3 ms·
How does the recent CME compare to that of the Carrington Event?
by typeofhuman 2y ago
How does the recent CME compare to that of the Carrington Event?
- keepamovin 2y agoCarrington: Dst -1000 from an X80 flare and CME May 2024 Event: Dst -250 from multiple up to X3.98 flares (and CMEs) Dst is the disturbance to Earth's magnetic field, Xs are the W/m^2 of X-rays emitted from the solar explosion (flare). It's also important to consider the size and direction of the CME (if any) associated with the flare.
- Kye 2y agoI think the number I saw was Carrington was something like 8.9 while this is 8.4, and that's a huge difference on the scale used here.
- keepamovin 2y agoK-Index is more like (as someone else smartly said) a kind of heuristic subjective measure like a "Cat 5 Hurricane" Some more illuminating measurements are: Carrington: Dst -1000 from an X80 flare and CME May 2024 Event: Dst -250 from multiple up to X3.98 flares (and CMEs)
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- input_sh 2y agoIn layman-friendly terms, the scale goes from G1 to G5. The one in 1859 was classified as G5 (extreme), and the one the other day was the very first time G4 warning has been issued. Not as in "it'll definitely be G4", but more along the lines of "it'll be G3, possibly increasing to G4 for a brief period of time". There's also a more "scientific" scale called the K-index (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-index https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-index), but I don't understand it well enough to be able to explain it.
- spdustin 2y agoOops, my reply [0] wasn't a reply. But there you go. [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40337601 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40337601
- typeofhuman 2y agoThank you!