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Sunspot Tosses Plasma Cloud Toward Earth
parallel_prankster writes "The Washington Post reports that a huge sunspot unleashed a blob of charged plasma Thursday that space weather watchers predict will blast past the Earth on Sunday. Satellite operators and power companies are keeping a close eye on the incoming cloud, which could distort the Earth's magnetic field and disrupt radio communications, especially at higher latitudes. The huge blob of charged gas spotted by NASA satellites is speeding toward Earth at more than 2 million mph. The most damaging solar discharges, which are very rare, can move at speeds more than twice that fast. Here's a more detailed article with some animation."
Anonymous Coward releases huge first post towards slashdot discussion.
Oh the humanity!
The man who dies rich dies disgraced. -- Andrew Carnegie
The summary just makes me thing of The Blob so I have trouble taking it seriously.
Coincidence? Or does this remind you of a scheduled event per the Mayan Calendar anyone?
Hmm...let me check my Mayan calendar...
...hmm...Thursday I have that office party....and next Sunday is your mother's birthday....
uh...nope--no scheduled giant plasma cloud.
There's no place like
Hadoken!
Misery loves company. Online misery loves unsuspecting random strangers.
How do these events affect the Space Elevator we'll start building in the next few years? We better hurry too, we seem to be unable to right a small boat in a river, I wonder how long it'll take to build a space elevator?
So, does this mean there will be lots of auroras sunday night? I've never seen one before, and would absolutely love the chance.
If you are interested in such matters, you will follow the Space Weather Prediction Center site. Here is their latest advisory:
SWPC Forecasters have determined that the CME from NOAA Region 1402 near disk center yesterday will likely pass above (north) of Earth. This glancing blow will cause just G1 (Minor) Geomagnetic Storm activity. Look for the first signs of it around 1800Z (1:00 pm EST) on Sunday, January 22, with the bulk of the disturbance to occur Monday, January 23. Watch here for updates.
Because it is 2012 and all common spacial activities will be labeled as the "end of the world" like event, for the , i told you so at a starbucks near you.
Sunspot and Plasma cloud. two more things my Oracle contract will surely never support.
Good people go to bed earlier.
It reminds me of manbearpig... We'd better pass some laws against plasma clouds immediately! :)
What makes for a good shielding for home electronics on such matters? Lead sheets?
We're all gonna die!!!!
*runs to the nearest adult store for shelter*
Delta-Mike November Bravo Tango
" I survived the sunspot blob of plasma 2012 "
Gently reply
I was hosting my data on Sun's cloud!
Let's see them blame this one on Obama!
Clearly, Jesus does not like South America, and by implication the pagan parade of sin and debauchery that is Carnivale. Repent!
Pat Robertson
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
Besides sparking pretty auroras, heightened solar activity has a more tangible benefit: It cleans up space junk. As the sun acts up, the Earth’s atmosphere expands, increasing friction on dead satellites, rocket parts and other trash in low Earth orbit, pulling them down.
The amount of debris in Earth orbit “actually decreased during 2011 as solar activity increased toward an anticipated maximum,” NASA’s chief space junk watcher, Nicholas Johnson, wrote in the January issue of the agency’s Orbital Debris Quarterly Newsletter.
Perhaps it's "news for nerds" because it does actually affect nerds?
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
From http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/
"2012-01-20 16:35 G1 (Minor) Geomagnetic Storm Possible January 23
SWPC Forecasters have determined that the CME from NOAA Region 1402 near disk center yesterday will likely pass above (north) of Earth. This glancing blow will cause just G1 (Minor) Geomagnetic Storm activity. Look for the first signs of it around 1800Z (1:00 pm EST) on Sunday, January 22, with the bulk of the disturbance to occur Monday, January 23."
For those that need to know, that plasma cloud is travelling at almost 5.7 billion furlongs/fortnight.
...hitting earth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY6vlTdNNjU
I know our magnetic field protects us from the radiation, but has there been a study to see if and how much energy from the flares and CMEs gets converted into heat?
It's amazing that the Sun can hit us so often... I think it hates us
At least this will give Hollywood some new script material instead of remaking classics into shockers. I.E. Chuck Norris kicks the solar storm's butt, would be an instant classic!!
I got to the chocolate box before you, that's why the hard ones have teeth marks.
You don't think coronal mass ejections -- a stream of plasma bigger than our planet and traveling at millions of miles an hour -- or other aspects of space weather are nerdy?
Um, okay.
Anyway, who cares? I care. This is very nerdy news which I am happy to have on /.
The enemies of Democracy are
Buddy, you're are on the wrong site, if you need this explained to you. Are you, perchance, related to Seth at UserFriendly?
Pain is merely failure leaving the body
Um it matters because some nerds haven't finished Skyrim. This could be a deadline.
Can I bum a sig?
So much for tuning into radio Australia on the HF this weekend :(
Coming from a guy named "DumbMarketingGuy (171031)", it's pretty hard to explain to a non-nerd like yourself why nerds find nerdy things interesting. You just aren't going to "get it"
In fact you are likely going to find NOTHING of interest on this website.
The "Stuff that Matters" bit is implied the stuff only matters to slashdots target audience, aka nerds, not you.
Perhaps you would prefer the stock tickers on Fox news instead?
Or perhaps you should just refrain from posting until a story pointing out your marketing companies slimy tactics comes up where you get paid to astroturf.
No worries. Those giant plasma cloud events are never as much fun as the brochures make them look. Oh, sure they've got zero gravity, but how entertaining is that really?
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
Since the Oracle take over, it seems all Sun's products have been degraded. The likely consequences of allowing Oracle monopoly control of Sun were clear from the beginning. The interference with Java, OpenOffice and MySQL was bad enough, but they are now allowing Sun to emit dangerous plasma clouds. When are the responsible authorities going to take action to prevent Oracle from inconveniencing us all in this way.
So, 2 million fast * 2 = 4 million fast?
The Sky is falling!
The Sky is FALLING!
Oh, wait ... no that's just a Russian probe. My bad.
Imma get a big jar and scoop it up to sell to a blood bank. I'm either hilarious, or I really, really need to go to bed.
You want to know how to help your kids? LEAVE THEM THE F*&K ALONE. --George Carlin
Those office parties are the best! They always find the hottest virgins to toss off the ziggurat.
You can if it = { Koran, Bible, Torah }
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
If TV transmissions are interrupted during the NFL playoffs, I predict massive suicides and/or increases in alcohol consumption across the USA.
https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
A solar physics expert will please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe CMEs are made of neutral plasma. I don't know where the original article got the " charged gas" description. They are magnetized, like the solar wind, which is why they interact with the earth's magnetic field
At first I assumed "Sunspot" and "Plasma cloud" were open-source projects I had never heard of, making the headline tough to parse. Turns out I wasn't far off: Sun SPOT is a wireless sensor network by Sun Microsystems, and "plasma cloud" can refer to a type of fractal algorithm. The practice of naming tech projects after cool science things is reaching a very confusing level, especially for sites like Slashdot that feature both types of news.
LMAO. When reading the other responses to this post I heard a bunch of whoosing noises. Read the OP's handle if you need a clue.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
OK, I know radios can detect lightning bursts. But is there a cheap, easy, interesting, and effective way to detect solar plasma hitting the Earth's atmosphere? I don't have the budget of ARPA or NSA so cheap, ACAT. Any good recommendations out there?
If so it it would also make a great HS science toy as well.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+