indigo children immediately.
Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)at CostCo seems to be running fast.
Skidmore
(37,364 posts)can get a nuke together to bomb the sun??? The sun is attacking us!!!
lonestarnot
(77,097 posts)malaise
(267,823 posts)countryjake
(8,554 posts)we've got a partial cloud cover here right now, but high winds are forecast in the next couple of hours, so I might get a view if the Aurora Borealis are out there.
Thanks for posting about this latest Solar Ejection. Seems the Sun is gearing up for 2013.
justiceischeap
(14,040 posts)I'm actually working on a novel that involves an X class solar flare knocking out electricity on earth... I had someone tell me it wasn't realistic. Now the sun is doing some PR for me.
democrat_patriot
(2,774 posts)Put in your story.
Good luck!!
What's it called, and when is it due?
lapislzi
(5,762 posts)Isn't that something to do with frat boys on spring break?
uponit7771
(90,225 posts)countryjake
(8,554 posts)Wolfie has just reported on the storm and states no danger to humans, whatsoever. CNN is so comforting.
That must be why the international space station has told its astronauts to stay indoors, eh? Rerouting of commercial air flight close to the poles, mere coincidence.