I have not seen the data, but I doubt that there are impressive pictures of the event -- especially in the optical bands. This did not happen on the Sun; according to the article, this was in a system 135 light years away. Any visuals would have been very difficult to detect. Additionally, Swift detected this in the x-ray bands. Yes, this can be shown on a coordinate system, and we might see some brightening in the region. However, the flare probably appeared as a peak on a graph... this is not going to provide the kind of images that most readers of press releases are going to be interested in.
You are right; Swift does detect in the optical bands as well. (list of instruments on Swift) I guess it would have been better stated if I had said that Swift is not designed to use optical for finding these types of events. Gamma and x-ray tell us more about flares at this distance than visual data does. I suppose any of these frequencies could be overlayed in an x-y coordinate system to show intensity increases in a physical region, but as you pointed out, at this distance that would not be very interesting to look at. More information would be gained by looking at peaks on frequency graphs.
For those of you that like music that teaches science, here's on about the Swift satellite (the satellite that detected the flare discussed in the article). You can listen to the lyrics here and the lyrics are posted here. AstroCappella is the group that recorded this; they have several rather interesting songs available.
Note... the images are not from the event described in the article. While very informative, they are images of flares on the Sun. The event that is described in the article is rather distant to get that type of imagery.
Also, Swift is not designed to detect in the optical range. It's primarily designed to detect gamma rays, and in this case, x-rays. Any images that would be release would probably be spikes on a graph.
From the article...
"Swift's Burst Alert Telescope usually detects gamma-ray bursts, the most powerful explosions known, which arise from star explosions and star mergers. The II Pegasi flare was energetic enough create a false alarm for a burst detection. Scientists quickly knew this was a different kind of event, however, when the flare overwhelmed Swift's X-ray Telescope, a second instrument."
The parent comment is an amusing narratve, but if we wanted to find some holes in it....
1) The article is in regard to a large stellar flare, not a solar one. Currently the Sun is at solar minimum, and while large solar activity can occur at this time of the cycle, such activity is rare. For those that are interested, the National Solar Observatory has images of the current solar activity, and a current space weather report is available from the Space Environment Center. Besides all of that, the flare the article is referring to was detected close to a year ago.
2) Even if the storm referred to were from our own star, most of the effects of solar activity do not reach Earth for several days (especially those that affect our electronics). Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are large amounts of charged particles that can interact with our magnetic field causing geomagnetic storms. These particles take numerous hours to several days to travel from the Sun to Earth. On the other hand, radio interference can happen as soon as the storm is detected (8 minutes after the event). But even then, the antennas usually need to be pointing toward the Sun in order for the SNR to be low enough for problems.
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I have not seen the data, but I doubt that there are impressive pictures of the event -- especially in the optical bands. This did not happen on the Sun; according to the article, this was in a system 135 light years away. Any visuals would have been very difficult to detect. Additionally, Swift detected this in the x-ray bands. Yes, this can be shown on a coordinate system, and we might see some brightening in the region. However, the flare probably appeared as a peak on a graph... this is not going to provide the kind of images that most readers of press releases are going to be interested in.
You are right; Swift does detect in the optical bands as well. (list of instruments on Swift) I guess it would have been better stated if I had said that Swift is not designed to use optical for finding these types of events. Gamma and x-ray tell us more about flares at this distance than visual data does. I suppose any of these frequencies could be overlayed in an x-y coordinate system to show intensity increases in a physical region, but as you pointed out, at this distance that would not be very interesting to look at. More information would be gained by looking at peaks on frequency graphs.
For those of you that like music that teaches science, here's on about the Swift satellite (the satellite that detected the flare discussed in the article). You can listen to the lyrics here and the lyrics are posted here. AstroCappella is the group that recorded this; they have several rather interesting songs available.
Note... the images are not from the event described in the article. While very informative, they are images of flares on the Sun. The event that is described in the article is rather distant to get that type of imagery.
From the article...
The news article was just published yesterday. Many research findings take awhile before they are released to the press.
The parent comment is an amusing narratve, but if we wanted to find some holes in it....
1) The article is in regard to a large stellar flare, not a solar one. Currently the Sun is at solar minimum, and while large solar activity can occur at this time of the cycle, such activity is rare. For those that are interested, the National Solar Observatory has images of the current solar activity, and a current space weather report is available from the Space Environment Center. Besides all of that, the flare the article is referring to was detected close to a year ago.
2) Even if the storm referred to were from our own star, most of the effects of solar activity do not reach Earth for several days (especially those that affect our electronics). Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are large amounts of charged particles that can interact with our magnetic field causing geomagnetic storms. These particles take numerous hours to several days to travel from the Sun to Earth. On the other hand, radio interference can happen as soon as the storm is detected (8 minutes after the event). But even then, the antennas usually need to be pointing toward the Sun in order for the SNR to be low enough for problems.