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Today's Solar Flare

An anonymous reader writes "X1-class solar flare today (13:30 Universal Time). Still the SOHO spacecraft offers some of the all-time greatest snapshots anywhere on the web. The flare's residual activity would be shown white and at around 9 o'clock position here. There are 3 major categories, each 10 times stronger than the next: X-class flares are big; they are major events that can trigger planet-wide radio blackouts and long-lasting radiation storms. M-class flares are medium-sized; they generally cause brief radio blackouts that affect Earth's polar regions. C-class flares are small with few noticeable consequences here on Earth. If it were headed towards Earth, arrival is usually 48-72 hrs later (this is not coming this way). Future Mars astronauts should take a lead umbrella because one radiation day on Mars is like living at 70,000 feet on Earth." Nature is pretty.

2 of 107 comments (clear)

  1. Holy fucking shit by trenton · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    I guess I forgot how big that sun is. Goddamn!

    --
    Too big to fail? Does that make me to small to succeed?
  2. how long before.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    ....jerry falwell comes out with the inevitable "god caused this solar flare because of our homosexual degenerates" ?