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The Sun Unleashes Coronal Mass Ejection At Earth

astroengine writes "Yesterday morning, at 08:55 UT, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory detected a C3-class flare erupt inside a sunspot cluster. 100,000 kilometers away, deep within the solar atmosphere (the corona), an extended magnetic field filled with cool plasma forming a dark ribbon across the face of the sun (a feature known as a 'filament') erupted at the exact same time. It seems very likely that both eruptions were connected after a powerful shock wave produced by the flare destabilized the filament, causing the eruption. A second solar observatory, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, then spotted a huge coronal mass ejection blast into space, straight in the direction of Earth. Solar physicists have calculated that this magnetic bubble filled with energetic particles should hit Earth on August 3, so look out for some intense aurorae — a solar storm is coming."

2 of 220 comments (clear)

  1. Re:clarification requested. by Dragoniz3r · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    No, the last time something of this magnitude happened, the Kenyans got the brunt of it. That's why they can run so fast. I'm interested to see what the future olympics hold for Uganda. Gold medals in long jump? Discus? Pingpong?

  2. Re:So should I unplug all my stuff or not? by Lord+of+Hyphens · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    As someone who's not posting as AC, the system would like me to use preview before submit.

    --
    "I've spent my whole life figuring out crazy ways to do things. It'll work." -- Montgomery Scott, "Relics"