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MIKE BURN Generally Crazy Guy
Joined: 08 Nov 2001 Posts: 4825 Location: Frankfurt / Europe
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Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2003 9:08 pm Post subject: Sun erupts in biggest storm in years |
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Quote: Earth in path of solar-ejected cloud
Tuesday, October 28, 2003 Posted: 2:46 PM EST (1946 GMT)
(CNN) -- One of the largest known solar flares erupted from the sun on Tuesday, heralding a storm of superheated gas that could hit Earth within a day or two.
The outburst was classified an X18 flare, making it the third largest on record, according to Paal Brekke, a project scientist with the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), a sun-watching satellite mission jointly run by NASA and the European Space Agency.
In comparison, two solar storms observed last week were only X1.2 flares, Brekke said.
Solar flares unleash X-ray blasts and proton showers that have the ability to affect satellite communications and Earth-based electrical systems within minutes.
One X-class burst in March 1989, for example, knocked out power for millions of people in Canada.
Flares are also often associated with coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, eruptions from the sun that, if headed our way, usually reach our planet in two to four days.
The high-energy solar winds produced by a CME can generate geomagnetic storms when they interact with Earth's magnetic field -- often increasing displays of the northern and southern lights.
As this CME is aimed directly toward Earth, it is possible that the geomagnetic activity will be strong enough to disrupt satellite communications or power grids. In recent years, however, satellite and utility operators have devised safeguards that usually prevent or minimize damage from solar storms.
Space weather forecasters expect this particularly fast-moving cloud to arrive Wednesday or Thursday.
Researchers classify solar flares using three categories: C for weak, M for Moderate and X for strong. The largest flare on record, one of two known X20s, occurred on April 2, 2001.
"However, [that] one did not eject an Earth-directed CME as the one today did," Brekke said.
Space weather forecasters say this spate of strong solar flares unusual because it is not following normal patterns of solar behavior. The sun follows an 11-year cycle of activity, with the last peak being around 2000.
The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory satellite
spies the third most powerful solar flare on record,
the bright blip near the sun's middle, on October 28.
MIKE
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Sdust
Joined: 16 Oct 2003 Posts: 31
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RonOnGuitar
Joined: 08 Jan 2003 Posts: 1916
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Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2003 11:58 pm Post subject: Re: Sun erupts in biggest storm in years |
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There's an animated photo-gif from NASA of the eruption and more info at this link:
SpaceWeather.Com
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Netjams
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bbchris Princess Of Hongkong
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MIKE BURN Generally Crazy Guy
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MIKE BURN Generally Crazy Guy
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MIKE BURN Generally Crazy Guy
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Seismic Anamoly
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bbchris Princess Of Hongkong
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