Friday's Solar Flare Twice As Energetic As Monday's; Earth Safe

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Friday's Solar Flare Twice As Energetic As Monday's; Earth Safe

Posted by timothy on Saturday January 28, 2012 @06:23AM from the keep-those-welding-goggles-handy dept.

The Bad Astronomer writes "The sunspot cluster that erupted in a solar flare and coronal mass ejection last Monday burst into life again on Friday, blasting out an X2 class solar flare, twice as energetic as the last one. This one was on the Sun's limb and was pointed away from us, so we're in no danger; all we got was a very minor radiation storm that's on the lowest ranking of such things. But it did put on quite a light show, which you can see in a video created with images from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory."

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Bllody Cool by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-28 06:30 · Score: 0

Effing cool!!
1. Re:Bllody Cool by HomelessInLaJolla · 2012-01-28 06:34 · Score: 2
  
  We havenâ(TM)t seen much of an effect from this flare â" just a minor radiation storm thatâ(TM)s at the lowest end of the scale, nothing to worry about
  Somebody you do not know talking to you about an event that is not your specialty. When do doctors, lawyers, bankers, physicians, counselors, and especially managers at work use the line "nothing to worry about"?
  
  --
  the NPG electrode was replaced with carbon blac
2. Re:Bllody Cool by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-28 06:43 · Score: 0
  
  When do doctors, lawyers, bankers, physicians, counselors, and especially managers at work use the line "nothing to worry about"?
  Is it when someone's worrying over nothing?
3. Re:Bllody Cool by LifesABeach · 2012-01-28 08:51 · Score: 1
  
  Responding to an AC? Your intentions are good, but are casted like pearls.
  
  But consider, it might be useful if the Pentagon increased its spending on forward bases like on Titan, Mars, and Pluto? Because every morning we wake up, is one morning the Sun hasn't flatulated on Earth; yet.
4. Re:Bllody Cool by laederkeps · 2012-01-28 12:16 · Score: 1
  
  When do ... physicists... use the line "nothing to worry about"?
  When it's, uuuuuh, probably not a problem. Probably.
Of course there was no danger by maxwell+demon · 2012-01-28 06:39 · Score: 2, Funny

Everyone knows that the truly dangerous solar flare will happen in December. :-)

--
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
1. Re:Of course there was no danger by cultiv8 · 2012-01-28 07:05 · Score: 1
  
  I think you mean November 6?
  
  --
  sysadmins and parents of newborns get the same amount of sleep.
2. Re:Of course there was no danger by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-28 07:07 · Score: 0
  
  You mean the day after Solar Taco Bell Day?
3. Re:Of course there was no danger by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-28 12:20 · Score: 0
  
  Yes, the 21st and like the last time life evolved to this stage our scientific progress and recent history will be erased, because we ONCE AGAIN stored everything on.... EOF
Sun's limb? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-28 06:49 · Score: 0

Anyone care to explain to the unwashed masses why a sphere has limbs?
1. Re:Sun's limb? by rubycodez · 2012-01-28 07:03 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  the word "limb" has alternative definitions than the usual use of "branch of tree" or "member of animal's body other than head or trunk". These alternatives come from Latin "limbus", meaning border. In astronomy, the definition is "The circumferential edge of the apparent disk of a celestial body." There is a related definition in mathematics: "The edge of a graduated arc or circle used in an instrument to measure angles" --http://www.thefreedictionary.com/limb
2. Re:Sun's limb? by FrootLoops · 2012-01-28 09:49 · Score: 1
  
  As a mathematician, I've never heard the graduated arc or circle definition. I would swap "mathematics" for "metrology".
3. Re:Sun's limb? by Thing+1 · 2012-01-28 10:37 · Score: 1
  
  As a mathematician, I've never heard the graduated arc or circle definition.
  Well, hey, now you have. As have I. Rejoice, don't defecate.
  
  --
  I feel fantastic, and I'm still alive.
4. Re:Sun's limb? by Dantoo · 2012-01-28 15:10 · Score: 1
  
  When using a sextant you take 2 sights at sunrise (and sunset). These are known as first limb and second limb. Been like this for centuries I'm told. I'm sure you can infer when these are taken.
5. Re:Sun's limb? by rubycodez · 2012-01-30 08:34 · Score: 1
  
  sorry, but "mathematics" includes use of things like protractors, which have a limb. funny you think you have encycopedic knowledge of your field.
6. Re:Sun's limb? by FrootLoops · 2012-01-30 11:21 · Score: 1
  
  I don't quite know why you think mathematics includes "things like protractors," or why you think I think I have an encyclopedic knowledge of my field. I only meant to imply that if I haven't heard the phrase even though I've worked with protractors and am a mathematician, it's probably uncommon amongst mathematicians, so it probably doesn't belong to mathematics. This is merely suggestive, not conclusive. I never pretended otherwise.
  I glanced through some online definitions. Most are along the lines of, "The abstract science of number, quantity, and space," while a few are like "The science of structure, order, and relation that has evolved from elemental practices of counting, measuring, and describing the shapes of objects." I imagine most mathematicians would define math as something entirely abstract, as in the first definition, without any necessary connection to reality, which the second definition seems to entail.
  In any case, metrology is the science of measuring things. It seems more appropriate to use that heading even if it makes sense to put that definition under the "mathematics" heading.
7. Re:Sun's limb? by rubycodez · 2012-01-31 03:57 · Score: 1
  
  The study of mathematics indeed includes protractors, as most schoolchildren have found. Sorry about your ignorance.
Why? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-28 06:55 · Score: 0

Why don't we have a small array of solar-orbiting satellites to monitor the far side of the Sun?
1. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-28 07:40 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  We do. in addition to SDO, in inclined geosync orbit, we have two spacecraft in heliocentric orbits somewhat ahead of and somewhat behind the Earth. They're called STEREO.
  http://stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov/where.shtml
  - Morty [Posting AC because I've spent mod points.]
2. Re:Why? by oneiros27 · 2012-01-28 21:00 · Score: 2
  
  And NASA and ESA are working on two more, but my understanding is that they won't be as coordinated like STEREO (they'll be rotating around the sun faster, so they won't necessarily get the 100% coverage that we currently get with STEREO):
  http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/sunearthsystem/main/solarprobeplus.html
  http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/area/index.cfm?fareaid=45
  (disclaimer: I work for the STEREO Science Center)
  
  --
  Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
Earth gets hit with X2 all the time by rubycodez · 2012-01-28 07:06 · Score: 2

Sometimes there is satellite damage from X2 flare, though the things are supposed to be designed to withstand them. More likely effects are communication disruptions. Last year, February 2011, Earth was hit with X2. We mostly survived 8D
1. Re:Earth gets hit with X2 all the time by Trepidity · 2012-01-28 07:44 · Score: 1
  
  Any idea how frequent? I know they aren't unprecedented, but I'm having trouble finding any numbers. Does an X-class flare happen a few times a year? A few times a decade?
  
  --
  10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
2. Re:Earth gets hit with X2 all the time by kc0dby · 2012-01-28 08:49 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Wikipedia has a nice, but tiny list of major recent flares, that will give you an idea. It looks like on a decade scale, X2 is pretty minor. Apparently they estimate the largest observed flare to be an X45.
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_flare
  Section 4.5 is what your looking for.
  
  --
  I apparently forgot that sig != uptime...
3. Re:Earth gets hit with X2 all the time by LifesABeach · 2012-01-28 09:04 · Score: 1
  
  It's probably simple chemistry/physics, but with the increased energy from the sun, would that cause an increased elevation of pollutants floating around? The result being an increased height, and less dense pollution?
Solar flares are nothing by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-28 07:08 · Score: 0

Better watch out for the CMEs from my butt when my hemorrhoids flare up. Then nobody will be safe
Solar hysteria by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-28 08:07 · Score: 0

So now we have an abundance of satellites capable of detecting every little spark and sputter from which to build frequent hysterical headlines. I've heard more about solar flares in the last six months than in the previous 40 years of my life.
Most of this stuff amounts to nice northern lights people. Must we embiggen every detectable event into a media frenzy?
Solar maximum by Cochonou · 2012-01-28 08:37 · Score: 1

We are not even yet at the predicted maximum of the solar cycle. Such coronal mass ejections will probably get more and more frequent until we get to the solar maximum. Now do not get me wrong, I like solar flares as much as anybody here, but we shouldn't really report bursts that miss Earth... or else, we are going to hear about them very often in the near future !
1. Re:Solar maximum by LifesABeach · 2012-01-28 08:56 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Which would YOU rather read about, Solar Flares going nowhere, or the results of another Republican Debate?
2. Re:Solar maximum by quacking+duck · 2012-01-28 11:18 · Score: 1
  
  Good question! Both are definitely inconsequential in the short term...
"Earth Safe" by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-28 08:45 · Score: 1

"Earth Safe"? Thanks, I was really worried. Now I can concentrate on the Greek Crisis.
You mean SciFi Channel films lie? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-28 09:05 · Score: 0

Are you telling me "Solar Holocaust" a film where Kevin Sorbo leads a team of washed up 80s TV actors to blow up the sun to save the earth from certain doom is pure fiction?
No worries... by lazycam · 2012-01-28 09:13 · Score: 1

Most of us slashdot readers are hidden safely away in our parent's basements.
MOM! I NEED MORE CODE RED AND PIZZA BAGEL BITES!

--
my mom posts on slashdot.
1. Re:No worries... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-28 09:49 · Score: 0
  
  Nothing to worry about there except argon gas.
Another will hit us, probably soonish by Mal-2 · 2012-01-28 16:58 · Score: 2

As a n00b to ham radio, and only a Technician Class (don't even have my callsign yet, just tested today), I look forward to doing some DXing in the 6 meter band. The preferred band for international DX is usually 20 meters, but solar storms that actually hit us tend to push the maximum usable frequency for skywave propagation upward in frequency (downward in wavelength). I've been hearing of people making 2000 mile contacts at 6 meters with 5 watts in the conditions from the last flare. Since I'm not licensed for the HF bands (I may soon go for the upgrade to General Class but I still won't have any HF gear), but DO currently have the ability to operate in the 6 meter band, I will have to wait for the right moment to try to reach out and QSL someone.

--
How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
1. Re:Another will hit us, probably soonish by __aajfby9338 · 2012-01-28 18:22 · Score: 1
  
  Congratulations on getting your ham ticket!
2. Re:Another will hit us, probably soonish by Sir+Lurkalot · 2012-01-29 05:17 · Score: 1
  
  Congratulations!
  Ken
  KD8DWO
The MSL and other missions? by Squidlips · 2012-01-30 01:58 · Score: 1

Will this effect robotic missions currently flying such as Dawn and MSL and other missions?
techprotecbags.com by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-30 06:50 · Score: 0

These massive solar flares if strong enough can damage electronic devices on the earths surface. Check out techprotectbags.com for products and information to protect the valuable electronics in your home.