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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.'"
Y'know, the solar tsunami could cause geocide, if it were to happen in our dear Earth.
Ninjas and pirates. How piquant.
So that's where Disaster Area's stunt ship crash landed...
The shock wave, known as a Moreton wave, also destroyed or compressed two filaments of cool gas at opposite sides of the solar hemisphere.
It totally sucks. I mean that was some seriously awesome gas it destroyed. I'm so bummed right now.
... to my solar tsunami relief fund. Wire your money to my Swiss bank account and I'll see that the money be properly used. I have confidence in Slashdot's readers generosity.
They're the ones with real news value.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
...thousands of scientists (and people who think they are scientists) are feverishly work how to turn this news into [1] some sort of apocalyptic press release and [2] grant applications.
Me? Cynical? Nah!
"How long..."
Longer than it took someone to imply that he is unfairly judged as a walking disaster.
How's FEMA gonna handle this?
Are they gonna send aid after it gets dark?
To put a witty saying into 120 characters, jst rmv ll th vwls.
Good thing my Tinfoil hat protects me from these governmental ()*N*$VY^I@IVN(: B!NO CARRIER
With this recent sun activity people in the northern regions of the globe should be able to see Northern Lights, probably stronger than the usual flares since the sun is now (almost) at a minimum.
Although I guess it's a bit of bad luck for Discovery and it's crew with the chance of powerful radiation storms...
First it turns everybody brown, then it kills them.
LOL!!
--- Grow a pair, liberals... stop letting the Republicans bully you!
There is something reminiscent of the modern Republican party in your response, though. Oversimplification, not accepting personal responsibility, and proposing an impossible solution. The only thing missing is you haven't suggested paying for it by lowering taxes.
Seriously, in Moscow I just experienced short random interruptions in AM broadcasts jiust right now. Moments of silence.
Could it be the result of a solar flare?
Amen, dude! Besides, those nasa guys weren't even smart enough to take the pictures during daytime. The sun is all dark and grey.
First they were told to find a place where the sun don't shine, and now this... I'm sure they are doing a hackuva job.
My other SIG is a Sauer.
How soon till someone says it isn't Bush's fault it was an unresolved problem by previous administrations?
Can I bum a sig?
OK, I'll bite.
I read the article but my very first question wasn't answered. So:
Anybody have any back-of-the-envelope or better calculations as to how fast this wave must be moving? The Sun's a pretty big bit of real estate, and this looks like it was much, much faster than an earthbound/waterborne Tsunami.
Nobody has mentioned yet how fucking awesome this is. I expected you would, with your "seriously radical" subject line, but you didn't.
It's a huge tsunami of terrible nuclear fire. A gigantic shock wave of deadly radioactive plasma. Large enough and forceful enough to sustain itself across the surface of the sun, obliterating the few visible features it has. You're in awe when somebody says "the explosion would be visible from the moon" but this is unfathomably larger. It's immense enough to be an astonishingly big statistical anomaly on an object more than a million times the size of the rock we live on.
This is... like... the coolest thing that ever happened in our solar system.
Why is it that when you believe something it's an opinion, but when I believe something it's a manifesto?
Kilotons, Megatons, now Moretons!
A work that expires before its copyright never enters the public domain and thus enjoys eternal copyright protection.
I was wondering the same thing. Not that anyone really has a realistic sense of scale when it comes to things as big as the sun, but the frames in that animation could be separated by seconds or hours and that article gives no indication one way or the other. I guess either way, it's safe to say "really fast." It sure didn't take days from what I gather and anything that travels around the sphere of the sun in less than a day has got to be moving pretty quick.
-N
I've nothing to say here...
The circumference of the sun is 4,373,000 km. Call "matter of minutes" 10 minutes = 600 seconds. Divide circumference by two since the wave propagates in both directions. The wave is travelling at 3600 km/s. That's pretty damn fast.
This post climbed Mt. Washington.
An animation showing the wave moving across the sun.
How about we only turn it off at night?
Find environmentally and socially responsible products on http://buy-right.net
This one shows the whole event and then replays it zoomed in on the sunspot and on the filament destruction
l ar_tsunami/
http://meems.imeem.com/iQrVatKB/video/wPgDIh4_/so
A couple of days ago if you googled 'Solar Tsunami' the top hit was from some nutter who had a whole website that was promoting the theory that underneath the photosphere there was a solid iron-silica surface, thankfully the scientists had enough imagination to call it a tsunami rather than a Moreton wave.
I can think of some other crackpot science that needs to be googlebombed into non-significance.
That was a joke, son. I'm not a Republican and I dislike being modded down for being accused of being one.
qntm.org
Off Topic, I know. So don't flame me too bad. But I just couldn't let the partisan idiot go by with his snide remarks.
"There is something reminiscent of the modern Republican party in your response, though. Oversimplification, not accepting personal responsibility, and proposing an impossible solution."
Actually, the same can be said of Democrats as well. End Poverty, tax the rich. As for personal responsibility and such, go talk to the PI lawyers that line the coffers of democrats running for office.
"The only thing missing is you haven't suggested paying for it by lowering taxes."
Well, since most of the spending done by the government is "entitlements", I suppose that cutting spending is out of the question. Every freaking time there is a surplus, the tax and spend liberals, and the tax cut and spend neo-cons start new "programs" that are designed to do one thing or another, without any ability to actually EOL them.
Personally, I would like people to take responsibility for themselves more and learn from disasters like Katrina. The government is USELESS, and if you think they are going to "help" you, you better get your head examined.
And just so you know, but LIBERAL Democrats and CONSERVATIVE Republicans were to blame for the crap that happened in NO. Why? Because neither one really care about people, only their own skins.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
It's a veritable tidal-wave of tsunami metaphors...
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
I'll ignore that "snide remark" (in fact, I didn't insult the OP at all, yet you did insult me, right off the bat even), since getting too hung up over it doesn't do any good.
I get the impression (correct me if I'm wrong) that you aren't a Dem or a Repub. You (I gather) find both Dems and Repubs to be pretty much the mirror image of each other, both equally bad, just in opposites of sorts. I'm not going to defend the short-comings of the Democratic Party (they certainly have them), but do want to address the assertion that they are just as bad as the Republican Party.
"The same" can be said of anyone. Your proposed example is not nearly as egregious as what the Republicans engage in. You do a massive disservice to equate the two. To do so encourages the lesser party to get away with whatever they can, so long as the other party can be described in the same way, and punishes the better party, for no matter how much they minimize their negatives, there will always be some, and regardless of how minor they are, they will be used against them.
For examples:
Ignoring the fact that the Democrats actually *BALANCED* the budget, a budget that was thrown out of whack by 12 years of Reagan and Bush, then the next Republican goes and throws it out of balance again, how can you equate "tax and spend" with "tax cut and spend"? Taxing and spending are supposed to go together. To spend and not tax is foolish, dangerous, and self-destructive. You may disagree with what the Democrats spend money on (I'm sure you'd, in fact, agree with most of what they spend on, it's just the small, but visible, projects you likely take issue with), but at least they are responsible about it.
Both care about their own skins, but the Democrats actually believe they have a responsibility to help those less fortunate. Republicans believe people should fend for themselves. Democrats have the balls to spend tax money to actually help others. Republicans will consistently spend only if it furthers their own selfish interests. Only a Class A Moron (there you go, a bit of snide for you to latch onto) could believe the Democrats are just as bad as the Republicans, and will not help the people any more than the Republicans do.
By definition, a liberal government is one that helps its people. With the liberals in power, they actually will help you. What I can't understand is how people can make statements like yours. Can you actually not imagine a way that the government can help people? Do you think such things are actually impossible? And finally, do you not realize that one party will be better at it than another?
I used to think like you. I used to see Democrats and Republicans as pretty much the same, just with a different name. That was until recent times when the Republican party really went off the deep end. I can respect Republicans who are reasonably flawed (like the Democrats are), I can respect honest disagreement, and I think the Republican party ha
I'm sure you didn't get modded down just because of me. The only thing in your post that implied "I'm joking" was "turn off ... the Sun". Republicans actually do blame the Sun entirely (well, the Sun and volcanos, I think. Really, anything except humans) for global warming, so really, even if you aren't of the addled-minded, you certainly sounded like one.
:-))
In my defense, you'll note I didn't say you were a Republican, just that your post was very similar to Republican rhetoric.
(In other words, don't blame me. Your joke really wasn't all that funny.
This is why I give "Funny" modded posts a -3 modifier in my preferences and then browse for comments modded +2 or higher. Not that I don't have a sense of humor.
I come here for the love
You mean to say Gandhi and not Ghandi.