X17 Solar Flare Sends 2B Tons of Plasma at Earth

Dr. Zowie writes "This morning a very large solar flare erupted from a large sunspot group that is crossing the face of the Sun. The explosion sent over 2 billion tons of material hurtling across the solar system toward Earth. Movies from the SOHO spacecraft show the flare in UV and the associated coronal mass ejection in visible light as they happened, and the impact of high energy protons that the flare launched at about half the speed of light. NOAA's Space Environment Center shows that the Sun's X-ray brightness went up 100x during the flare. Expect more aurora and geomagnetic effects in the next day or two!"

Comments

So will I ...

[Dr Reducto]

So will I be able to see an aurora from my latitude when it hits (40 deg. N)? And when will it hit earth, and over what time period?

Re:So will I ...

[Anonymous Coward]

spaceweather.com has an interesting service that will page you if there is an aurora in your locality. Check it out.

Re:So will I ...

[Donwulff]

These events are already causing a slashdot effect on the solar weather sites without Slashdot even mentioning them, so here's a copy of the best report I've come across, from http://www.spacew.com/cme/index.html:

Event #49 - 28 October 2003

Issued: 16:30 UTC, 28 October 2003

SOURCE EVENT

Class X17.2 Flare in Region 486 at 11:10 UTC on 28 October 2003
Type II: 1250 km/sec
Estimated LASCO-derived Plane of Sky Velocity: 2125 km/sec

ESTIMATED TIME OF ARRIVAL OF SHOCK AT EARTH

Estimated Impact Window: 00:00 UTC on 29 October to 21:00 UTC on 29 October
Preferred Predicted Impact Time: 08:00 UTC, 29 October 2003 (3 am EST on 29 October)
Estimated Shock Strength (0=Weakest, 9=Strongest): 9

Predicted Behavior of IMF at Shock Impact

At Shock Impact, the Interplanetary Magnetic Field is predicted to initially turn:
SOUTHWARD

IMPORTANT TIME OF ARRIVAL NOTICE FOR NORTH AMERICANS
The preferred time of arrival is ***TONIGHT***, TUESDAY NIGHT (before you go to bed that night) near or after 3 am Eastern Standard Time).
That's 2 am Central Standard Time on TONIGHT.
That's 1 am Mountain Standard Time on TONIGHT.
That's MIDNIGHT Pacific Standard Time on TONIGHT.

EXPECT RESIDUAL ACTIVITY (LESS INTENSE) TOMMORROW NIGHT (WEDNESDAY, 29 OCT) AS WELL !

EVENT #49 NOTES:

This is the most energetic Earthward-directed event of the solar cycle.

SEVERE to MAJOR geomagnetic storming is expected to abruptly commence following the arrival of the shock front from this flare.

This flare was associated with a Ground-Level Event. It was also associated with very high energy protons at greater than 100 MeV (which are still climbing, over 5 hours after the event began). A magnetic crochet was observed over the daylit sections of the ionosphere. An exceptionally intense shortwave fadeout and polar cap absorption event are in progress. There are reports this event was observed in white-light. Intense radio bursts were associated with this event across the spectrum. The type II shock velocity is not representative of the observed velocity of this CME. The observed velocity as determined by SOHO was 2125 km/sec.

This event has the potential to produce the strongest geomagnetic storm since 1989. Auroral activity could become visible into the deep low latitude regions. This one is worth driving a good long distance over to find clear skies. It has better potential to produce low-latitude aurora than almost any other event observed in the past decade. Keep in mind that it is also possible the disturbance may not be nearly as geoeffective as many would like. It all depends on the character of the magnetic fields imbedded within the coronal mass ejection. However, we believe it will either be very large, or only modestly large in terms of its capacity to produce disturbed geomagnetic and auroral activity. We do not expect this disturbance to be small.

These predictions may be based on preliminary data and may be revised without warning. The predictions should not be used as a definitive indication of CME impact times or strengths and may frequently be in error. The proprietary methods used to estimate shock impact times are under continual development. Caution is advised.

Re:So will I ...

[egreB]

well, I'm looking forward to it. I live at 69 deg. N, where we can watch aurora about every night.. (-: This one's going to be beatiful, tough, if the weather allows.

Re:So will I ...

[pi eater]

i'm just waiting for bush to slap economic sanctions on the sun for failing to go along with his whole "either with us or against us" thing.

geek wear

Re:So will I ...

[Saeger]

At Shock Impact, the Interplanetary Magnetic Field is predicted to initially turn: SOUTHWARD

Oh God no! The poles are going to flip again! Major extinction event! Art Bell was right! Chaos will ensue!

This is no time to be posting on slashdot - everyone should be out looting the supplies necessary to top off their fallout shelters! I've almost got me enough food to last 12 years, and enough virgins to repopulate the planet, should I be FORCED to do so.

--

Re:So will I ...

[Cloud 9]

I'm guessing nobody told you. They have to be female virgins. You and your 12 roommates won't accomplish much.

Re:So will I ...

[Chris Burke]

I've almost got me enough food to last 12 years, and enough virgins to repopulate the planet, should I be FORCED to do so.

I don't know how many /.ers you imprisoned in your fallout shelter, but your plan is going to be all for naught, and humanity thusly doomed, when you realize that what you need isn't virgins but females.

Unless you're the female, in which case what you need is a method of tolerating the shelter full of geeks you picked up. The standard solution is booze. Lots of it.

Re:So will I ...

[dwillden]

spaceweather.com has an interesting service that will page you if there is an aurora in your locality. Check it out.

Yeah, but I tried signing up to it with my cell, but everytime there is one of these massive flares I never get the alerts, It's like the service has a hard time calling me during those events or something.

Re:So will I ...

[Basehart]

I guess there no point installing that security update now then huh!

Re:So will I ...

[jxs2151]

I was just waiting for someone to associate this with Bush.

Re:So will I ...

[egreB]

Wouldn't know where Edmonton is, but in Alta, Norway, the sky is clear (-:

Re:So will I ...

[hesiod]

> Ingen nordlys her

You nordlys her... You brought her!

Re:So will I ...

[hesiod]

> Goodwin's law already covers GWB.

That's interesting. In this case, does saying someone is covered by "Godwin's Law" then mean that you have invoked it?

Re:So will I ...

[Snaller]

You mean in the vicinity of earth?

Guess it's too late...

[Anonymous Coward]

to break out the tinfoil caps and hide the high-speed film.

We need more warning next time!

For those whose first response is "WTF?"

[mandalayx]

My first response to the article was "WTF?" but I decided to do something more productive than that. Perhaps you might find this more accessible to you as well:

The Sun today unleashed what appears to be the third most powerful flare in recorded history, a storm of charged particles that could hit Earth mid-day Wednesday with more effect than any since 1989, when an entire Canadian province had its power knocked out.

Depending on the storm's magnetic orientation, it could set off a dramatic display of colorful northern lights well into mid-latitudes of the United States and Europe.

Meanwhile, satellite operators and power grid managers are preparing to endure a potentially damaging event. And astronauts aboard the International Space Station have taken cover from heavier radiation sent out by the flare. They are not expected to be in any serious danger.

Kicked up at 6 a.m. EST (1100 UT) today, the major solar outburst comes on the heels of four other flares late last week and over the weekend. All were considered fairly severe, but the latest eruption makes the others seem like solar sneezes.

Today's blast is classified as an X17, where X denotes a major flare and larger numbers are stronger. That compares to two flare-ups over the weekend that were rated less than X2.

"The flare today may be the third strongest X-flare on record," said Paal Brekke, deputy project scientist for the SOHO spacecraft, which first spotted the event.

A slightly stronger flare on April 2, 2001 was not pointed at Earth. Today's storm is headed directly at us and could generate fantastic colorful lights in the atmosphere, known as aurora. The storm associated with the flare is called a coronal mass ejection, an expanding bubble of charged particles that race outward.

more

Re:For those whose first response is "WTF?"

[Short Circuit]

Funny...I always thought of a sneeze as my most violent respiratory function. Chalk it up to journalism, I guess.

Re:For those whose first response is "WTF?"

[bill_mcgonigle]

I'm sure my story submission on this topic will be rejected now, but that's why I put a copy in my journal when I posted it. Too few confusing links, I guess.

Anyway, if you're going to be a passenger on a high-altitude airplane flight you may receive chest-x-ray-level dosages of radiation. Not typically considered harmful.

Follow the link for some easier to view pictures and a link to spaceweather.com where they have all kinds of information.

Re:For those whose first response is "WTF?"

[Xentax]

A wacky way of saying "a billion tons".

Or, as they'd say on 'All Things Scottish', FRICKIN' HUGE!

Xentax

Re:For those whose first response is "WTF?"

[greenhide]

I always thought of a sneeze as my most violent respiratory function.

Well, obviously, you've never had a nose "flare" before. Very messy.

Re:For those whose first response is "WTF?"

[jmv]

with more effect than any since 1989, when an entire Canadian province had its power knocked out.

Yes, that province was Quebec and we were in the dark for 2-3 days IIRC. A the time, the power company (Hydro Quebec) said "it's because of the sun" and everybody made fun of them.

I wonder if this was also due to the very long power lines (>1000 km) we have from the hydro plants to the cities... I heard they also make perfect antennas for sending 60 Hz waves into space.

Re:For those whose first response is "WTF?"

[chiph]

The Houston Chronicle reported that the ISS astronauts/cosmonauts took shelter earlier this week from the radiation effects of the sunspots. I imagine they are doing the same with this new, stronger, storm. But seeing as how they got a week's worth of radiation in a 12-hour period earlier, I imagine they're concerned about the strength of tonights activity.

Chip H.

Re:For those whose first response is "WTF?"

[Nom du Keyboard]

astronauts aboard the International Space Station have taken cover from heavier radiation sent out by the flare.

And just where to you "take cover" on a space station?

Re:For those whose first response is "WTF?"

[ahodgson]

The normal design is an inner chamber surrounded by water or lead. Not sure what they have on ISS.

Re:For those whose first response is "WTF?"

[uberdave]

A Few ideas:

• They can move to the part of the habitat level that has heavy radiation shielding.
• They can orient the IIS so that the bulk of the station lies between the sun and the habitat module.
• They can tweak the orbit so that the space station is on the far side of the planet when the flare peaks.

Re:For those whose first response is "WTF?"

[YOU LIKEWISE FAIL IT]

There is a short account of a similar situation provided in Carl Sagans Contact. Apparently the more densely shielded part of the ISS is the 'aft end of the Zvezda module'.

I seem to recall somebody mentioning using Hyrogen enriched plastics for this kind of shield as well, but I have no idea if this actually works.

YLFI

Re:For those whose first response is "WTF?"

[Atryn]

Well if this did cause such problems it could be fairly serious... Consider the following:

2-3 day power outage in CA: During the current wildfires this could cause problems with coordination of fire-fighting efforts.

2-3 day power outage in Iraq: As if we didn't have enough problems there... But then again, they are more or less used to power outages by now.

2-3 day power outage in GA: This would be bad for me and therefore bad for the rest of the world. :)

Re:For those whose first response is "WTF?"

[rikkards]

It is also due to a bad layout in Quebec for their electrical system. Fortunately the Ice Storm allowed Hydro Quebec to look at their system and fix it. This was also why Quebec was having problems getting back up after the storm. Chances are everything should be ok after this storm but IANAQHE (I Am Not A Quebec Hydro Employee)

Re:For those whose first response is "WTF?"

[geekoid]

makes note:

Atryn lives in GA.

MUAhahah my circle draws ever tighter... ;)

Re:For those whose first response is "WTF?"

[sarkeizen]

Where were you living when this happened? From the the materials available on the web:

http://www.spacetoday.org/SolSys/Sun/Sunspots.ht ml
http://engr.calvin.edu/PRibeiro_WEBPAGE/courses/ en gr302/Samples/geomagnetic%20storms.ppt
http://www .sec.noaa.gov/user_notes/UN30.html

It looks as if the primary outage was closer to a day.

Re:For those whose first response is "WTF?"

[DrJimbo]

Two glbs.

Helpdesk Excuse-of-the-Day

[Vinson Massif]

Sunspots.

Re:Helpdesk Excuse-of-the-Day

[Valar]

Sadly, enough, I actually used that this morning. Of course, it was about a radio telescope...

Re:Helpdesk Excuse-of-the-Day

[Tumbleweed]

Strange, that's what my mechanic told me this morning. Something about sunspots having demagnetized the debigulator, which caused all my blinker fluid to leak out. I thought the $1024 repair bill excessive, but hey, what do I know about cars?

Re:Helpdesk Excuse-of-the-Day

[macjohn]

Fresh out of mod points or I'd toss you one. That was TOO finny.

Re:Helpdesk Excuse-of-the-Day

[VanillaCoke420]

You beat me to the BOFH reference.

Re:Helpdesk Excuse-of-the-Day

[DestinyBWL]

Nice, very nice. I think I might even throw that excuse up on my site for the half a million techs that visit my site to use :)

Re:Helpdesk Excuse-of-the-Day

[cfuse]

Well, you can hardly tell them the reason it doesn't work is because the user is a dumbass.

At work the other day, the token blonde in management was standing in front of the colour copier looking confused (not unusual). The machine was doing it's best impersonation of any-star-trek-episode-where-the-warp-core-is-about -to-breach, ie. lights flashing, lots of meaningless warning sounds. She says: "Is this machine not working?". I said: "What do you think? Not to be trite, but you have eyes don't you?".

There is a reason that Compaq included the 'any' key in it's FAQ.

Re:Helpdesk Excuse-of-the-Day

[theora55]

The BOFH has made sure the helpdesk never runs out of excuses: "The Bastard Operator From Hell"-style excuse server.

Re:Helpdesk Excuse-of-the-Day

[MrNemesis]

user@smbsrv:~$ fortune -m sunspot
(bofh excuses)
%
BOFH excuse #390:

Increased sunspot activity.
%

SUN's stock price up

[irshboy]

Think there is a connection?

Re:SUN's stock price up

[public_class_name_ex]

Sunoco Inc.? (SUN NYSE) Yeah those guys are doing great. Wished SUNW was looking like that....

Re:SUN's stock price up

[Texas Rose on Lava L]

Of course Sunoco's stock price is up. When the power grid collapses tonight, everyone's going to need gasoline to run their generators.

Well, thank goodness.

[blitzoid]

Now I can put out my plasma nets and catch some of it. I was beginning to worry that I'd never be able to restock my dwindling supply!

Re:Well, thank goodness.

[haystor]

This plasma discharge has been anticipated for quite some time and has been reflected in the drop of prices for plasma televisions.

Astronomy is fun

[pheared]

Skinner: Ah, there's nothing more exciting than science. You get all
the fun of sitting still, being quiet, writing down numbers,
paying attention...[chuckles] Science has it all.

Great...

[Eric_Cartman_South_P]

Now we can expect a lot more of those lame "no carrier" posts on Wed. Although for once, they could be for real since the interf32#@a#%$ATDT01[NO CARRIER]

Re:Great...

[Chester K]

Now we can expect a lot more of those lame "no carrier" posts on Wed.

Hey, you know if you didn't like my sig, you could have just told me. :(

hrmm....

[xao gypsie]

this will prolly get modded down, but it looks as if Shamash, the mesopotamian sun-god is finally voicing his opinion.....

xao

Re:hrmm....

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

Yeah,

On the occupation of Iraq!

A question about the Sun's behavior

[windows]

The sunspot cycle (which takes 11 years) peaked in 2000, yet there's an unusually large amount of activity of late. There was a somewhat intense solar flare a few days ago, and now this one, which is believed to be the third-largest one on record. Are there any explanations for this large amount of activity at what should be a non-peak time?

Re:A question about the Sun's behavior

[KD5YPT]

The 11 years sunspot cycle merely means that it is almost a guarantee that the sun will have peak sunspot activity every 11 years, it doesn't mean that there wouldn't be any activity between the two peaks.>BR> Crazy explanations... 1. Black hole collided very far away, the gravity wave it generate hits the sun. 2. A hypernova occured, and a significant amount of gamma radiatiobn just happened to hit the sun and misses the earth. 3. The sun is sentient, and was throwing a tantrum. 4. An alien decided to screw up the sunspot cycle as an experiment to see human's response to it. 5. An alien, again, this time weapon testing on the sun.

Re:A question about the Sun's behavior

[Short Circuit]

I don't know how long ago the sunspot cycle was last calibrated, but our charts may be a bit off-set.

Re:A question about the Sun's behavior

[Anonymous Coward]

Are there any explanations for this large amount of activity at what should be a non-peak time?

The funniest I heard today on coach from work was from somebody reading the article in newspaper:
"It must be because there are holes in the air, because of pollution.".

That was for '+5, Sad', the other is for 'Ironic'

Talk about utter cluesness (air holes?!), but on the other hand do you really want to explain him that "air" (ozone layer?) holes don't really cause solar flares, or would you just be grateful that there is at least something that scares the logic challenged to the level, where they start thinking about preserving the environment.

Anonymous Cowards Unite

Re:A question about the Sun's behavior

[public_class_name_ex]

Shhh....

A lot of those books haven't been discredited yet.

Re:A question about the Sun's behavior

[isaac]

The sunspot cycle (which takes 11 years) peaked in 2000, yet there's an unusually large amount of activity of late. There was a somewhat intense solar flare a few days ago, and now this one, which is believed to be the third-largest one on record. Are there any explanations for this large amount of activity at what should be a non-peak time?

Let's see:

• The roughly-11-year solar cycle is just based on observation and correlation. It lets one make certain predictions about the likelihood of solar events, but that's all.
• Recorded history isn't very long compared to the sun's age, to say nothing of the still-shorter track record of scientific solar observation. The sun may (and probably does) exhibit other epicyclic phenomena on timescales too long for us to have directly measured.

That's a start. Just because we're past the predicted peak of current cycle doesn't mean there won't be solar activity.

-Isaac

Re:A question about the Sun's behavior

[Anonymous Coward]

Are there any explanations for this large amount of activity at what should be a non-peak time?

Yes - it's not a large amount during a non-peak time.

It's a normal amount for this time period, the only difference is that the recent ones are actually being sent towards us, so they affect us more..

CME's are a pretty regular occurrence, and they do follow an 11-year cycle, but most of them never affect us, because we're not in the path of the flare. (Think about it - the earth occupies a pretty small percentage of real estate around the sun - so there's a pretty small chance that a CME will send stuff our way.)

The amount is normal for this time period, it's just that the recent ones are aimed at us.

Re:A question about the Sun's behavior

[aschlemm]

Sounds like another candidate ripe for an on-camera street interview with Jay Leno.

Re:A question about the Sun's behavior

[NanoGator]

"Are there any explanations for this large amount of activity at what should be a non-peak time?"

I'd love to hear this question on the Art Bell show. I'm sure somebody would come up with a creative, yet strangely plausible reason that humans cause this. "It's radio man, we started using radio and the sun is allergic to it."

Re:A question about the Sun's behavior

[.smoke]

Perhaps Disaster Area are getting back together?

B*B,
-Smoke.

Re:A question about the Sun's behavior

[magarity]

Are there any explanations for this large amount of activity at what should be a non-peak time?

These strong solar flares are from global warming because evil Bush not signing the Kyoto accord.

Re:A question about the Sun's behavior

[R2.0]

Delayed ejaculation?

Re:A question about the Sun's behavior

[Anonymous Coward]

On behalf of al-Qaida we claim responsibility.

Re:A question about the Sun's behavior

[JPelorat]

Wow, looks like we've got some severely sarcasm-impaired folks here today.

So it's ok for the loonies in other threads to claim Bush is up to all kinds of things, but it's not ok, apparently, when it's someone making fun of them instead.

Oh well, my point is proven, regardless. =)

Re:A question about the Sun's behavior

[Bob(TM)]

Recall that the sunspot cycle actually refers to the number of sunspots visible at a given time. As someone already pointed out, flaring can occur whether or not the actual number of visible sunspots is high

Flares occur to relax the magnet field gradiant. This gradiant is correlated with sunspot size which, in turn, is correlated with sunspot number. Larger sunspots are correlated with solar max and are anti-correlated with solar min. But, just like earth weather throws a curveball, you can get atypical sunspot sizes and activity sometimes.

Re:A question about the Sun's behavior

[DirkGently]

Huh. I thought it was just another stupid IRC netsplit.

...explains a few things.

Re:A question about the Sun's behavior

[nepheles]

Well duh. It's obviously President Bush's fault. Our increased reliance on fossil-fuels has always been a major problem. And then he goes and abandons Kyoto. Not to mention his lack of activity on curbing SUV growth. *sigh*. I'm just not surprised that this didn't happen sooner...

Re:A question about the Sun's behavior

[Josh Booth]

Maybe it has something to do with that black spot on Jupiter. My God, its full of stars.

Re:A question about the Sun's behavior

[jafac]

H.A.A.R.P.

try google.

Re:A question about the Sun's behavior

[Ashtead]

"+5, Sad" would be about right. Unless that man on the bus was a politician for the city and would recommend draconian environmental policies because of his lack of understanding of the process.

In which case it could be "-1, Bloody Expensive" or worse...

Re:A question about the Sun's behavior

[NewWazoo]

Recorded history isn't very long compared to the sun's age, to say nothing of the still-shorter track record of scientific solar observation. The sun may (and probably does) exhibit other epicyclic phenomena on timescales too long for us to have directly measured.

Thank you for this post - it brought me to an interesting(?) realization that in fact, the sun could exhibit cyclic phenomena that have periods longer than the entire existance of bipedal hominids, to say nothing of civilization.

Nifty.

Brandon

Re:A question about the Sun's behavior

[glitch23]

Explanation: Trying to find a pattern in a world created by God and realizing that things are more complicated than that reminds us we are all still human and don't know shit.

Re:A question about the Sun's behavior

[0000 0111]

Peak has been observed at ABOUT every 11 years. The last minimum was in 1997. It's also been observed that it takes only ABOUT four years to reach peak and ABOUT seven to reach minimum. So four to peak and seven down. It's still a mystery as to why this is so. 1997 + 4 would be 2001, 2003 - 2001 is 2, so there's still another 5 years left until we expect minimum.

Re:A question about the Sun's behavior

[io333]

Recorded history isn't very long compared to the sun's age, to say nothing of the still-shorter track record of scientific solar observation. The sun may (and probably does) exhibit other epicyclic phenomena on timescales too long for us to have directly measured.

You are correct, but it's very easy to indirectly measure the cycle with tree rings.

Re:A question about the Sun's behavior

[pizen]

Think about it - the earth occupies a pretty small percentage of real estate around the sun - so there's a pretty small chance that a CME will send stuff our way.

Plus, we're a moving target and we all know the Sun has really bad aim. Maybe the Sun has finally figured out how to lead us properly.

Re:A question about the Sun's behavior

[roninbix]

Bad Aim?

You try hitting something as far away as Earth. Ever played snooker? ;>

Re:A question about the Sun's behavior

[Mr_Perl]

Uh yea, burning holes in the earth's ionosphere is really going to upset the sun.

Re:A question about the Sun's behavior

[pizen]

You'd think it would have gotten better considering its had billions of years to practice.

Re:A question about the Sun's behavior

[jafac]

One of the "fun" conspiracy theories out there about HAARP was that by altering the ionosphere, it was also altering the interaction between the earth's and sun's magnetic field, which was going to ultimately cause massive solar flares and knock the earth from it's orbit.

But my favorite one was the "death ray" theory - that one could reflect HAARP's signals off the ionosphere, and wack an entire city.

Re:A question about the Sun's behavior

[glitch23]

I never said I was Amish. I can still use technology and I'm in the CS program at a local college. I can see that if you had the chance your personal thoughts would turn into illegal persecution. (killing by burning alive) However I'm not a witch. I don't practice paganism, satanism, or witchcraft.

Re:A question about the Sun's behavior

[jbayes]

Global warming. hth.

Braak out the RJ-45!!!

[grocer]

Time to find the ethernet cables and plug in all those wireless laptops...

No 802.11b, 1 year!

Re:Braak out the RJ-45!!!

[Linker3000]

Better not risk it unless its STP - I see a mass panic purchase of coax! 10Base2/10Base5 rulez.

Re:Braak out the RJ-45!!!

[Tumbleweed]

Sneakernet saves the day!

Re:Braak out the RJ-45!!!

[ryanw]

No doubt. It's been saying it would hit Wednesday sometime, but my wifi network at home has been acting wacky already since like 11:30am today (tuesday). Is it possible to be screwing things up already?

Re:Braak out the RJ-45!!!

[Ronin Developer]

Not me, Dude!

I'm going to try to DX my network to a foreign land like I used to do with my old CB radio. Maybe, with a little luck, I'll find myself connected to some super porn network or be part of an international net party.

RD

Re:Braak out the RJ-45!!!

[Donwulff]

According to NOAA there's been Severa radio-blackouts associated with the event already. These are defined as "HF Radio: : HF radio communication blackout on most of the sunlit side of Earth for one to two hours. HF radio contact lost during this time.

Navigation: Outages of low-frequency navigation signals cause increased error in positioning for one to two hours. Minor disruptions of satellite navigation possible on the sunlit side of Earth."

In addition http://www.sec.noaa.gov/ftpdir/lists/radio/radio_b ursts.txt gives a list of the measured radio-bursts from sun. Somebody more experienced in radio-waves would have to comment, but the 2695Mhz signals seem relatively close to WLAN frequency and if sufficiently strong, could hamper it.

Still, as noted, there are several other causes that are much more likely than solar-based for WLAN problems at this point.

Suntan

[rf0]

Well suppose its time to get out the factor 5000 and lay on the beach.

Rus

next day or two?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why next day or two? At the half of speed of light, this stuff should hit us in about 16 minutes. So you can't really "prepare" for something like this. What am I missing?

Re:next day or two?

[Hakubi_Washu]

that some of that stuff moves at speeds well below light... I suggest reading Heinlein's "Podkayne of Mars" on this subject :-)

Re:next day or two?

[Donwulff]

They had an odd way of putting this. The proton flare caused a solar storm which hit Earth within minutes of the flare commencing. However, the associated CME is significantly slower (Still over 2000 kilometers per second) and will hit within hours. The CME will have higher total energy and is what will cause fluctuations in the gemmagnetic field, ie. a gemomagnetic storm. "Next day or two" is probably because they didn't know this was a high-speed event yet.

Re:next day or two?

[static int]

This is the speed that the cloud of hot gas will reach us - not the light

Re:next day or two?

[Queuetue]

I was thinking that it might continue as long as that large sunspot group is directly pointed towards us. I'm not sure if sunspot activity comes in clusters or not, though.

Re:next day or two?

[Queuetue]

Thanks for letting me know!

Re:next day or two?

[Hakubi_Washu]

Pretty much, yes :-)

I don't want to get my brain fried...

[fejikso]

I'll have to take off my tinfoil hat!

I knew it... sooner or later those evil aliens would find a way to read my mind.

Way cool...

[Kr3m3Puff]

I have to just admit the awe I have in watching the SOHO Video... that is just totally amazing. Makes you feel teeny weenie small, doesn't it?

Forget Iraq, the 2004 Election, the economy...

And people question our space exploration budget!!! Silly people!

Re:Way cool...

[sunking2]

Insightful how? Chances are that this extremely rare and incredibly powerful event will have absolutely no impact on us here in Earth. The thought of the Sun going bonkers and doing something terrible likely doesn't cause even the experts in the field to lose a winks sleep at night. Compare that to the chances of some fringe terrorist group getting a hold of a nuke or causing some other catastrophy. Where is the money better spent again? But then again, for the [b|m]illions of dollars we could get some really cool screen savers of the Sun.

Re:Way cool...

[GillBates0]

you took the words straight outta my mouth.....I feel that way every single time I read up something about the universe/astronomy....just makes our problems/wars etc feel small and insignificant.

oh well, back to work :(

Re:Way cool...

[Quarters]

I want a small-office/home-office spacecraft! I didn't even know you could get those!

(runs off to Staples...)

Re:Way cool...

[JHromadka]

I have to just admit the awe I have in watching the SOHO Video... that is just totally amazing. Makes you feel teeny weenie small, doesn't it?

Yeah but it's missing all of the space sounds! What a ripoff! ;)

Re:Way cool...

[spaceyhackerlady]

I feel that way every single time I read up something about the universe/astronomy.

If it makes you feel like that reading about it, imagine what it must feel like to do it yourself. I observed some wonderful sunspots Sunday afternoon. The night before I observed several star clusters, a couple of nebulae, and, for good measure, spent some quality time with Mars. It clouded over before Saturn was high enough for good observation.

...laura

Re:Way cool...

[Beek]

Yeah, this a troll, but... An event like this did knock out power in Quebec in the past, and could damage all those satellites up there that give us cell phones and stuff like that.

Actually

[grsiepka]

At our shop, we have dozens of E4000, E4500 Sun servers running with 400mhz processors. From what I'm told, (its sounds stupid as hell but true) some of the 400 mhz processors were not shielded correctly, so on occasions such as this (CME's) we actually had machines panic on us...

Re:Actually

[Sedennial]

So the HG2G "Don't Panic" sticker would be appropriate for your installation then? =)

Re:Actually

[isaac]

At our shop, we have dozens of E4000, E4500 Sun servers running with 400mhz processors. From what I'm told, (its sounds stupid as hell but true) some of the 400 mhz processors were not shielded correctly, so on occasions such as this (CME's) we actually had machines panic on us...

Sounds like Sun (the company, not the bright thing that lights up the Big Room) blowing smoke up your ass. There's a cache coherency bug on some 400 MHz UltraSPARC II processors with 8 meg ecache that causes panics. *Maybe* this bug has a slightly higher chance of manifesting itself during a CME, but I doubt it (anything is possible). They denied this problem for a long time until some high-profile clients threw a fit and Sun offered to replace the affected processors. That free replacement program is almost certainly over now; we replaced dozens of these cpus at a previous employer.

It's Sun's fault, not the sun's fault.

-Isaac

Re:Actually

[focitrixilous P]

It will be the only portion of the hitchhiker's guide that will actually function during the storm, so yes it would be useful when electronics stop working.

Re:Actually

[grsiepka]

We were one of those high profile clients :)

Knee-Jerk Response:

[mrpuffypants]

If we don't stop these constant barrages from the Sun then the terrorists will win!

Re:Knee-Jerk Response:

[FreeUser]

If we don't stop these constant barrages from the Sun then the terrorists will win!

The terrorists have already won. It is an X17 solar flare, it's coming our way and there's nothing we can do about it.

Re:Knee-Jerk Response:

[dq5 studios]

Someone go find Bruce Willis!

slashdot become psychic?

[rritterson]

I thought this story was a dupe, but it turns out that this was what I was thinking of.

For those wondering, the link is a /. story about a huge flare in 1859 that knocked out communications across the northern hemisphere.

Re:slashdot become psychic?

[gnixdep]

Knocked out communications in 1859, eh?

I didn't know the Pony Express was vulnerable to cosmic rays.

Re:slashdot become psychic?

[protoshoggoth]

telegraphs

The World Is going to end!

[HillBilly]

Why is the meadia scare mongering is making lots of people feel they should be hiding in underground bunkers.

Re:The World Is going to end!

[Donwulff]

http://www.spaceweather.com lets us know "DON'T PANIC: Some rumors spreading across the internet claim that the ongoing solar storm could wreak terrible havoc on Earth. Not so. There is a slim chance of power blackouts and communication outages, but the main side effect of this solar activity will be harmless and beautiful auroras."

However, all the predictions currently are that this event has the potential of causing a K-inded 9 geomagnetic storm (G5). NOAA's classification of G5 effects is:

Power systems: : widespread voltage control problems and protective system problems can occur, some grid systems may experience complete collapse or blackouts. Transformers may experience damage.

Spacecraft operations: may experience extensive surface charging, problems with orientation, uplink/downlink and tracking satellites.

Other systems: pipeline currents can reach hundreds of amps, HF (high frequency) radio propagation may be impossible in many areas for one to two days, satellite navigation may be degraded for days, low-frequency radio navigation can be out for hours, and aurora has been seen as low as Florida and southern Texas (typically 40 geomagnetic lat.)**.

In addition, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for
Astrophysics has issued a press-release warning that "In California, where raging wildfires have damaged many microwave communication antennas on the ground, satellite communications have been crucial to emergency efforts. Emergency personnel should be prepared for potential disruptions and communication interference."

All of this, however, is somethign that MAY happen, while it likely won't. A lot of factors about the nature of the event and the situation in the interplanetary space between Sun and Earth affect how it'll turn out. But there's still a lot of potential for this one.

Re:The World Is going to end!

[kisrael]

Heh...the final frame of those .mpgs look mighty scary, like the sun is ready to blow apart...

But I think people are pretty blsae about power and communication grid issues, as long as they're resolvable once this blows over. I think people are jittery about "extinction level event" kinda stuff...

X17

[October_30th]

X17?

I thought the classificatons ran only up to 9.

Re:X17

[Sedennial]

No, they run up to X-10. Haven't you seen all the pop-unders about it? You can fry in the radiation and secretly watch your neighbor at the same time!

Re:X17

[Jedi Holocron]

This list is based in part on "Large Solar Flares Since 1976" compiled by IPS Radio & Space Services.

Ranking Day/Month/Year X-Ray Class

1 02/04/01 X20.0
1 16/08/89 X20.0
2 28/10/03 X17.2
3 06/03/89 X15.0
3 11/07/78 X15.0
4 15/04/01 X14.4
5 24/04/84 X13.0
5 19/10/89 X13.0
etc.. etc..
"

I would have suggested classifications go to 11, but clearly they go much higher...

Re:X17

[CelloJake]

I don't know about you, but my X scale goes to 11!

-Jacob

Re:X17

[RoundSparrow]

1 02/04/01 X20.0
...

Did these guys sleep through Y2K? Is that 1901 or 2001?

Re:X17

[letxa2000]

I thought the classificatons ran only up to 9.

No, these go to 11... :)

Re:X17

[FlexAgain]

RoundSparrow (341175) said:

1 02/04/01 X20.0 ...

Did these guys sleep through Y2K? Is that 1901 or 2001?

There was a hint in the quoted documents title "Large Solar Flares Since 1976".

Re:X17

[mrami]

17 is less than 9 for really small values of 17

Re:X17

[Jedi Holocron]

Since the data came from a report titled Large Solar Flares Since 1976 one might make the logical leap that it is 2001.

Funny like that...when you read the data.

Can't post now,

[Trigun]

Gotta go tan. Look for something witty when I recover from my sunburn.

No Kyoto

[FrankDrebin]

Thank god we've got all that extra CO2 in the atmosphere to protect us!

Re:No Kyoto

[juhaz]

O3 absorbs UV (amount of which is not in any way increased by solar flares) so it won't help you any more than CO2 does. Both are good at blocking large particles like protons, both are rather lousy at blocking very high-energy photons like gamma, and neither will do ANYTHING at all against magnetic fields that are the cause of major problems.

Just to let you know.

Plasma by the ton?

[GMontag]

So, this supports the previous story! Bravo SlashDot!

Patent Payback

[ifreakshow]

We should have let X10 keep there pop unders with out charging them the fee for patent infringement. Now there mad and have launched there improved X17 plasma at us!

Check out the end of the CME mpg

[southpolesammy]

That blast on the last few frames of the CME mpg file is the CME that occured earlier today. The end of the movie looks like someone polka-dotted the screen, but from the NOAA's website, that's actually the high-charged protons from the CME hitting the camera's lens. This is one whopper of a storm.

Re:Check out the end of the CME mpg

[OverlordQ]

Torrent Linkeh

Re:Check out the end of the CME mpg

[gumpish]

The end of the movie looks like someone polka-dotted the screen, but from the NOAA's website, that's actually the high-charged protons from the CME hitting the camera's lens.

Don't be fooled, that's the MPAA's anti-piracy measure.

Re:Check out the end of the CME mpg

[GMFTatsujin]

This is one whopper of a storm.

Seeing as how the flare originated from a section of the Sun's surface several thousand Earth-diameters wide, I'm inclined to agree.

This means WAR!

[Thud457]

"Since the beginning of time, mankind has dreamed of striking out at the Sun!"

This unprovoked attack on the planet Earth cannot be allowed to go unpunished! I say we take a page from the Israelis and build an orbital wall that will prevent any further such incursions in the future!

Re:This means WAR!

[wass]

I say we take a page from the Israelis

That's right, it's not like the Chinese, or any other civilization, ever built a wall...

Re:This means WAR!

[krymsin01]

Might sound like a joke, but we might eventualy do just that. It's been theorized that eventualy some civilizations may build giant shperes around their suns in order to tap it's solar energy.

Re:This means WAR!

[Anonymous Custard]

I say we take a page from the Israelis

That's right, it's not like the Chinese, or any other civilization, ever built a wall...

Yeah, but like the Israeli wall, a wall to block out the sun would be a stupid idea that the sane world would be opposed to.

Re:This means WAR!

[MrIcee]

Or we could take a page from the palestineans and throw rocks at the sun!!!

Apparently you don't know about our little training camp out jupiter way... we manufaturer asteroids. A big rock with a little shove (or a little rock with a big shove, think david and golith) can do much damage.

Aloha from this palestinian

Re:This means WAR!

[Chris Burke]

And I don't care if Palestinians are considered Semites too, you know *exactly* what I meant.

Yes, what you meant was "I have a lot of strongly held opinions on a subject that not only am I so startlingly fucking ignorant about that I can't keep straight who belongs to what group, I am also such an asshat that I can't be bothered to care".

Don't worry. Your message is coming through loud and clear, bud.

Strong countries stand up for their friends and stand up to their enemies, period.

", period." is one of my favorite English expressions, since what it almost always means is "the preceding was a bunch of made-up tripe that I want you to accept without argument like I did". That's the kind of handy information I wish more people would include in their ignorance-inspired diatribes.

Re:This means WAR!

[Molina the Bofh]

There are no earthlings infidels attacking the Sun. Never !

My feelings - as usual - we will burn them all out.

Solar flames will roast their stomachs in hell.

Be assured. The Sun is safe, protected.

Re:This means WAR!

[EvilLile]

I say we take a page from the Israelis and build an orbital wall that will prevent any further such incursions in the future!

We have one, it's call the atmosphere.

Re:This means WAR!

[shroom]

Or maybe not. [snopes.com]

There is no .sig, there is only ZUUL

Re:This means WAR!

[jerde]

Here's a clue for free: Palestinians are Semites

Oooh! Free clues being given out! Sign me up! Just make the clues accurate, please:

Anti-semitism is an English word that means:

1. Hostility toward or prejudice against Jews or Judaism. 2. Discrimination against Jews.

Words' meanings aren't always derived from a literal interpretation of their parts.

That said, I completely agree with your point that unfounded accusations of anti-semitism are terribly inappropriate. One can disagree with, nay even hate the government of Israel without harboring any anti-semitism at all.

(Likewise, one should be able to hate the current administration of the US without being labeled anti-patriotic or an "evildoer" there.)

Of course, that's no fun -- it's much easier just to box people into little labels.

- Peter

Re:This means WAR!

[e_pluribus_funk]

Given you said "get with the times", rather than "get a clue" one could almost forgive the awful combination of hubris and ignorance you displayed. Almost.

As pointed out by a previous poster, the footage shot of Palestinians cheering was not 'old stock footage', and it was not an isolated incident.

From the Committe to Protect Journalists (http://www.cpj.org/), an excerpt:

"In the aftermath of September 11, Palestinian security forces prevented several journalists from covering celebrations among Palestinians in the West Bank city of Nablus of the attacks on the United States. In one well-publicized incident, a PNA official told an Associated Press (AP) cameraman that his safety could not be guaranteed if footage of the rallies was aired. Fearing for the cameraman's safety, AP elected not to broadcast the images."

Entire link is here:
http://www.cpj.org/attacks01/mideast01/PAT. html

Re:This means WAR!

[Tokerat]

*ionosphere ;-)

Re:This means WAR!

[Anonymous Custard]

Yeah, if I were getting attacked by apache helicopters which take out 3 homes and 12 children in order to kill one Hamas member, I wouldn't feel so bad about suicide bombing israel either.

Both countries are acting like children, and Daddy USA needs to step in and lay down the law, and stop financing Israel.

Re:This means WAR!

[hesiod]

> Daddy USA needs to step in and lay down the law

Woah, boy. I'm usually all for the Evil American Empire (that's only slight sarcasm, BTW), but that's a pretty bad idea. That's one thing we DON'T need to do, as no matter what happens, a large part of the world will blame us for anything. There would have to be compromises and neither side is willing to do that. Then everyone will hate us for "taking the other side." I say we wait until one side is eradicated, then we blame the other side & punish them into oblivion. Both sides are ultimately punushed.

Re:This means WAR!

[Anonymous Custard]

My plan makes muslims happy because, currently, Israel has an artificial but certain upper hand (several billion $ from US, superior military, withholding palestinians' money). Israel, for a "developed" country, is severely over-doing it in their retaliations, not caring about civilian casualties and attacking residential areas. Palestinian fighters are no better; putting their loved ones in harms way by operating out of their private homes, etc. But someone needs to step up and do something.

If the US goes in now and yells Halt, the muslims will appreciate it, because palestine currently is in a lousy position, and we have historically been very biased towards israel in these matters. And the US can use all the muslim support we can get these days.

You mean...

[BlackGriffen]

"Movies from the SOHO spacecraft show the flare in UV and the associated coronal mass ejection in visible light as they happened, "

You meant about 8 minutes after they happened, right? Or did the government finally unveil their partnership with the space aliens on faster than light communication? *pulls tin foil hat down over ears*

BG

Check your servers....

[grsiepka]

We have probably 30-40 different Sun servers at our shop that actually are affected by this. I guess (it sounds stupid as hell but its true) certain models of Sun's 400 mhz processors (used in anything from Ultra 10's to E4500's) were not shielded properly and actually can panic when substantial CME's like this occur.

Re:Check your servers....

[Unregistered]

Headline: SUN BRINGS DOWN SUNS

damn lamenss filter.

Re:Check your servers....

[jerde]

were not shielded properly and actually can panic when substantial CME's like this occur.

Not unless you're flying those servers on high-altitude aircraft or in orbit.

High energy solar radiation is well absorbed by our atmosphere here on Earth. This is why many of our solar observations must be taken from space. We and our computers are quite safe.

The only terrestrial effects from CMEs and the like come about because of perturbations to our magnetic field -- a change to the magnetic field can induce currents in power lines, overloading equipment connected to them.

Your random computer crashes are a complete coincidence.

- Peter

Is it just me?

[techstar25]

Is it getting warmer in here, or is it just me?

Yah!

[Bombcar]

This is just what California needs! And we thought the fires couldn't get any worse.....

In other news today, California requested 3000 Intergalactic Firemen.....

Taco Bell strikes again

[Winterblink]

I told the sun last night that those eight beef soft taco supremes were a bad idea. But did he listen to me? NOOOooooo.

Re:Taco Bell strikes again

[UserGoogol]

Oh, they were giant tacoes.

Tin foil hat!

[Short Circuit]

And people told me my tin-foil hat wouldn't come in useful!

Re:Tin foil hat!

[Technician]

Due to the high currents in the atmosphere, I would recommend grounding the tin foil hat. It would be a great charge collector and could fry your brain. Remember the solar storm of aprox 1859? It had induced so much current on telegraph wires it started several small fires. Wouldn't want the same fate for your head now would we?

Re:Tin foil hat!

[darien]

Remember the solar storm of aprox 1859?

If you do, these people would love to hear from you.

What happened..

[bigjnsa500]

What happened to the sunstorm from last week? space.com said it was a level 3 (out of 5) and we'd experience 12-18 hours of sporadic communication problems.

Re:What happened..

[Mryll]

We had some power anomalies at our office in Denver...

What me worry?

[nizo]

The explosion sent over 2 billion tons of material hurtling across the solar system toward Earth.

Am I the only one worried that this sounds like one big pile of something that could whack into Earth? Or is it just a bazillion tiny particles that add up to 2 billion tons?

Re:What me worry?

[kalidasa]

It's too diaphanous to cause physical collision problems.

No need to worry...

[Canuckanuck]

It's just The Hindmost adjusting our orbit from the control center hidden in Mars. Soon those bussard ramjets are going to be glowing with plasma as the push us back on course.

Oh, and a couple million inhabitants will die in the process, but that's just collateral damage.

Re:No need to worry...

[kps]

Niven, Inconstant Moon. Thoroughly on topic.

Re:No need to worry...

[Canuckanuck]

Gil Hamilton?

I'm 2/3 the way through Ringworld Throne! Are you trying to spoil it for me!?!

69 comments...

[Squeebee]

And nobody has quipped up about harnessing the plasma to make their own TV?

I'm disappointed.

Is the book Decipher true?

[cdporter00]

If we start finding a bunch of Carbon 64 all over the world and it's resonating with these solar flares, we're in deep doodoo...

"coronal mass ejection"

[DJCouchyCouch]

Someone bring a towel

DJCC

My fair share

[didjit]

I just want 42" of it.

"It's coming right for us!" *WHOOSH* "Kick Ass!"

[n9fzx]

Note that as an X17, this flare is 10x the size of last week's little girly man X6 (log scale). And, unlike the X20 of two years ago, we're directly in its path. So, the resulting aurora should be on par with the 1989 event.

Batten down those scintillation counters! Unhook the HF radios!

Flares effecting local radio and TV

[contrabassoon]

You may notice Radio TV, and even cell phones will be effected (briefly) by this storm. I am on a Broadcast Engineer's mailing list and there have been sporadic reports of problems in the last few days.

The engineer at WBRC reported a rash of viewer calls in the past few days about reception problems including a call from a distant (100 miles) cable system with 4 separate headends, each exhibiting the same poor signal for minutes at a time then clears up.

Also, NOAA describes the geomagnetic affects on radio blackouts as "severe" in the last 24 hours . http://www.sec.noaa.gov/SWN/
Are any of you having similar listener/viewer complaints?

Re:Flares effecting local radio and TV

[Kenshin]

My cable tv and cable internet have been up and down several times today, but that's more likely the fault of incompetance at my local cable company.

What about the ISS?

[Wetware]

How does this affect inhabitants of the ISS?

Re:What about the ISS?

[KD5YPT]

ISS is moderatedly shielded for this kind of thing. And they are close enough to earth that the earth magnetic field will stop or dampen the CME enough for the ISS's shielding to work. If not, we would have a lot of dead/mutated/sterile astronauts long before now.

Re:What about the ISS?

[Jedi Holocron]

This solare flare article on Space.Com has some interesting info on how the ISS caretaker crew will deal with this.

Re:What about the ISS?

[bendude]

I for one....

Naaa, forget it. I'd hate to get modded down again.

This is old hat, just ask my mum!

[tinrib]

My mum told me about this a day or two ago - I can't believe she beat slashdot to a story! WAY TO GO MUM!

Re:This is old hat, just ask my mum!

[Shadwhawk]

This flare happened today. She was likely referring to the much weaker one from last week.

Re:This is old hat, just ask my mum!

[tinrib]

yes but she told me it was going to happen. (not that it HAD happened).

Re Sounds like a Sun bug

[public_class_name_ex]

X11 popup under Solaris plasma displays?

New pet theory:

[grasshoppa]

Ok, here's my new pet theory, stop me if you've heard it. It wasn't an astroid that knocked out the dinosaurs, it was a severe period of solar storms.

Interesting, non?

Re:New pet theory:

[kalidasa]

Yes, if you could find an explanation for why severe solar storms would cause a very fine layer of iridium at the K-T boundary. [Ok, I know it was a joke: THE END IS NEAR and all that, but what can I say, I'm a born pedant.]

REPENT, FOR THE END IS NEAR!!!!!!

[doublem]

The solar flares will burn all life from the Eart-

What? You mean they already hit us and nothing happened?

Never mind.

Another big solar flare in the past couple years

[suso]

Check out the one that happened on July 14th, 2000:
here

Re:You arent supposed to stare at the sun

[Disco Stew]

Now we all know the moon isn't made of green cheese.

Re:While some might want to cast aspersions on...

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh come on! Will someone do something and cut it with this paranoid "Planet X' bullshit. NASA has clearly disproved the so-called "theories" of such "luminaries" as Nancy Lieder and Zecharia Sitchin again and again. It's not even funny anymore. You hacks with your "Planet X is coming" doom and gloom posts are no longer funny. The real truth is that there's nothing coming. Period. No conspiracy. Nobody got murdered in any coverups. Nothing. Just give it a rest already! Please!

Nitpicking is cool, but

[imsabbel]

that was the moment the space-time cone of the event touched earth, so if you are a local observer, this expression isnt wrong per se.

Finally...

[still cynical]

...that tinfoil lining will come in handy.

The last of these warnings...

[BDew]

Due to a fight on Capitol Hill, NOAA's Space Environment Center (which tracks these events and other 'space weather' items) will not have any funding in 2004. The part of Congress that oversees NOAA does not think NOAA should have to pay for this, and has decided to cancel its funding in hopes that they can force NASA or the Air Force to pick up the tab.

There is a hearing on the situation on Thursday the 30th.
http://www.house.gov/science/press/108/108- 128.htm

Re:The last of these warnings...

[Linux_ho]

Due to a fight on Capitol Hill, NOAA's Space Environment Center (which tracks these events and other 'space weather' items) will not have any funding in 2004. The part of Congress that oversees NOAA does not think NOAA should have to pay for this, and has decided to cancel its funding in hopes that they can force NASA or the Air Force to pick up the tab.

Actually, the Space Environment Center knew its funding was on the line, which is why they sent an antimatter containment pod into the sun last week, triggering these flares, hoping to cause a massive power crisis and ensure their funding. Not that you'll hear about this in the Liberal Media. And don't forget to wear your tinfoil.

Re:Welcome

[Tibor the Hun]

hahaha, it is funny!
you guys just don't get it: "plasmotic overloards"
haha, get it?

i for one welcome our new funny bad-spelling overlords!

(let's see if it works for me)

X10 is exacting its revenge

[IGnatius T Foobar]

The mighty and powerful X10 Corporation is now exacting its revenge upon its enemies! No popunders, you say? Fine! They have now upgraded from X10 to X17, and instead of simply displaying popunder windows they will now bombard the Earth with fireballs!

(...and the followers of Mammon shall tremble.)

Extraterrestrial terrorists!

[donutz]

Director James Kennedy has announced that the coronal mass ejection is the work of extraterrestrial terrorists! Run for your lives!

What warming effect does this

[JohnnyGTO]

have on the earth and how rapid a rise would we see if it does effect us? Seems like last weekend got hotter then usual her in N.Cal. and I remember somewhere reading the sunspots while dark had a much higher temperature then the rest of the surface of the sun?

energy crisis my ass!

[VAXGeek]

why bother fighting over oil when there is so much free plasma to be had? 2 billion tons of plasma is enough power for 500,000 people.

Effect on humas

[semanticgap]

This may be purely coincidental, but I see myself and others around me acting much wackier than normal since friday. Included are a couple of meetings that just were completely bizzare because we couldn't focus on the subject, a strange car accident in the parking lot where an SUV drove over three other cars for whatever reason...

Anyone else notice an elevated wackiness level?

And as usual...

[ashitaka]

It's cloudy and rainy in Vancouver. :-(

Re:And as usual...

[gobbo]

I remember '89 in Vancouver... The aurora appeared to be directly overhead, like looking up into curtains, and in full colour array, reds, whites, shades of blue and green and various indescribables. Quite awe-inspiring, we crawled out on the roof and lay there drug-free but tripping.

Re:And as usual...

[Kenshin]

We're under a massive blanket of clouds here in Toronto too.

It makes me sad, as I haven't seen a proper aurora since I was 7 years old...

Re:Northern Lights ?

[letxa2000]

That's what I'd like to know, too, but as far as I can tell no-one knows until it hits us. At which point I can look outside myself and determine if they are visible. :)

I'm in Northern Mexico just south of San Antonio. I'd really like to see some. They say the great solar storm of 1859 sent the Aurora's down as far as Rome and Hawaii so there's always a chance... but I'm not holding my breath. Well, maybe a little. :)

Considering the magnitude of this storm...

[Linker3000]

Imagine what would happen if it hit a Beowulf Cluster?!

See that Mr Anderson, that is the writing of the inevitable Beowulf cluster joke.

I for one welcome the invention of foil wrap by our aluminium overlords.

Obligatory

[OverlordQ]

torrent link since the movies were getting a bit sluggish :)

What W said when told of the solar flares...

[Tumbleweed]

We will not be scared of these "solar evil-doers." The Sun is part of an "axis of stellar evil" that we must stamp out. We will make no distinction between solar flares, and the stars that sponsor these flares. Our nation will launch a campaign to stamp out all stellar terrorism in our galaxy. These nukyular furnaces of fear will no longer terrorize our nation, or Texas. Anybody wanna peanut?

Re:What W said when told of the solar flares...

[bendude]

You're either with us or the solar-evil-doers!

I'm allergic to peanuts - got any pretzels?

http://pretzel_lib_front.tripod.com/ - hey why can't I include underscores in my links?

Re:While some might want to cast aspersions on...

[Trolling4Dollars]

I've seen a few of the trolls post stuff from time to time about the whole planet X thing. It's interesting because while there are many reasons NOT to believe it, there are just as many to believe it. Come to think of it, the only reasons not to believe it are all derived from NASA's silence on the matter. But if you are a conspiracy nut, silence says a lot more than not. I suppose the only thing that's called for here is blind faith.

how to prepare

[Tumbleweed]

Duck...and COVER!

alternate plan:

Turn off your cellphone, place your hands behind your head, put your head between your knees, and kiss your data communications goodbye. For a little while. And don't forget to stare at the pretty Northern Lights tonight! (hopefully)

Damn space exploration budget cuts...

[sholden]

We need to be sending people to Titan to study those damn machines. We can't let the "Others" destroy us as well...

Simpsons quotes for all occations!

[Tumbleweed]

"Since the dawn of time, Man has yearned to destroy the Sun."
- Montgomery Burns

Now you know why. Stupid Sun.

Re:Simpsons quotes for all occations!

[elemental23]

Moe: Let's go burn down the observatory so this will never happen again!

TCP/IP by Carrier Pigeons adversely affected!

[Donwulff]

http://solar-center.stanford.edu/solar-weather/pig eons.html

That does it. We're back to stone age.

Idolator!

[lysium]

Helios takes offense at your heathen blashpheming. Cease immediately!
(Fortunately for you Ra is not paying attention, or he would certainly mod you down).

=========

Re:Idolator!

[xao gypsie]

ra?? ptah...i do not heed him...(he he he)

xao

Millions and Billions...

[Ichijo]

...2 billion tons of material...

How much is that in elephants?

Re:Millions and Billions...

[slappyjack]

More that you want to have to scoop the shit for, that how many.

Say the average elephant weighs 5 tons. (yes/no?)
Thats about 400 million elephants.
Thats a lot of shit.

And Grandma say's

[Yanray]

"Must be that damn ozone layer/ greenhouse gas again."

Re:While some might want to cast aspersions on...

[Anonymous Coward]

Good troll. Fact is, the only evidence for Planet X is woman who claims to be a medium for aliens, and all the other "evidence" I've seen has been reflections on camera lenses and black spots caused by overloaded CCDs. http://www.badastronomy.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t= 4708

The real question is

[Gauchito]

Is anyone geek enough to see how the Enterprise fares through this storm?

There's a face

[VorpalHamster]

There's a face in that sunspot! Doesn't look like Christ or the Virgin Mary. Looks kinda like T.S. Elliot. Hmmmm

Quick Find Me A Hot Redhead!!!

[greymond]

We need to get a hot red head to stand in the middle of a circle half naked and stare up at the sun before it moves and decides it wants to crash into the earth!!!!

Re:Quick Find Me A Hot Redhead!!!

[handorf]

I was with you right up to the part after "Hot Redhead". Although I think she should instead go to dinner with me... that will clearly have more effect.

OK, I miss the reference... what is it?

Re:Quick Find Me A Hot Redhead!!!

[NoDoZ]

yea, I missed it too. I had to reread it a couple times, thinking that I just read it too fast and missed something.

Re:Quick Find Me A Hot Redhead!!!

[Tribbin]

That's from [The Fifth Element] you copycat!

Lilo (Leeloo) your half naked redhat (redhead) that stands in the circle with Bruce Willis in the end to prevent armageddon.

Do the math:

[Anonymous Coward]

150,000,000 kilometers from sun to earth, approx

CME moving at 2125km/second according to post #7331999

(150,000,000km)(1second/2125km)(1min/60second)(1 hr /60min)= 20 hrs.

Event occurred at 6 AM EST 10/28/2003, so that puts the arrival of the cloud of doom at 2 AM EST 10/29/2003, according to my rudimentary estimations.

The claim made in #731999 is "Preferred Predicted Impact Time: 08:00 UTC, 29 October 2003 (3 am EST on 29 October)"

Looks right to me, since there's really only one significant figure in my estimate anyway.

Re:Do the math:

[Donwulff]

Altough, there's now talk that the CME impact speed might be 1600km/s instead. It's hard to tell, since many of the major instruments on satellites used to measure the event were overwhelmed or shut down to protect them from the high-energy proton event.

Aurora watching

[GillBates0]

I'm trying to hunt down some local space-watcher's group in the Boston area, who can recommend the best location/time to watch the expected Auroras tonight.

Re:Aurora watching

[digital bath]

Same, except for northern Washington. Lemme know if you find any good resources.

Re:Aurora watching

[Xerithane]

Same, except for northern Washington. Lemme know if you find any good resources.

Southern Washington here, let me know. I'd be interested in seeing anything at all as a result of it. Natural disasters and car accidents are a spectator sport.

Help!

[CommieBozo]

Could I possibly harness this plasma to generate 1.21 gigawatts? If so, it could really help me out of a little jam I'm in.

Re:Northern Lights ?

[schon]

How far south are we going to able to see them ?

You'll be able to see them in Principal Skinner's kitchen.

Chalmers: What's that glow coming from your kitchen?
Skinner: That's just the Aurora Borealis.
Chalmers: The Aurora Borealis?
Skinner: Yes.
Chalmers: The Aurora Borealis, at this time of year, at this time of day, in this part of the country, located entirely within your kitchen?
Skinner: Yes.
Chalmers: May I see it?

Re:Is anyone experiencing problems with cell phone

[bbowers]

Nothing as of yet...however the other day my Verizon phone went out... could this be something I'm not gonna want to look forward to? :-\

Re:"It's coming right for us!" *WHOOSH* "Kick Ass!

[MarkGriz]

Batten down those scintillation counters! Unhook the HF radios!"

...and head for the liquor store. After all, the best defense against a coronal mass ejection, is a massive Corona injection.

There goes my day

[Pedrito]

So much for getting any work done tomorrow. I live in southern Mexico where electricity is sketchy on a good day. In fact, just about a week ago I had a transformer explode about 20 meters in front of me. I think it's safe to say that tomorrow I should stay inside and unplug the computer. Bummer.

flamebait?

[donutz]

Makes you feel teeny weenie small, doesn't it?

"What does the sun have to do with the size of your weiner? you're weird."

oh c'mon moderators...it was a joke. For all we know he has a really big weiner.

Re:flamebait?

[Kr3m3Puff]

I am perfectly comfortable with my wiener size... I agree the flamebait was uncalled for!

Maybe the moderator has an issue with his wiener size!

Re:flamebait?

[donutz]

I am perfectly comfortable with my wiener size... I agree the flamebait was uncalled for!

Maybe the moderator has an issue with his wiener size!

Quite possible! I mean, if someone has a problem with the size of their wiener, then the thought of 2 billion tons of stuff must make their wiener seem pretty insignificant...but then, who'd want a 2 billion ton wiener anyway?

Re:flamebait?

[Kr3m3Puff]

Quite possible! I mean, if someone has a problem with the size of their wiener, then the thought of 2 billion tons of stuff must make their wiener seem pretty insignificant...but then, who'd want a 2 billion ton wiener anyway?

I just have to say it, but did you notice how we are having this conversation about coronal mass ejections? If that doesn't smack of a double entendre, I don't know what does!

Ohh!

[bobrk]

So that's why the baby monitor was buzzing last night. I thought it was the flourescent light in the kitchen.

Re:"It's coming right for us!" *WHOOSH* "Kick Ass!

[Hoi Polloi]

The Chandra X-ray telescope is buttoning down the hatches so to speak!

Look at the comet hit the sun! (or evaporate ....)

[cybrthng]

If you watch this mpeg [http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/hotshots/2003_10_2 8/c2cme.mpg] CME Snowstorm and watch the comet in the lower right corner zoom in, you see the major eruption.

Pretty nifty! It states a comment should vaporize before impacting, but it is still kind of ironic!

I bet it was an alien spaceship or missile and its doomsday! :P

It's All America's Fault...

[Nom du Keyboard]

IMPORTANT TIME OF ARRIVAL NOTICE FOR NORTH AMERICANS
The preferred time of arrival is ***TONIGHT***, TUESDAY NIGHT (before you go to bed that night) near or after 3 am Eastern Standard Time).
That's 2 am Central Standard Time on TONIGHT.
That's 1 am Mountain Standard Time on TONIGHT.
That's MIDNIGHT Pacific Standard Time on TONIGHT.

I see America is safely facing away from the Sun when this all starts hit. It will certainly be taken by the rest of the world that America is out to get them with this new, super-weapon.

I read this as...

[cloudship_tacitus]

X10 server send 2B spam messages to Earth

If this keeps up...

[Nom du Keyboard]

The explosion sent over 2 billion tons of material hurtling across the solar system toward Earth.

If this keeps up, soon there won't be a Sun anymore.

Or maybe the Sun (as opposed to "Sun") finally decided to jump on the bandwagon and go open source, and is throwing out all the old, proprietary mass.

Aren't we an awful small target for the Sun to be hitting so regularly these days?

Seeing dark spots

[Tribbin]

Last friday I could clearly see one dark spot on the sun, just a little to the right from it's centre.

I could clearly see this by looking straight into the sun through the fog in the morning.

This morning I saw two similar black spots on the sun, one in the middle and one just below it. This time more clearly than last friday.,\

I live in Holland.

Does this have anything to do with the explosions?

This is no hoax...

Re:Seeing dark spots

[Shadwhawk]

Yup. You saw the sunspots that are in the first image of the news post. The eruption came from the one you see on the left side of the image (the one on right flared, too, but it wasn't pointed right at us).

Re:Seeing dark spots

[Shadwhawk]

And, actually, a more recent picture shows two enormous sunspots and a newer, largish group. The one that erupted while pointed at us is the middle lower one.

Re:Seeing dark spots

[Tribbin]

This is exactly what I described above!

But I saw a smaller single one last friday; does this make me special?

No seriously, are these things rare?

Re:Seeing dark spots

[Shadwhawk]

Sunspots? Not in the least. Sunspots this large? They're pretty uncommon, but I've seen naked-eye sunspots in foggy/thin cloud conditions before, too. They're much more common during the peak of the solar activity cycle, though (that's when I last saw naked-eye ones; conditions haven't been right where I live to see 'em recently).

Re:Seeing dark spots

[Donwulff]

Sunspots itself are not rare, though they're much more common close to the "solar max" on the 11 year solar activity cycle. This was in 2000-2001 last time. Apparently, this many this big spots have never been visible at the same time however, and the invidual spots apepar to be second largest ever pictured.

By the way, use extreme care when observing the sun, if even small part of the sun is uncovered (eclipse, smoke, clouds) one risks eye damage. The only generally safe method of observing the sun is taking a telescope/binocular and pointing it at a sun *without looking from the eyepiece* and using that to reflect an image of the sun on a paper. Some people point out this may damage the lenses, but unless you leave it pointed at the sun for long time this is quite unlikely. Actually looking through the binoculars/telescope at the sun will lead to instant eye-damage, ofcourse.

Yippee Skippy!

[pimpinmonk]

Expect more aurora and geomagnetic effects in the next day or two!"

Yay! No cell phone or wireless internet for me! Woohoooooooooooo! I'm absolutely ecstatic!

Re:Yippee Skippy!

[__aafutm5472]

I told my boss that if he called and didn't get a hold of me, it was because of the solar flare. Yeah. That's it...

Re:While some might want to cast aspersions on...

[Trolling4Dollars]

Pretty good resource there. I've never found that in all two times I've looked up any Planet X info. Thanks. That clarifies things greatly.

Blinker Fluid?

[MarcQuadra]

I am trying to hold my face on after that one. 'Blinker Fluid'

uh huh

[PenguinX]

yeah whatever, someone just did this in photoshop

I am truly astounded...

[slappyjack]

...that Media hasn't picked up on this and tried to run a weeklong series of: "scare you into being more afraid so you'll buy more shit to feel secure" reports.

I mean lookit the possibilityes:
"SOLAR FLARES! THE SKIN DAMAGE IT CAN DO TO THE CHILDREN"

"WHat if THE CHILDREN need to make an emergency sell phone call! It wont go through BECAUSE OF THE SUN!"

"Solar Flares: Terrorism?"

oh, wait.
this science.
science hard to understand.
science make channel changer change channel.
put science in minute 29.

and Seattle. Alas

[JimmytheGeek]

I lived in Juneau for a while, and got to see it a couple of times. V-e-e-e-r-y cool.

Should this storm change my plans?

[Cheapoboy]

Johnny: "Hey Ben, /. says there is going to be a strong solar storm at the same time we have the launch planned tonight.." Ben: "Bah, don't worry about it. If there was a problem Reed would have figured it out by now." excelsior!

In Volkswagens....

[__aafutm5472]

How much is that in elephants?

I dunno, but in the Astronomical standard of Volkswagens, with each VW Bug weighing in at 2769 lbs, or 1.3845 tons, it ends up being 1,444,564,824.85 Volkswagens.

In the immortal words of Keanu Reeves:

"Whoa"

I'm on my high-horse here!!!

[purrpurrpussy]

I'm really NOT trying to start a fight but there is still a problem here! Unfortuantley everybody said "Oh... don't worry about it" back then too! I'd rather hope this data will be around after 2101 not just 2001. What about 2201? 2801? 3001?. Then you DO have a problem.

I mean, I'll probably be long since dead but I hope the astronomers then can rely on us recording good data now! Next thing you know someone has "sorted" the data with 2 digit years, it's completely garbled screwing up centuries - maybe millenia of data...

Maybe....

Re:I'm on my high-horse here!!!

[geekoid]

woohoo, and are future progrmeer brothers will havr high paying opportunities.

Blackouts are Possible

[rjthomas61]

The above article references the 1989 geomagnetic storm. During that storm, large blackouts occurred in Quebec due to induced currents circulating in the power grid. Transformers are built to transmit AC current and do not like it when large quasi-DC currents appear out of the sky. The transformers tend to overheat and fail, and in a fragile power grid, this can lead to cascading failures and blackouts.

More information about this phenomenon (and an engineered solution to it) is available on my company's website.

Re:Blackouts are Possible

[rjthomas61]

Sorry for the double, but I've posted a revision of the above comment under the other solar flare /. story.

Re:Better simpsons quote

[N3WBI3]

Yes your right that would have been far better, and i would not have had to deal with brain dead trolls calling me names ;)

Correction

[ScienceInformationMi]

There are no solar flares! The mass ejections have been driven out of the solar system, and are committing suicide as we speak! The rumors that the so-called flares are nuclear powered are fueled by the delusions of madmen who are sick in the head! Sick, I tell you!

Rain?

[garglblaster]

just wondering..:

Wouldn't that mean a lot of rain in the coming weeks?

If you think about it: tons and tons of solar material hitting earth - this matter being mostly hydrogen.

Hydrogen and the Oxygen of our atmosphere (boom!) => Water!

So thats how Rain is _Really_ made!!

Re:Rain?

[elf-fire]

Most of the material will be deflected by the earth's 'shields', so: No, not really ;-)

Re:Rain?

[arctuniol]

I am sure alot of governments are running around yelling Shields up! The sun is attacking.

And in Toronto

[Platinum Dragon]

Not that I'd be able to see much in this land of light pollution, but there are some relatively light-less areas I could reach... if it weren't SO DAMNED CLOUDY.

I don't know about you, but I'm shutting off the computer tonight--just in case.

Dyson Sphere

[scovetta]

Do you mean a Dyson Sphere? link Actually, scientists have been planning since 1991 to blow up the moon, so maybe the sun is just the next step.

Re:Dyson Sphere

[skzbass]

Yes a excelent link and do you know waht i read as the cover article for the weekly world news (which is linked to) "Osama and Saddam Adobt Shaved Ape Baby){http://www.weeklyworldnews.com/news/index.cf m?instanceid=59610} --Good Times--

Have you ever noticed the SOHO camera...

[Nom du Keyboard]

Have you ever noticed in the movies from SOHO that the camera has a disc placed to block out the sun? How then can it see what's coming directly at it?

California Skies

[Bob the Hamster]

I am excited about the prospect of going and seeing the (possible) auroras tonight, as that is something one so rarely gets any chance to see in Los Angeles-- but so much of Southern California is on fire right now, and the air is so full of smoke and falling ash, I simply do not know which way to drive to find clear skies :(

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

So what should I do?

[CODiNE]

Is this going to affect magnetic media at all? Shoud I put my laptop in the basement just in case? Or is this only going to cause large-scale problems but nothing that will personally affect my data?

Just how strong is this really?
-Don.

SOHO risk?

[babbage]

This story had me wondering if the SOHO satellite at the 1st LaGrange Point was at risk, but I guess NASA has already adressed that:

The high level of energetic particles have caused two SOHO instruments to take precautionary measures: CDS has stopped taking science, and is continually reading out ("draining") their detectors to prevent damage. UVCS ramped down their high voltages and turned of the high voltage supply. Other instruments are less affected, although the onslaught of particles is quite noticeable for some. The "snow" in EIT and LASCO images is not just making it difficult to spot new CMEs, it is also making their on-board compression algorithm less efficient - over time, their observations lag behind the schedule because images take longer to downlink, and their buffer fills up.

Fascinating. I suppose it makes sense to assume that any kind of space photography is mostly going to be of blackness, and so the image data should be highly compressable. But with an event like this, it must be like the satellite is being passed over by a misty fog, and the compression algorithms will break down.

But stilll, space is big. Fantastically big. And two billion tons of material? You may think that's a lot, but to space that's just doodley squat. </bad-hhgttg>

So with that in mind, how much of this material is likely to actually interact with SOHO? How much damage, if any, is the satellite likely to sustain in an event like this? It seems like losing that satellite would be almost as bad as losing Hubble...

Re:SOHO risk?

[JoeGurman]

Thanks for the concern. The volume of the CME, by the time it reaches the vicinity of L1, is so enormous that the desntiy of the material is somewhat less than that in the best vacuum we can make in a laboratory on earth.

The real concern is whether the energetic, charged particles damage spacecraft and instrument subsystems: single-event upsets in silicon (memory, CPU's, &c.), damage to solar cells (each solar energetic particle [SEP] storm cuts a small notch in the performance of the solar arrays), and potential arcing in high voltage systems if they're not powered down.

Interestingly, some of the instruments with CCD detectors (MDI, LASCO, EIT) may keep observing just to keep flushing the electrons knocked loose by the SEP impacts.

We have seen bigger SEP events than this one (by a little) on SOHO anf survived. We are even able to keep recording solar wind parameters when other spacecraft's solar wind detectors are saturated by the SEP's.

Damn!

[El]

And it always happens when I just sent my lead-lined underwear out to the cleaners!

sunspots visible to naked eye

[rhombic]

The smoke in San Diego (Pacific Beach, for locals) this afternoon was just the right density to attenuate the sun just the right amount to let you see the two giant sunspots with the naked eye. Now that makes you feel small ;) Now let me get back to hacking up a lung...

Astronauts on the ISS?

[MsWillow]

I wonder what effect this, and the smaller, earlier, storm will have on the ISS and its occupants? I know, they most likely used SOS (silicon on sapphire substrate) semiconductors, so the station itself should be OK,but still, this is supposed to be a big storm. Are the astronauts going to be OK? Is there any particularly rad-hardened section they can stay in, or are they just plain SOL?

Goddess, I hope they'll be OK. If they get a fatal dose of radiation from this, coming so soon after the shuttle disaster, I fear we might scal way back on manned space exploration in the near future, andthat would be a real shame.

Re:Astronauts on the ISS?

[Jedi Holocron]

look here

Fire Map

[Bob the Hamster]

Forgive me for the double-faux-paus of off-topic posting and replying to my own post, but I found the answer to my own question, and it is to cool not to share. http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/ has active fire maps showing the location of all current fires which might be obstructing the sky with their nasty smoke (and heartlessly burning things too) http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/large_fire/large.p hp

Re:Too Late

[UserGoogol]

No, merely lightly steamed with a touch of grilled onions with a side of Asparagus. But that's healthy. Frying is not. All that fat? Really.

He has to think of his health.

Re:"It's coming right for us!" *WHOOSH* "Kick Ass!

[jerde]

So, the resulting aurora should be on par with the 1989 event.

Actually, we won't know if this flare and CME will cause auroras or not. If the magentic field associated with this flare is in the same direction as the Earth's, the high energy particles are largely deflected away from and past us, with no pretty light show. :(

But if the magnetic field is opposite to ours, then the solar wind can be funnelled directly into our upper atmosphere. I don't think there's any good predictor -- we just have to wait for it to get here.

- Peter

Here is the reason for the increased solar.....

[ratfynk]

Sun is starting to get pissed at SCO too....

Locations around the Boston area

[GillBates0]

I'm posting this as a reply to my message, since a couple people were interested in knowing good locations for Aurora watching around Boston:

From what I read on the www.spacew.com website (they have a forum) before it went down, Wachussets mountain (near Princeton, MA) is a GOOD place to look for Auroras. It's on 290.

Another good resource I found was:
www.darksky.com, which has about 5-6 good locations for sky watching in Mass.
I wasn't sure of the places listed there (click on Dark Sky Finder on the site), so I may stick with Wachussets Mountain. Looks like the best bet.

Hope this helps.

Sun Attack Earth, Bush Says US to Invade Moon

[ibi]

Oct. 28, 2003 | WASHINGTON (FX) -- President Bush blamed both the Sun and Moon for the recent rash of potentially devastating solar flare attacks in and around Earth.

"Basically what they're trying to do is cause people to run," he told a Rose Garden news conference Tuesday. "That's what terrorists, major weather phenomena, fires, and large things in space do." Bush said the United States was working closely with Papau New Guinea and Mongolia to prevent foreign fighters from going to the Sun in order to help it "cause more trouble".

"The Sun is dangerous because it believes that we are soft, that the will of the United States can be shaken by major stellar eruptions," he said in a 45-minute exchange with reporters. However, he said that experts in his administration had warned him that, rather like North Korea, that the Sun was equipped with nukular weapons therefore to attack it would be dangerous.

The Moon on the other hand, had clearly not provided an eclipse to shield the Earth from a solar flare. While some academic paper-pushing bureaurcrats (denounced by Bill O'Reilly as a "bunch of pansy telescope wankers") argued that this was a natural consequence of the Moon's orbit, Bush hinted that if the Moon "really wanted to" it could have protected the Earth from this attack.

"The Moon is much weaker than the Sun and we already have people in the military who know how to get there" Bush argued. "And we have intelligence documents showing that lunar-driven tides helped a ship containing Nigerian yellowcake reach a dock in Iraq in 1991."

Re:yay

[Gherald]

I guess this means its still shining?

(sorry, I don't get out much)

crispy?

[nappingcracker]

...anyone without 2,000,000 sunblock is going to have a really bad day.

Comparison

[whereiswaldo]

The solar flare launched

2,000,000,000 tons

The moon weighs about

73,500,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons

Re:But more importantly...

[YOU ARE SO SUED!]

Think, for a minute, what "Solaris" might actually mean.

In every poll taken since the start

[e_pluribus_funk]

of the 2nd intifadah, the majority of Palestinians have supported suicide bombings. If one is talking about suicide bombings against settlers in the West Bank or Gaza, it's almost universal. If one is talking about civilians in Israel proper, the support erodes a bit, but it's still a majority. That's quite some group pathology when a majority of people think it's a perfectly good idea to have someone blow themselves up in a pizza cafe dismembering women and babies. Or hand out candy celebrating after the immediate aftermath of September 11th (when initial estimates were ranging up to 30,000 dead). What a great day for Palestinians and Muslims.

And then the kicker...people like 'alex ant' that jump in and defend the suicide bombers and call people who criticize the Palestinians racist. Awesome. Just remember folks, killing minorities isn't racist as long as it's Shyloks and Kykes we're talking about.

General Boykin mentions God and Satan in a speach and these guys fall into an apoplectic fit rushing over each other in the bid to be the first to condemn him and any would be Christians who dare to invoke some sort of moral imprimatur to the war in Afghanistan or Iraq. Yet criticize the Palestinians or defend the Israelis and these same people rush to defend the right of Palestinians to celebrate the death of 3000 Americans and to practice their Allah given right to blow up little Jew babies.

Re:The brightness (.Score.:+5 Funny)

[bendude]

What's the deal with this post, and the ".Score." (as opposed to "Score") - not to mention the Score (+5)?

Your right!

[geekoid]

they're lame.. ;)

Re:Ummm

[bendude]

I just went outside and stared at the sun for ten minutes. I don't see anything.

And you wont for a while.

Low spark of the high heeled boys.

[Simple-Simmian]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A29819-20 03Oct28?language=printer">New Solar Flare Detected

Well there goes the neighborhood. :-)

IF it's a good one maybe we can see some aroura down here. I hope this doesn't effect the health of the folks on the ISS.

I hope this doesn't trash the Ham bands for to long either.

When will it hit?

[Nucleon500]

When exactly will it hit? One modded-up reply said it would hit at 8am UTC (2am CST) on the 28th, which is a few hours from now. But this news story says midday CST tomorrow. So my question is, what are some estimates of when it will strike, and who is in a position to know? Where does this data come from? Also, when will we know what the polarity of the cloud is?

Re:When will it hit?

[Simple-Simmian]

should be about Midday on the 29 (in the USA) Just after I wake up.. So I think I'll shut the computer off before I go to bed tonight/tomortrow AM.

Unfortunately

[nucal]

It's fucking raining on almost the entire US East Coast ... maybe there will be a remnant tomorrow ...

Re:"It's coming right for us!" *WHOOSH* "Kick Ass!

[glenebob]

Man, if you have to go to the liquor store to get Corona, I feel sorry for you. Too late, sucka, bwahahahahahaha!!!

Satellite TV

[Zog The Undeniable]

Anyone else been getting increased "blockiness" on digital satellite TV for the last few days, despite a strong signal and clear weather? Could be related.

Damn, just my luck...

[Corrado]

I just got DirectTV installed on Monday. Wouldn't you know that one of the largest solar flares in history would screw up my reception.

My personal purchasing history:
* Bought a VW Corrado (hence the nichname) - 6 months later they stopped making them.
* I am a "recovering" Amiga fanatic
* Bought a copy of BeOS - 'nuff said

*WARNING* *WARNING* *WARNING* *WARNING* *WARNING*
I am thinking of purchasing a couch in the next few days. Who knows what will happen to the furniture business. Oh the carnage!
*WARNING* *WARNING* *WARNING* *WARNING* *WARNING*

Just saw one

[KUNGwill]

Houdy, I just got to see a super dooper aurora in Salem, Oregon. I had to get out of town to see it, but it was worth it. First it just looked like a light blue haze in the northern sky. Then, as my roommate put it, the blue turned blood red. Anyone who's still up should really try and see it. I'm suprised I was able to see it this far south...

Plasma for everyone!

[t0ny]

Since we have all this plasma coming our way, does that mean the price of a 50" Widescreen Plasma HDTV Monitor is going to drop?

You will be mine, oh yes, you will be mine...

Re:yay

[hesiod]

> Hitler no longer poses a threat.

Well, I guess you didn't know that He is still alive, with the Aryans inside the Earth! Ha!

Re:All together now...

[TCaM]

Tom Lehrer isn't it?