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Large Solar Flare To Glance Off Earth

Posted by samzenpus on from the raise-shields dept.

JoeRobe writes "According to spaceweather.com, a major X5 solar flare is on its way to deliver a glancing blow to the Earth's magnetic field. This is the second x-class flare to be released by the same sunspot in the past few days, the first being an X1. In both cases, the sunspot (spot 1429) was not directly facing Earth, but it is still active, and poses a threat for a large, Earth-directed flare in the next few days."

11 of 154 comments (clear)

  1. X-Class you say? by masteva · · Score: 4, Funny

    So we may finally get some actual X-Men out of this???

    --
    Practice Static Safety - Hack Naked
    1. Re:X-Class you say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I've met a few ex-men, I prefer actual women.

  2. Re:It's??? by plover · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is that as in "Holy Shit, that solar flare, it's headed right for us!" Because if I'm gonna fry, I don't think I want to spend my last few minutes on Earth surrounded by grammar Nazis.

    --
    John
  3. Re:It's??? by SJHillman · · Score: 5, Funny

    Grammar Nazis tend to be thin-skinned, so you'll live long enough to see them fry first. Happy thoughts!

  4. Scenario by echogen · · Score: 5, Funny

    possible scenario:
    1- Apple applies for a patent regarding magnetic interference.
    2- USPTO grants patent to apple
    3- Solar flare
    4- Apple suing the sun in Germany!
    5- Court prohibits the sun from sending magnetic flares to Germany

    --
    mmmmm.....
  5. Poses a Threat? by Kozar_The_Malignant · · Score: 4, Funny

    Is it paranoid to think that these first two might be a couple of ranging shots?

    --
    Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
    1. Re:Poses a Threat? by gestalt_n_pepper · · Score: 4, Funny

      Really? If it's communications are conducted in almost unrecognizable languages, and it's conversations mainly esoterica beyond human concerns, and those discussions happened only over very long periods, they might not only be sentient, but also tenured.

      --
      Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
  6. where'd I put my tinfoil hat? by nani+popoki · · Score: 5, Informative

    1. Don't be too concerned. This is more an issue for astronauts (minor inconvenience) and satellites (possible software outages), unless you live at high latitudes, in which case auroras are cool!

    2. X5 is strong but not catastrophic -- this might affect shortwave reception but it's not going to take down the power grid.

  7. The moon never pulls shit like this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    The moon never pulls shit like this.

        from The Onion

  8. too late -- the flare already hit. by oneiros27 · · Score: 5, Informative

    The flare travels at the speed of light ... so we've already been hit by it. The CME is what's going to come tomorrow morning (or tonight, depending on your time zone)

    And the "spot number" as this article called it is actually NOAA Active Region #11429. I'm sick of this modulo 10000 value -- AR1429 was decades ago. (the list I'm looking at starts at AR6777, which was in August 1991)

    I'll leave it for some other time to rant about the difference between 'sunspot number' (a subjective number to describe the amount of spot coverage on the sun in the visible spectrum which goes back centuries) vs. 'active region number' (a NOAA index of spots seen in x-ray)

    --
    Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
  9. Link NOAA model of aurora activity and visibility by RossR · · Score: 4, Informative

    NOAA forecast model of aurora activity and visibility

    http://helios.swpc.noaa.gov/ovation/

    If the little red line is south of your location, you might see something (assuming northern hemisphere). So far no love for the lower 48.