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Telescope Spots Solar Tsunami

scdeimos writes "The prototype of a new solar patrol telescope in New Mexico recorded a tsunami-like shock wave rolling across the visible face of the Sun following a major flare event on Wednesday, Dec. 6. The shock wave, known as a Moreton wave, also destroyed or compressed two filaments of cool gas at opposite sides of the solar hemisphere." From the article: "'These large scale 'blast' waves occur infrequently, however, are very powerful. They quickly propagate in a matter of minutes covering the whole Sun, sweeping away filamentary material,' said Dr. K. S. Balasubramaniam. 'It is unusual to see such powerful waves encompassing the whole sun from ground based observatories. Its significance comes from the fact that these waves are occurring near solar minimum, when intense activity is yet to pick up.'"

1 of 76 comments (clear)

  1. Tsunami & WoW 2.0.1 by Nicolas+Pillot · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Indeed it seems like the World of Warcraft major update of
    December, 6th had even greater effect than expected.

    Players on the sun showed us their anger. Even Blizzard
    would not be able to withstand the Sun's anger, and would
    quickly get fired.

    Hmmm thinking about it, Orcs may come from the sun.