Solar Tsunami Alert As Giant Sunspot Looms

[BreakForNews]

Solar Tsunami Alert
As Giant Sunspot Looms

BreakForNews.com, 15th Jan, 2005 12:00ET
by Fintan Dunne, Editor EXCLUSIVE
http://www.breakfornews.com/articles/SolarTsunamiAlert.htm

Fast-developing sunspot could match historic flares of Nov. '03

The sunspot grew quickly over the last four days -Image Spaceweather.com

Three days ago the sunspot numbered 10720 barely rated a mention.
But as it rotated into an earth-facing position, the boiling solar
cauldron quickly mushroomed in size to over seven times the diameter
of our own planet. Now experienced observers say it has explosive
potential for massive solar eruptions aimed at Earth.

It's been a busy 24 hours on the sun. A total of 28 C-class events
were recorded yesterday --the most C flares in a single day during the
current solar cycle 23.

"Extremely energetic flares, above the X10 class level, are possible,"
coments solar watcher Jan Alvestad. "This region has the potential to
generate flares similar to those observed in October/November 2003."

Such an X-class 10 flare would certainly rank along with the historic
flares of late 2003, when a series of nine massive X-class solar
eruptions in only 12 days all largely missed Earth. Nevertheless two
Japanese satellite failures and a power outage in Sweden were blamed
on the solar storms.

FULL STORY & GRAPHICS:
http://www.breakfornews.com/articles/SolarTsunamiAlert.htm

[havocmom]

1. Might be good auroral activity soon

keep watch for it at this sight
http://sec.noaa.gov/pmap/index.html

And http://www.spaceweather.com/ (links in the article cited above) has a nifty email service you can sign up for. They will let you know when interesting stuff happens out there in the sky. Great site.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. could it be

that we have somehow broken an unknown scientfic law, gone 'over the limit' of some unknown scientific formula, and have started a natural backlash designed to rid the universe of the parasites disrupting the natural order of things?

[shadowknows69]

5. it would explain a lot n/t

[DeepModem Mom]

6. All this sure makes me wonder the same thing --

although all the "experts" on TV seem determined to classify all these happenings as normal events in the passage of time.

[Karenina]

7. "could it be"

:shrug: :freak: :think: :freak: :shrug:

[aquart]

8. No, this IS the natural order of things.

Pretending that things should run in all ways to convenience us is just...well, denial.

The universe just isn't that into us.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

13. that's not my point

I feel the universe runs the way the universe runs, with us or without us. But I do feel that through pollution, nuclear blasts, etc, we may have tampered with the natural balance of things, which is at least partly the reason so many natural events of a rather stark nature seem to be happening now.

[SomeYoungGuy]

15. Perhaps some of us don't realize just how small we are.

If the sun were the size of a basketball, the earth would be about 1/12" in diameter and 86 feet away. I can't imagine what earthings could do which would somehow disrupt the nuclear process which is at work on the sun. We can certainly have small scale influence on the natural processes of the earth and likely have influence on a larger scale, but I think we're taking ourselves far too seriously if we think we can change things on the sun.

This is unless, of course, one believes in a vindictive god who has nothing better to do than to punish us because other people aren't doing what we think they should. Again, that seems short-sighted and self-centered.

The processes through which the earth and sun were formed were much more violent than anything we've ever observed. To think sunspot activity is somehow wrong or unusual is to ignore the history of the solar system.

On edit: spelling

[lovuian]

3. Great pictures

Thanks!!!

[Just Me]

4. Wow!!! I wonder what kind of disruptions this one will inflict.

What a headline: "solar tsunami"!!! *LOL*

[BreakForNews]

9. Yes, isn't it!

:)
Yeah it's a grabber....

However, these coronal mass ejections move like a 3D wave,
as they sweep outward from the epicenter at the Sun.

In November, 2003, when 9 massive flares rocketed
out from the Sun, all missed Earth. The largest was
an X20 (or higher) which blasted instruments off
their scales. Yeah, that was 5 days too late for
direct aim at Earth and missed us also.

This is how it looked:


http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solar_flare_031104.html#anim">Another View

[benburch]

10. The telescope and solar filter come out as soon as the sun does tomorrow!

Woo Hoo!

[alfredo]

11. Great software for solar, earth, Aurora, and lunar

information.

http://www.jschilling.net/sw_solscape.php

Cosmic Debris (Zappa Fan) is for Aurora alerts.
http://www.jschilling.net/sw_cosmicdebris.php

This is Mac stuff.

[Wilber_Stool]

12. Another pic

[oscar111]

14. Hype seen on this topic before: dont panic: tsunami totally wrong word

tsunami is being used symbollically. Ignore it.

I have seen these spots hyped before in online media. Check it out carefully before panicking. I note in the clip "may" produce such and such. "May" is not "will surely".

PS on the sun, many features are bigger than the earth. the sun can hold . .. millions of earths, IIRC.

The outage in sweden got only one google hit with scant details, IIRC.

[BreakForNews]

16. Panic?

Who said panic? :)

From the article:
http://www.breakfornews.com/articles/SolarTsunamiAlert.htm

" Despite the massive explosive power of such sunspots, our protective
magnetic field means significant effects are unlikely to be felt at
the surface of Earth.....Owners and insurers of earth-orbiting
satellites have the most to loose...."

It could be solar tsunami is all.
Tsunami: A highly energetic wave, of unusual magnitude,
spreading from an epicenter - ie the sun in this case.

I have seen these spots hyped before in online media.

You Bet. I have seen these spots hyped before also.
However Jan Alvestad, is a very down-to-earth (pardon the pun)
professional, solar observer -not given to wild hyperbole.
http://www.dxlc.com/solar/index.html

So when he says:

"Within this penumbra extremely strong positive polarity field
in the south. That positive polarity area has the longest and
largest umbra I have ever observed."

...Well that's when I sit up and take notice.

Predicting solar eruptions from the structure of sunspots,
is a well developed field of scientific study. I wrote:

" Alvestad says the western end the positive umbra is actually in
contact with the negative polarity umbra --causing exceptional
magnetic shear."

Magnetic shear is the primary driving factor known to
produce high intensity solar eruptions.

I didn't make this up. It's happening now.
Many skywatchers are busy with Titan.
That's probably why this is slipped by a lot of folks.

But, in any event, as it says on the cover of
"The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy"...

...in big bold letters: "DON'T PANIC" :)

[Moderator]

17. Locking

Breakfornews.com is not an acceptable late breaking news source.