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Sun Produces First Cycle 24 X-Class Solar Flare

Posted by Soulskill on from the go-outside-and-look dept.

radioweather writes "For the first time since solar cycle 24 began, the sun produced a massive X-class solar flare, the strongest type of flare event. This comes from sunspot group 1158, which produced an M-class solar flare on Sunday. The EVE X-ray imager on the solar dynamics observatory shows a bright explosion on the sun, so bright it made a lens flare. The last X-class solar flare was on December 13th, 2006 and was part of solar cycle 23. Look for spectacular auroras in a couple days as the slower Coronal Mass Ejection hits earth. This will be a test of how well our newest technology handles stray energy from such solar disruptions."

9 of 131 comments (clear)

  1. Stop this already... It's Oracle by c0lo · · Score: 5, Funny

    'Nuf said

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    Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
  2. am I the only one? by youn · · Score: 5, Funny

    for a second I thought it was about a 24 core new server from sun... then I realized the solar flare was not the oracle purchase :)

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    Never antropomorphize computers, they do not like that :p
  3. start worrying? by louic · · Score: 5, Funny

    How is this informative if we do not know if we need to be worried or not? Please let us know if we need to start worrying or not, just like in this post earlier on slashdot.

    1. Re:start worrying? by Ceriel+Nosforit · · Score: 4, Insightful

      No, you don't need to worry about it. You just happen to know about it. If you did need to worry about it there was nothing you could do about it.

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      All rites reversed 2010
    2. Re:start worrying? by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 4, Funny

      How is this informative if we do not know if we need to be worried or not?

      The best thing to do, is to monitor announcements from from your local authorities on radio and television . . . um, which will not be working, because they were trashed from the soft X-rays from the solar flare. OK, let's try again. Wait for the police car to drive by and give announcements over the patrol car's megaphone . . . which will also not work, because the car ignition and megaphone were fried by the X-rays, and the policeman is hiding in his cellar anyway, because only an idiot would go outside into a hail of X-rays.

      OK, just wrap yourself in tinfoil, and go outside at night and look for the aurora borealis or aurora australis, depending on which hemisphere you live in. The aurorae are much more impressive if you drop some acid before observing them. As a matter of fact, if the acid is good enough, you don't even need the aurorae to see funky lights.

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      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    3. Re:start worrying? by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Funny

      Duh! It's a thermonuclear reactor! Of COURSE it is hellish dangerous! Why do you think it was built so far away?

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      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    4. Re:start worrying? by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There are outcomes between "sun comes up, sun goes down" and "Sun gives the Van Allen belt a good hard shove and everybody eats ionized death"...

      Solar behavior capable of knocking out a bunch of satellites, or affecting the power grid, is worrisome; but can be mitigated(or at least expected and then repaired) for various levels of nuisance and expense.

      If, for example, next week is going to be a especially terrible time to go into the wilderness with nothing but your trusty GPS and satellite phone, you can't do anything about what the sun is going to do to that infrastructure; but you can avoid relying on it...

    5. Re:start worrying? by Lumpy · · Score: 4, Funny

      And that is why you dont have any superpowers like the rest of us.

      I go out naked during Xray events while holding a TV antenna high in the air.... I can now get stains out of any carpet with my mind!

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      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    6. Re:start worrying? by epiphani · · Score: 5, Informative

      Here's a bit more context.

      Sunspot 1158 is currently facing towards earth. This is not terribly uncommon - but X series flares are relatively rare. This is the strongest flare in the last four years. What is notable about this event is that it's an X series flare AND its pointed straight at us. It's not in the top ten (X9.0 is the bottom of the top ten, and its a logarithmic scale) of what we've observed, BUT it is the strongest flare in modern history that has been pointed straight at us.

      The CME will arrive in 24-48 hours. What the effects of the geomagnetic storm we're about to get will actually be, nobody's completely sure. The most likely case is a K7 or K8 geomagnetic storm. See this scale - and expect G3 or G4.

      Realistically, this will mean some power utilities are paying very close attention to their systems and having to tweak things. HAMs will definitely notice it, and cell phones may have some issues (not that you'd notice much).

      In summary, if you're anywhere north of 45 or 50 degrees lat and have some clear skies, get outside tonight and tomorrow night. Should be a good show.

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