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Sun Releases Largest Radiation Storm in 15 Years

Posted by michael on from the tan-don't-burn dept.

what_the_frell writes "Newscientist is reporting that a large cluster of sunspots has just released huge amounts of radiation toward Earth. The crew of the ISS reportedly had to move into the bulkier Russian section of the station, while airlines rerouted planes away from the most affected regions. Look forward to varying degrees of radio & cell phone reception and some pretty cool aurora boreali until January 22, when the sunspot storm turns away from the earth, pointing its radiation elsewhere."

12 of 67 comments (clear)

  1. shucks by ike6116 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I blame global warming.

    --

    Are you secure enough in your masculinity to run 'man touch'?
  2. Am I the only one... by PaulBu · · Score: 4, Funny

    Who reads (on ./!) "Sun releases..." and thinks about new, hopefully open-sourced, version of Solaris, not radiation? ;-)

    Paul B.

    1. Re:Am I the only one... by MrHanky · · Score: 3, Funny
      Of course not. I was thinking up imaginative +5, funnies like:

      Sun now more evil than Microsoft.

      NASA proves it. Sun is dieing.

      WTF? Is Sun switching to Pentium 4?

      Yet another product from Sun that noone wants.

      But none of these are funny enough. And the weather is almost as bad as it's been since the start of November. Oh, well, I could see the moon. That's quite extraordinary around here.

    2. Re:Am I the only one... by Issue9mm · · Score: 4, Funny

      My reply was going to be "So is 'Radiation Storm' going to be open sourced, or is this just another press release?"

      Still, not quite making the grade.

      -9mm-

    3. Re:Am I the only one... by Murphy+Murph · · Score: 3, Funny

      "Sun expresses displeasure at inauguration of Bush."

      --
      I dub thee... Sir Phobos, Knight of Mars, Beater of Ass.
  3. Ahem... by NonSequor · · Score: 4, Informative

    The plural of aurora borealis would be aurorae boreales.

    --
    My only political goal is to see to it that no political party achieves its goals.
  4. Nice Timing by vigilology · · Score: 5, Funny

    Posted by michael on 23:52 Friday 21 January 2005: "Look forward to varying degrees of radio & cell phone reception and some pretty cool aurora boreali until January 22". Wow, thanks. All of eight minutes to look forward to something and drive to a place with a nice clear sky.

  5. Wireless internet? by TheSHAD0W · · Score: 3, Funny

    Do you thi@%S^$@I%ere will be any pr%^VW#$%ms with wirel$%^)*VDTY$%^#$B%^&$%ternet?

  6. Upgrade by wan-fu · · Score: 3, Funny

    Will this release take a version jump from 1.4 to 5.0?

  7. I saw this sunspot last week by GreatDrok · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I was driving down to Newcastle from Edinburgh last week (15th) wearing my usual dark glasses and there was low cloud which meant I could see the sun's disc without it blinding me. There, right in the centre, a little above the mid point, was a huge spot. I told my wife to look at it too as I thought it was interesting to see a sunspot so clearly without any visual aids other than dark glasses and some cloud. Man, that thing is big......

    --
    "I have the attention span of a strobe lit goldfish, please get to the point quickly!"
  8. Re:Sweet... by js7a · · Score: 3, Informative

    Lots of noise with occasional increases in reflectivity, but often at multiple altitudes. Sometimes auroral propagation on VHF is really sigificant, but don't count on it.

  9. Satellites lost... by Exocet · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Didn't Intelsat just recently lose a satellite? Like, just the other day? I saw some slashdot'ers speculating on various causes (metal whiskers were my favourite) but perhaps sunspot activity had something to do with it?

    Admittedly, they lost it on the 14th, so perhaps this is a tenuous grasp at best.

    Intelsat Loses Another Satellite

    --
    Exocet Industries - Taking over the world, one computer at a