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Most Powerful Geomagnetic Storm of Solar Cycle 24 Is Happening

astroengine writes: The most powerful solar storm of the current solar cycle is currently reverberating around the globe. Initially triggered by the impact of a coronal mass ejection (CME) hitting our planet's magnetosphere, a relatively mild geomagnetic storm erupted at around 04:30 UT (12:30 a.m. EDT), but it has since ramped-up to an impressive G4-class geomagnetic storm, priming high latitudes for some bright auroral displays.

51 of 86 comments (clear)

  1. Is it something we said? by rmdingler · · Score: 2
    It only seems like the solar system is upset with us, right? Who could blame them...

    Although to be fair, I stand in awe of the fact that the earth herself hadn't done more to cull the human population explosion.

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

    1. Re:Is it something we said? by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 2

      cull the human population explosion.

      Meh, it's already starting to level off. As it turns out, raising and educating kids in a non-agrarian society is really expensive. Plus, when women have career options, most choose not to become baby factories.

      --
      Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
    2. Re:Is it something we said? by circletimessquare · · Score: 2

      women's rights and birth control

      give women empowerment over their own bodies and the choice of when to have a child or not, and you get less hungry mouths to feed

      less hungry mouths to feed and you think more about taking care of the precious few mouths you have, rather than killing all of the destructive uneducated hungry mouths ruining your society

      --
      intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    3. Re:Is it something we said? by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 1

      As it turns out, raising and educating kids in a non-agrarian society is really expensive.

      Let me know when you find one.

      The fact that the majority of people live in cities doesn't make them "not agrarian". Our entire population is dependent on the greatest, most productive agriculture in the history of the world.

    4. Re:Is it something we said? by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 3, Informative

      An "agrarian society" generally means at least half the population is engaged in agriculture. By that definition, all first-world nations are most assuredly "technological" or "industrial" as opposed to "agrarian", and have been for quite some time. That's not discounting the importance of agriculture... it's just an acknowledgement of how mechanization and agricultural science allows farmers to be hundreds of times as productive as they used to be.

      Sheesh, this is veering way off-topic.

      --
      Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
    5. Re:Is it something we said? by rioki · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Sheesh, this is veering way off-topic.

      Since when are /. discussions on topic?

      So... systemd or stupid apple fan boys?

    6. Re:Is it something we said? by St.Creed · · Score: 1

      I'll take "stupid apple fanboys" for 5 points.

      --
      Therefore, by the (faulty) logic you're using, you're just a cow with a keyboard - osu-neko (2604)
    7. Re:Is it something we said? by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 1

      An "agrarian society" generally means at least half the population is engaged in agriculture. By that definition, all first-world nations are most assuredly "technological" or "industrial" as opposed to "agrarian", and have been for quite some time.

      Okay, but that contradicts their initial definition, at the top of the page:

      An agrarian society (or agricultural society) is any society whose economy is based on producing and maintaining crops and farmland.

      For many decades, we were the #1 food producing country in the world. I don't know if that's still true, but I believe it is.

      In any case, if you go by that definition further down the page, I agree that the U.S. would not be considered agrarian.

    8. Re:Is it something we said? by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      An agrarian society is not one whose agriculture is really productive, but one where agriculture is the most important thing in the economy. The US has been an industrial powerhouse for a long time (and continues to be one), and hasn't been agrarian since industry became the most important thing in the economy, which would be late 19th Century or early 20th.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  2. Re:Solar flares? by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's time to shield your RAM or hope you got EEC.

    Nah, nothing bad will ha(%^%^$##*

    --
    "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  3. Re:Solar flares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    It's time to shield your RAM or hope you got EEC.

    It's ECC ( Error Correcting Code ) not EEC.

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

  4. Yellow Alert by JonWan · · Score: 5, Funny

    Shields up, take warp drive offline, give maneuvering thrusters and brace for impact!

    1. Re:Yellow Alert by Lead+Butthead · · Score: 1

      Now I call _THIS_ a colossal negative space wedgie!

      --
      ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!?
    2. Re:Yellow Alert by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

      I think we should go straight to brown - and don't say I didn't alert you!

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    3. Re:Yellow Alert by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 1

      I think if we simply reverse the polarity of the neutrons, all will be well.

      Otherwise, just call Voyager Ex-Borg 36 of D up on the bridge, and at least we will enjoy our demise with a bit of amusement . . .

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    4. Re:Yellow Alert by JonWan · · Score: 2

      +1 funny Red Dwarf, at first glance I thought it was a reference to "Closet cases of the nerd kind", but that's really obscure!

    5. Re:Yellow Alert by egilhh · · Score: 2

      Sir, are you absolutely sure? It does mean changing the bulb.

    6. Re:Yellow Alert by wasteoid · · Score: 1

      Wake me when it's brown alert.

    7. Re:Yellow Alert by wasteoid · · Score: 1

      Bah, now I'm awake!

  5. Re:Solar flares? by bloodhawk · · Score: 1

    obviously he wasn't using ECC and the flare had corrupted 2 bits.

  6. I believe they make a special cream ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    ... for coronal mass ejection. Clears it right up.

    1. Re:I believe they make a special cream ... by Fjandr · · Score: 2

      Well, you don't necessarily need to use something to contain the ejection if you're using coronacidal cream properly, but the cream doesn't protect you from coronally-transmitted diseases.

  7. Re:Solar flares? by erice · · Score: 2

    obviously he wasn't using ECC and the flare had corrupted 2 bits.

    Or maybe he *was* using ECC. ECC can only correct 1 bit.

  8. There goes Cisco routers! by Sandman1971 · · Score: 1

    Better prepare for Cisco routers crashes (and everything else using non shielded, non ECC RAM)

    --
    It's better to burn out than to fade away
  9. Awesome site... by The+Grim+Reefer · · Score: 2

    I can't believe this story was accepted when the one directly below it in the link was about how you could purchase "Space Yeast" that was in space during this storm. And you get a package of control, regular yeast too! I wonder if the loaf of bread made from it will be stretchy, invisible, turn into rock, or catch on fire?

    1. Re:Awesome site... by PPH · · Score: 1

      "Space Yeast" ... I wonder if the loaf of bread made from it will be stretchy, invisible, turn into rock, or catch on fire?

      Sentient.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    2. Re:Awesome site... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      But for some reason, all it thought was, "not again" before falling to its doom.....

    3. Re:Awesome site... by l0n3s0m3phr34k · · Score: 1

      It Soviet Russia, Space Yeast eats YOU!

  10. How to know if there's a chance of an aurora? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I've seen any number of websites that purport to let you know if there's going to be an aurora sighting, but where I live they're rare enough that I don't see the point of signing up for a notification that I'm not sure will ever come but will assuredly get me lots of spam. At the same time I'm definitely not in the habit of just going out and looking because that's so rare it's like winning the lottery (maybe once in every 2000 nights?)

    1. Re:How to know if there's a chance of an aurora? by Pikoro · · Score: 2

      Try here: Softserve News

      By the way, this storm is already almost over. It's real peak was early Tuesday morning when the Bz hit 8.33. I snapped almost 500 pics during the early morning hours.

      Here's the album for anyone who's interested.

      --
      "Freedom in the USA is not the ability to do what you want. It is the ability to stop others from doing what THEY want"
    2. Re:How to know if there's a chance of an aurora? by Pikoro · · Score: 1

      And if someone wants a print or to use one for other purposes, a simple message will get rid of it. The ones on flickr aren't full res either.

      --
      "Freedom in the USA is not the ability to do what you want. It is the ability to stop others from doing what THEY want"
  11. I live in Seattle by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 3, Funny

    You insensitive clod!

    Seriously, the clouds have moved in right on cue...

    --
    #DeleteChrome
    1. Re:I live in Seattle by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

      And that cue is....

      Someone in seattle sneezed?

      ... or woke up.
      ... or went to sleep.
      ... or looked at a girl.
      ... or had a latte.

      --
      #DeleteChrome
  12. Re:Solar flares? by dAzED1 · · Score: 1

    so and should be or?

  13. Aurora Saurus by millette · · Score: 4, Informative

    Reporting auraras from the ground up, contribute http://aurorasaurus.org/

    1. Re:Aurora Saurus by Grisstle · · Score: 1

      Seems like it would be a great website but I've tried two different devices on two different connections and both times the website wouldn't accept my report and said I can only report 2/hour even though I haven't.

    2. Re:Aurora Saurus by millette · · Score: 1

      Funny how discovery.com didn't accept my comment with the aurorasaurus link. Oh well, thank you /. :-)

  14. Re:Solar flares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    wrong. a simple parity check can only correct one bit, most ECC memory is quite capable of multi bit flip correction through interleaving especially with neighbouring bits.

  15. Re:Solar flares? by beanpoppa · · Score: 2

    ...as I sit in darkness (save for the warm glow of a laptop on batteries) in the middle of a power outage.

  16. I, for one by Snotnose · · Score: 1
    Welcome our electromagnetic overlords!

    / may the non-Chinese sourced electrolytic caps capture your glory

  17. Hehehehehe... by vomitology · · Score: 2

    'coronal mass ejection' is now my new favorite innuendo.

    --
    ~Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, but Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.
  18. Brilliant display tonight by Grisstle · · Score: 3

    I can see them from Mid-Western Saskatchewan. Brilliant green flowing across the skyline. We watched them from the edge of the city for about an hour tonight. You could see them even in the city with street lights on. Then they just disappeared very abruptly

  19. Webcam links? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Anyone care to share links to live webcams showing the aurora? Its too cloudy here to get a firsthand view :(

  20. Re:Solar flares? by erice · · Score: 2

    wrong. a simple parity check can only correct one bit, most ECC memory is quite capable of multi bit flip correction through interleaving especially with neighbouring bits.

    Parity can not correct any bits. It only detects single bit errors. While many ECC codes exist, the Hamming code overwhelmingly used in computer memories can correct one bit in a 64-bit word and detect two bit errors.

  21. Re:Solar flares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Actually, memory effects generally come from proton radiation storms, not geomagnetic storms.

    Radiation storms are usually associated with large flares. There need not be an Earth-directed CME, but it does help if a recent event created a stronger magnetic path to Earth. If that was a stream, by the time it gets towards Earth, the end that it's originating from on the sun is near or even beyond the western (rotating away) edge. So most events that cause radiation storms are "near the western limb". (see Parker Spiral)

    Most of the time the atmosphere stops any particles, but when the energy is high there can be secondary collisions. An event much more rare, but usually associated with a radiation storm, is a GLE (ground level enhancement). A spike in high energy radiation level can do strange things. Creating an invisible trail, if a particle goes in the right spot, it can cause some smoke detectors to chirp out of the blue. (Usually just once, less often a few times, not at the lower volume or regular interval of a low-battery warning). Since the radiation bursts are seldom and brief, they don't add up to much exposure on Earth.

    Those with counters may see a slight increase in background on the leading edge CME and fast solar wind. And since fast events clear away some slower but heavier particles that would collide with the atmosphere, there's often a drop to below normal background after an event passes. When CMEs are more frequent, like this last week, an earlier CME sweeping away some solar wind particles leaves a path when a subsequent fast CME won't get slowed down as much as usual. And if there is a fast stream from a coronal hole nearby, we we also have now), it may be sped up and spread out less. There was also a filament eruption. Those usually spread less than flare CMEs, and tend to be denser. I'm not sure what happened with the filament eruption on the 11th. I think it went west-north-west.

    For many people, radon from soil and well water is far more likely to be of concern. Avoid taking long showers during a drought. More ground water is used during droughts, and that's what usually has the most radon.

  22. Re:Solar flares? by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

    It's time to shield your RAM or hope you got EEC.

    Us Europeans have had EEC for ages. Typical American, thinking we're some banana state or something.

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  23. The Power Grid Yawns by anorlunda · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Once again the power grid shrugs off this magnetic storm with a yawn.

    But as soon as this storm has passed, a fresh set of scare stories will begin.
    "The Power Grid Will Melt When the Next Magnetic Storm Hits."

  24. Re:Solar flares? by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 2

    That's a great reply. Makes me glad that my water supply is from the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (well, except for what may have been dumped in it upstream and not removed by the filtration plant).

    --
    "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  25. We are not worried here... by ctrl-alt-canc · · Score: 1

    A solar eclipse is scheduled in two days, to defend us from sun.

  26. aurora observed at 48.000N by DavidMZ · · Score: 2

    Auroras have been observed at latitudes as low as 48.000 N - see this article from the french News France 3