Biggest solar flare of the year knocks out radio transmissions

CNET ^ | 4/11/13 | Charles Cooper

[Kartographer]

Early this morning the sun erupted, sending billions of solar particles into space at over 600 miles per second, raising the prospect of solar radiation storms above the Earth, according to NASA. A spokesman said the resulting emissions sparked a short-lived radio communications blackout on Earth. The radio disruption has since subsided.

[Kartographer]

Old Sol is acting mean

[Rio]

2013-04-11 14:51 UTC Sun Erupts, CME En Route

NOAA Region 1719, located near center of the solar disk today, produced an R2 (Moderate) Radio Blackout, quickly followed by an S1 (Minor) Solar Radiation Storm, at 1716 UTC (3:16 a.m. EDT) today, April 11. A Coronal Mass Ejection also occurred, and given its trajectory, model runs suggest it will pass Earth, causing what forecasters now expect to be G2 (Moderate) Geomagnetic Storm activity. The Geomagnetic Storm is expected to start in the mid to latter part (UTC) of April 13. The source region is still potent and well-positioned for more geoeffective activity in the next few days. Updates will be here as conditions unfold.

http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/

[ROCKLOBSTER]

Oh!

So does this mean our “spring” weather will finally warm up? (global warming)

[Kartographer]

Between Sol and the Norks it could get warmer than you would ever wish.

[Pollster1]

Early this morning the sun erupted, sending billions of solar particles into space at over 600 miles per second, raising the prospect of solar radiation storms above the Earth, according to NASA. A spokesman said the resulting emissions sparked a short-lived radio communications blackout on Earth

Basic arithmetic: 93,000,000 miles at 600 miles per second means gives 155,000 seconds of travel time. That's 2583 minutes, or 43 hours. Either the eruption was two days ago, or it has a while to go before they can run this report about a communications blackout on earth.

[Inyo-Mono]

Thanks for spelling it out. That was my thought too: if the flare was just this morning how could it already have caused a radio blackout?

[Kartographer]

Easily answered!The solar flare simply cause a warp in the space time continuum. ;-)

[Pollster1]

Thanks for spelling it out. That was my thought too: if the flare was just this morning how could it already have caused a radio blackout?

I imagine the author is actually talking about the 186,000 miles per second electromagnetic emissions associated with the flare disrupting communications eight minutes after the eruption this morning and the 600 miles per second particles arriving late tomorrow or early the following morning. That's just a guess. It's left to the reader to infer what the illiterate journalist would have said if he understood math, science, and English well enough to present the facts coherently.

[SubMareener]

N3KL Solar Activity Monitor

Solar X-rays: Geomagnetic Field:

From n3kl.org

[The Cajun]

Wonder if the aurora is going to put on a show up north?

[mnehring]

I think the phrasing raising the prospect indicates it hasn't hit and the rest is conjecture. Good reading through the media's wordings. The skill is becoming a lost art.

[DJ MacWoW]

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[stormer]

Interesting. Here's a visible light image I took yesterday. The offending region is in the northern hemisphere just to the left of the center.

[publius911]

That was my thought too: if the flare was just this morning how could it already have caused a radio blackout?

Happens all the time... even people who really know better fail to chck this type of figure.
Missing zero. I'm guessing 6000 Mps is correct, rather than 600.

[BenLurkin]

Mr. Kotter..I'm sooooo confused!

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Kartographer.

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[concentric circles]

Spaceweather.com

STRONG SOLAR FLARE: The magnetic field of sunspot AR1719 erupted on April 11th at 0716 UT, producing an M6-class solar flare. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the explosion's extreme ultraviolet flash:

Coronagraph images from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) show a CME emerging from the blast site. The expanding cloud should hit Earth's magnetic field during the early hours of April 13th, possibly sparking geomagnetic storms and auroras.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks for the ping.

[justa-hairyape]

The solar flare simply cause a warp in the space time continuum. ;-)

Hate it when that happens. Also hate gravity too. You know we would not drop anything, if it was not for that confounded gravity.