The Sun is just past its low-point in an 11-year cycle of activity. Could be the reason that we'll have a high of 38 here in Atlanta on Friday, but I blame Bush!
But big eruptions can happen anytime.
One just did.
A major X-9 flare erupted this morning. It emanated from a large sunspot, numbered 929, which is just coming into view around the eastern limb of the Sun.
You mean to tell me we can track individual sunspots, number them, and give a specific time of "liftoff" of flares, but we can't track every
The flare lifted off the Sun at 5:35 a.m. ET. It was directed away from Earth. Thanks, Halliburton!
But this sunspot will rotate toward the center of the Sun over the next few days and could offer up more major blasts that could take direct aim at our planet, forecasters say.
Darn it all to heck! If only President Bush would've signed Kyoto! Would someone get Halliburton: Solar Flare Division on the phone?
Flares of this magnitude (X-class flares are all major) can damage satellites and disrupt telecommunications on Earth. They can also threaten astronauts in space.
Incoming!
NASA sometimes
sometimes?
orders astronauts aboard the International Space Station to retreat to the most well-protected part of the orbiting outpost to avoid excess radiation exposure. Spacewalks are avoided during solar storms.
Master of the obvious graphic, please.
NASA plans to launch the Space Shuttle Discovery toward the International Space Station on Thursday (the bright glare of the rocket will be visible from much of the eastern United States).
NASA must be using AlBore's "timing" calendar.
Sunspots are dark regions of the Sun where intense magnetic activity caps the upwelling of material from below. Sometimes a cap blows, and a visible flare results. The flares are loaded with X-rays and other radiation, all of which reaches Earth moments after the eruption. Many are accompanied by clouds of electrified gas called coronal mass ejections,
(wonder if .com has a pic in his stash for that term?)
which can slam Earth a day or so later.
But, don't forget it's Bush's fault the earth is undergoing
Earth is somewhat shielded from solar storms,
(again, thanks Halliburton!)
but some of the radiation leaks through our protective magnetic field. Experts say space radiation is one of the biggest threats to current and future space missions, including the effort to establish a lunar based as detailed yesterday by NASA.