NASA Records Solar Blast of Epic Proportions

Arvisp writes "As predicted, the a 'mega-filament' of solar magnetism erupted on Dec. 6th, producing a blast of epic proportions. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the action as the 700,000-km long structure lifted off the stellar surface and--snap!!--hurled itself into space. The eruption produced a bright coronal mass ejection (CME) observed by the STEREO-A spacecraft: video. Earth was not in the line of fire; the cloud should sail wide of our planet. Earth-effects might be limited to pretty pictures."

Comments

video

[Internal Modem]

video = http://stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov/browse/2010/12/06/ahead_20101206_cor2_512.mpg

Scale

[pete-classic]

For scale, 700,000km is half the diameter of the Sun.

-Peter

Re:Scale

[TheNinjaroach]

For scale, half the diameter of the Sun is a radius of the Sun.

Re:Had this been pointed at Earth? What then..

[blair1q]

Not really. The magnetosphere protects us from most of it. It makes some radio noise, brighter aurorae at the poles, and a lot of hoo-ha on the tee-vee.

Re:Article is very light on information...

[natehoy]

These things aren't mysteries, even to many laypeople. Of course, I'm a private pilot, so the potential interference to radio communications, GPS, etc maybe makes me a little more aware of it than most, but it's not like this is a new phenomenon or something we've just now discovered thanks to modern science. Humanity knew about these before the 1800's, and their effects on electrical devices were pretty clearly demonstrated by Mother Nature since at least 1859 (the Carrington Event, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859 ).

We've been hit by CMEs in the past, and their effects are pretty well understood. The potential impacts of this are real, and very inconvenient, in that they can knock out power grids with relative ease ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_1989_geomagnetic_storm ). We haven't had a strong hit since the cellular telephone was invented in 1989, so we have little experience with the really strong ones and modern electronics, but frying a few million computers and smartphones would (if not fatal) have some pretty nasty economic consequences for the owners of same.

The only level of lethality would be if you are somehow dependent on electricity, or the possible introduction of electricity into places you weren't expecting it. So, for example, if you hear about a strong geomagnetic event, it's probably not a good idea to go out and lean on any local ungrounded aluminum-sided house or any very large piece of ungrounded conductive material. You might become the grounding strap. That could be bad. Think of it as a lightning event, except it's smaller lightning but appears everywhere, even inside things.

Upside: While it's dark at night what with all the lack of power and your neighbors not burning their 10,000 watt back yard lights all night, you'll see the coolest aurora display ever if you live far enough north (and that could be as far south as Texas with a strong event). "Aurora Borealis, shinin' down in Dallas, can you picture that?"

We know it damages things as crude as telegraph machines, including setting the paper in them on fire from sparks, because it has. CMEs can impart energy into metal, and the electrical network is a huge freaking CME antenna, so in a strong storm expect at least temporary loss of power, and longer if there's enough strength to overload transformers and the like.

The CME can either cancel out the existing electricity in the power grid, or it can add to it, depending on polarity. A modestly strong CME impact can actually impart electricity into unshielded electronics and fry them where they sit due to nothing more sophisticated than voltage overload, even if they are not plugged in (this is known as "geomagnetically-induced current").

A little light reading for when you get curious.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomagnetic_storm#Historical_occurrences

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomagnetic_storm