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Coronal mass ejection from monster sunspot AR 1476 due May 14

59 points by quadrahelix 14y ago

iscrewyou 14y ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_flare#Classification http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_flare#Classification
- stuff4ben 14y ago
  Until today I had no idea you could take a photograph of the Sun and actually see sunspots from Earth. I suppose I should have realized that since the size of that massive sunspot is as big as 6 Earths, it should be visible with some good equipment.
Luyt 14y ago
That site not only does science education, but its founder Deborah Byrd also replies to comments from her website visitors, with a skeptical view. The commenters generally see the End Of The World in solar flares: Comment: "I believe that a flare big enough [...] would affect the Earth’s magnetic field. [...] the magnetic field is weakening [...] flare lets get some volcanoes and earth quakes [...] infastructure collapse?" Reply: "We see too much about possible disasters that are, essentially, out of the control of people like you and me. There’s way too much fear-mongering going on in the world." Comment: "It does not concern me so much what a powerful X-Class flare may do to our technology, but more importantly what it may do to our bodies on a cellular level." Reply: "We humans evolved under the influence of solar flares, including x-flares. They have been happening for all of human history. We’ll be fine." Comment: "...wouldn’t that mean that massive solar flares will damage the ozone layer?" Reply: "The concern most people talk about is not to Earth itself – or our human bodies – but to our technology."
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
wtvanhest 14y ago
Am I doing the math right? 150,000,000 km (distance from sun to earth) 1,000 km/sec (speed this thing is traveling) 2,500 minutes (time it takes to get here) 41.67 hours 1.74 days This is a lot faster than the post said it would take.
- jap 14y ago
  Thought it would be interesting to see what Wolfram Alpha does with that input: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=150%2C000%2C000+km+at+1%2C000+km%2Fsec http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=150%2C000%2C000+km+at+1... It agrees with your math, anyway.
- lloeki 14y ago
  > 1,000 km/sec (speed this thing is traveling) it's the speed at which it got ejected. Supposition: since it's a coronal mass ejection, material is ejected. Sun produces a gravitational pull on said mass, therefore it will decelerate.
abtinf 14y ago
I'm pretty sure this is part of a PR stunt on the part of Blizzard, which is releasing Diablo 3 tomorrow. The fires of hell on raining on Earth.

59 points by quadrahelix 14y ago

iscrewyou 14y ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_flare#Classification http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_flare#Classification

stuff4ben 14y ago
Until today I had no idea you could take a photograph of the Sun and actually see sunspots from Earth. I suppose I should have realized that since the size of that massive sunspot is as big as 6 Earths, it should be visible with some good equipment.

Luyt 14y ago

That site not only does science education, but its founder Deborah Byrd also replies to comments from her website visitors, with a skeptical view. The commenters generally see the End Of The World in solar flares: Comment: "I believe that a flare big enough [...] would affect the Earth’s magnetic field. [...] the magnetic field is weakening [...] flare lets get some volcanoes and earth quakes [...] infastructure collapse?" Reply: "We see too much about possible disasters that are, essentially, out of the control of people like you and me. There’s way too much fear-mongering going on in the world." Comment: "It does not concern me so much what a powerful X-Class flare may do to our technology, but more importantly what it may do to our bodies on a cellular level." Reply: "We humans evolved under the influence of solar flares, including x-flares. They have been happening for all of human history. We’ll be fine." Comment: "...wouldn’t that mean that massive solar flares will damage the ozone layer?" Reply: "The concern most people talk about is not to Earth itself – or our human bodies – but to our technology."

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]

wtvanhest 14y ago

Am I doing the math right? 150,000,000 km (distance from sun to earth) 1,000 km/sec (speed this thing is traveling) 2,500 minutes (time it takes to get here) 41.67 hours 1.74 days This is a lot faster than the post said it would take.

jap 14y ago
Thought it would be interesting to see what Wolfram Alpha does with that input: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=150%2C000%2C000+km+at+1%2C000+km%2Fsec http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=150%2C000%2C000+km+at+1... It agrees with your math, anyway.
lloeki 14y ago
> 1,000 km/sec (speed this thing is traveling) it's the speed at which it got ejected. Supposition: since it's a coronal mass ejection, material is ejected. Sun produces a gravitational pull on said mass, therefore it will decelerate.

abtinf 14y ago

I'm pretty sure this is part of a PR stunt on the part of Blizzard, which is releasing Diablo 3 tomorrow. The fires of hell on raining on Earth.