Sun's String of Fury Continues as 7th Major Flare Erupts
By Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer
posted: 09 September 2005
10:33 pm ET
Updated 12:36 p.m. ET Sept. 11
An ongoing series of seven major solar flares, including two on Saturday,
could disrupt communications on Earth and generate colorful sky shows for
people at high northern latitudes for the next several days.
Already satellites have been affected. Even more serious effects are
possible this week.
The spate of activity from the Sun is being generated by a large sunspot
named 798. Sunspots are cooler and darker regions of pent-up magnetic
activity. When they unleash their energy, it's a bit like the top coming
off a shaken champagne bottle.
The sunspot is just rotating into view, so its energy has been directed
sideways and not directly at Earth. In coming days, if more major flares
erupt as forecasters expect, they'll head right at us and radio blackouts,
cell phone dropouts and other communications disruptions are more likely,
scientists said.
Solar flares send radiation to Earth in about 8 minutes. Hours later,
clouds of charged particles can engulf the planet. If the magnetic field
of a storm is oriented opposite to our planet's protective magnetic field,
gaps are created and radiation leaks to the planet's surface, potentially
threatening astronauts aboard the International Space Station, sometimes
shorting out satellites, and even causing terrestrial power grids to trip.
Solar activity is at "very high levels," according to NOAA's Space
Environment Center (SEC).
The SEC has reported that agencies have experienced problems with
fluctuations in their
electric power systems due to the severe levels of geomagnetic activity.
Spacecraft operations, high-frequency communications, and navigation
systems such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) constellation of
satellites "are also experiencing impacts due to the strong to severe
solar activity."
A severe geomagnetic storm produced aurora sightings along the northern
tier of the United States, and even as far south as Arizona. Aurora are
colorful sky lights triggered when charged particles excite molecules in
the atmosphere.
According to one eyewitness from British Columbia, Canada, the solar storm
is lighting up the sky. "It is 10 p.m. and the northern sky here is aglow,
as if there were a major league night game at the nearby school," local
resident of Cortes Island, John Sprungman, told SPACE.com. He reported no
special effects at this moment other than the bright night sky.
There have been seven major flares in recent days, including a tremendous
X-17 eruption Wednesday. An event Friday evening was an X-6. On Saturday,
an X-1 and an X-2 erupted. Even an X-1 can cause severe disruptions.
The largest flare in modern times was recorded in November 2003 and was
estimated to be an X-40. It, too, was on the limb of the Sun and so its
full impact was not felt on Earth. That flare was part of an unprecedented
series of 10 major flares within two weeks; at least one Earth-orbiting
satellite was disabled and one instrument aboard a Mars-orbiting craft was
knocked offline.
This week's series is the most impressive since then.
Each storm is different, and often solar activity goes unnoticed on Earth,
depending on whether a storm hits us square or makes a glancing blow and
what the magnetic orientation is.
If enough storms erupt, the odds go up that there will be effects here.
And the likelihood of Earth taking one directly on the chin goes up with
each passing day as the sunspot takes aim.
There is a 75 percent chance of more X-class flares each day through
Tuesday, the SEC says.
On Friday, a space radiation storm was captured in an image from the SOHO
spacecraft, which monitors the Sun. The spacecraft has since experienced a
radiation bakeout and has been unable to return its full suite of imagery.
The Sun is currently at a low point in its 11-year cycle of activity.
While sunspots and flares are less common now, astronomers say they can
pack plenty of punch when they do occur.
A movie revealing some of the flare activity through Friday is available
here.
SPACE.com's Leonard David contributed to this report.
http://space.com/scienceastronomy/050909_solar_flares.html
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| User: "" |
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| Title: Re: Sun's String of Fury Continues as 7th Major Flare Erupts |
13 Sep 2005 06:08:07 AM |
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Strange thing about the Sun, is we see it nearly everyday, and it is
something you cannot look directly at.
Though how one monitors the radiation spectrum, from day to day, is not
basically available at present, but also the news of the Sun is usually
after the fact.
That Lucky old Sun ...
LB
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