Here comes the sun!
Yesterday, our sun ejecting an enormous coronal mass, in a solar flare with an X-ray magnitude of X6.9 on the GOES Scale. Luckily for us, it was on the "dark" side of the sun, so is not coming in our direction. (snark alert - the other side is not darker than "our side." This is just a little solar astronomical humor to "brighten" you day.)
This is the largest solar flare we've seen in five years. Our sun has entered a period of increased solar flare activity, and these eruptions are expected to be higher than normal over the next five years.
Clara Moskowitz, Senior Writer at Space.Com publishes this illuminating article in the Christian Science Moniter, descriping the largest solar flare in five years, ejected from the sun, August 9, 2011. New Solar Flare Is Largest In Years.
This video is not as spectacular as I had hoped, because of the position of the camera. You have to squint a little, and maybe watch if a few times before you see a little poof, in the lower right hand screen. The rest of the normal sun is so magnificient, it is well worth the few seconds it takes to look.
"This image was was captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) in extreme ultraviolet light at 131 Angstroms. Photo credit: NASA/AP"
Today's solar flare began at 3:48 a.m. EDT (0748 GMT), and was rated a class X6.9 on the three-class scale scientists use to measure the strength of solar flares. The strongest type of solar eruption is class X, while class C represents the weakest and class M flares are medium-strength events.
The flare is the largest one yet in the sun's current cycle, which began in 2008 and is expected to last until around 2020. Solar activity waxes and wanes over an 11-year sun weather cycle, with the star currently heading toward a solar maximum in 2013.
"This flare had a GOES X-ray magnitude of X6.9, meaning it was more than 3 times larger than the previous largest flare of this solar cycle - the X2.2 that occurred on Feb 15, 2011," scientists with NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, a space observatory that monitors the sun, wrote in an update.
While all X-class solar eruptions are major events, they pose the greatest threat to Earth when they are aimed directly at the planet. During those events the sun often releases a cloud of plasma called a coronal mass ejection into space, and sometimes toward Earth. This ejection hurls charged particles that can damage satellites, endanger astronauts in orbit, and interfere with power systems, communications and other infrastructure on the planet.
Moskowitz tells us that solar flares are caused by an entanglement of magnetic field lines that apparently concentrate solar mass causing it to heat up and explode, ejecting a cloud of charged solar particles.
If these particles are ejected directly towards the earth, they can disrupt communications, and damage satellites.
And, provide us with spectacular displays of Northern and Solar lights.
Solar flares occur when magnetic field lines on the sun get tangled up into knots, building potential energy until they reach a tipping point. Then, that energy is converted into heat, light and the motion of charged particles.
I recommend Clara Moskowitz's illuminating article. She sheds new light on the science behind Northern and Southern lights, and will brighten up your day, leaving you in a sunny disposition.
Keep your sunny side up.
9:41 AM PT: Ever since the Front Pagers and Big Wigs, have come back to the recent rec list, my recs and comments have dropped off by 75% or more. So I figure I'm going to plug my diares every way I can.
And, appeal to the masses for support for third tier authors like myself, who put in great effort to our post, for sometimes as little as just a couple recs, or comments.
Bloggers of the world unite. And, rec these diaries, even if you don't read them for "solarity." :-)
Sun Ejects Most Powerful Solar Flare In Five Years, See Video
Here comes the sun!
Yesterday, our sun ejecting an enormous coronal mass, in a solar flare with an X-ray magnitude of X6.9 on the GOES Scale. Luckily for us, it was on the "dark" side of the sun, ...
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HoundDog |
08/10/2011 |
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Asian Markets Follow US Rebound After Federal Reserve Promises Low Interest Rates For Two Years
Asian stock markets are rebounding Wednesday morning following a 4.3% rebound of the Dow Jones Industrial Average in the US, Tuesday. US stocks opened higher and after the Federal Reserve promised ...
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HoundDog |
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Dow Closes Up 3.98%, S&P 500 Up 4.75%, As Federal Reserve Promises Low Interest Rates For Two Years
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Japan Hid Radiation Data Causing Citizens Unnecessary Exposure Mayor Baba Says Is 'Akin To Murder'
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Asian Markets Open Sharply Off, Then Rebound, On Bargain Hunting and S&P Reassurances, QE, US Up
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HoundDog |
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US Markets Down ~ 4% After DAX Closes Off 5%, Obama Will Speak About Downgrade, and Afghan Attack
"I believe this is, without question, the tea party downgrade." -- Sen. John F. Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat, said on NBC's "Meet the Press." (Associated Press)
Update: ...
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HoundDog |
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Asian Markets Down 1.7% to 5.9% by Midnight EST. Alan Greenspan Predicts Longer-Term Turmoil
Alan GreenSpan expects more market turmoil to come, reports Alan Zibel of the Wall ...
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Tottenham, UK Burns In Riot Over Controversial Police Shooting That Looks Like Middle East War Zone
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31 US and 7 Afghan Special Forces Soldiers Killed in Taliban Attack on Helicopter in Afghanistan
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BrightSource Announces a 500 Megawatt Power Tower Solar Plant To Be Built in Mojave Desert
The solar industry continues to report good news. Recently, we've reported major cost reductions in solar panels on residential rooftops. Today, Todd Woddy reports, in Forbes, ...
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'We Need a Jobs Bill To Overcome the Republican Double Dip Recession,' Says Robert Reich
Robert Reich, starts his essay, The Republicans' Double-Dip, and What Must Be Done,
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HoundDog |
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Paul Krugman Warns We Are Worrying About the Wrong Things, We Need More Jobs and Economic Stimulus
Paul Krugman's August 4, 2012 column, The Wrong Worries, warns us that the dominant political ...
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HoundDog |
08/05/2011 |
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FEI Announces Prize Winning Electron Microscope Photos
FEI announces that Martina Dienstleder has won the grand prize in the 2011 FEI Owner Image Contest for her entry "Microcanyon,"
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HoundDog |
08/03/2011 |
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