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WASHINGTON (AFP) – A wave of charged plasma particles from a huge solar eruption has glanced off the Earth's northern pole, lighting up auroras and disrupting some radio communications, a NASA scientist said. But the Earth appears to have escaped a widespread geomagnetic storm, with the effects confined to the northern latitudes, possibly reaching down into Norway and Canada. "There can be sporadic outages based on particular small-scale events," said Dean Persnell, project scientist at NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory at Goddard Space Flight Center. He told AFP the official forecast is "for generally quiet conditions today, perhaps some minor storming...

For the second day in a row, an active region on the far side of the sun is exploding and hurling CMEs into space. Click on the image to view a movie of the latest: Today's eruption was almost as dramatic as yesterday's, and suggests that more eruptions are in the offing. These explosions are occuring almost directly beneath NASA's STEREO-B spacecraft. An onboard telescope has recorded bright flashes of extreme UV radiation and shadowy shock waves emanating from the blast site (Jan. 13th movie). The telescope has also pinpointed the source: It is located just over the sun's eastern...

Do you know what an EMP is, as in an EMP bomb? Great, then you're one of the few that does, but for the rest of us let me explain. It's an "electro-magnetic pulse" and EMP's come from a highly specialized bomb that delivers magnetic radiation that can fry electrical circuits, but does little else to humans, animals or buildings. An EMP is a common occurence in nature. When it happens we call it a CME event or a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME's come from our sun - see photo on left). Just think of it as a solar storm...

EARTH-DIRECTED ERUPTION: Active sunspot 1123 erupted during the early hours of Nov. 12th, producing a C4-class solar flare and apparently hurling a filament of material in the general direction of Earth. Click on the image to play a three and a half hour (0000 - 0330 UT) time lapse movie of the event: Coronagraph images from NASA's twin STEREO spacecraft show a coronal mass ejection (CME) emerging from the blast site and heading off in a direction just south of the sun-Earth line. The cloud could deliver a glancing blow to Earth's magnetic field sometime on Nov. 14th or 15th,...

Oct. 26, 2010: Every hundred years or so, a solar storm comes along so potent it fills the skies of Earth with blood-red auroras, makes compass needles point in the wrong direction, and sends electric currents coursing through the planet's topsoil. The most famous such storm, the Carrington Event of 1859, actually shocked telegraph operators and set some of their offices on fire. A 2008 report by the National Academy of Sciences warns that if such a storm occurred today, we could experience widespread power blackouts with permanent damage to many key transformers. What's a utility operator to do? The...

On Sunday, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory detected a complex magnetic eruption on the sun. The NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) also spotted a large coronal mass ejection (CME) The eruption happened around (3:50 am EST), the SDO detected a C3 class solar flare originating from a group of sunspots (called sunspot 1092). The flare itself was not that large, but the filament located about 70,000 miles away erupted at the same time. A filament is a large, bright feature extending outward from the Sun's surface, often in a loop shape. Filament is anchored to the Sun's surface in the...

Federal investigators probing the “flash crash” that briefly sliced nearly 1,000 points off the Dow Thursday are zeroing in on a series of “unusually high-volume” trades in S&P futures that originated in Chicago, a government official told POLITICO. Those trades set off a chain reaction of trades that caused the biggest drop within a single day in the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s storied history.

One of the biggest prominences in years erupted from the sun's northwestern limb yesterday. The massive plasma-filled structure rose up and burst during a ~2 hour period around 0900 UT on April 13th. Observers in Europe had a great view: Updated: The eruption hurled a bright coronal mass ejection (CME, movie) into space. The expanding cloud could deliver a glancing blow to Earth's magnetic field around April 15th. NOAA forecasters estimate a 35% chance of polar geomagnetic activity when the CME arrives.

Decaying sunspot 1060 delivered a parting shot on April 8th. The active region's magnetic field erupted, sparking a B3-class solar flare and hurling a faint coronal mass ejection (CME) almost directly toward Earth. Geomagnetic disturbances are possible when the cloud arrives on April 11th or 12th. [UPDATED: aurora gallery] SUNGRAZING COMET: Today, the sun had a comet for breakfast. The icy visitor from the outer solar system appeared with no warning on April 9th and plunged into the sun during the early hours of April 10th. One comet went in, none came out. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) had...

In the middle of a blog item about credit default swaps, Felix Salmon of Reuters drops the following nugget about Sen. Chris Dodd and the CME Group, which owns the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the New York Mercantile Exchange. "Dodd’s wife, Jackie Clegg, is a director of the CME, which paid her $153,219 in 2009; she also owns shares in the company worth about $235,000. (The CME makes no mention of her husband on its website or in its SEC filings, despite the fact that he’s surely a big part of the reason why she has the position.)" Why is...

There are not many websites which literally give you the chance to protect the world. Yet, if you are keen on spending a few moments of your day defending the Earth from an imminent solar attack, the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London would like to hear from you. Its Solar Stormwatch website highlights the danger of radiation bursts from the Sun - and gives users the chance to help scientists spot Sun storms - known as coronal mass ejections - before they cause damage on Earth.

SPECTACULAR ERUPTION: "A spectacular eruption is underway on the sun. SOHO is tracking a bright CME [coronal mass ejection] billowing upward from the vicinity of the sun's north pole: movie. Imagery from NASA's STEREO spacecraft show that this is a farside eruption, tilted away from Earth. Stay tuned for updates."

While on the board of a Chicago-based charity, Barack Obama helped fund a carbon trading exchange that will likely play a critical role in the cap-and-trade carbon reduction program he is now trying to push through Congress as president. In 2000 and 2001, while Barack Obama served as a board member for a Chicago-based charitable foundation, he helped to fund a pioneering carbon trading exchange that is likely to fill a critical role in the controversial cap-and-trade carbon reduction scheme that President Obama is now trying to push rapidly through Congress. During those two years, the Joyce Foundation gave nearly...

Allen Lewis emails: This was brought to my attention today. Now you don't even have to have USD (or EUR or JPY or any other fiat currency) for collateral. It will be interesting to see how many CME member firms take advantage of this, and if the idea spreads to other exchanges: NEW YORK, Oct 19 (Reuters) - CME Group Inc , the world's top derivatives exchange operator, began accepting physical gold as collateral for all trading products, marking the first time an exchange has allowed gold bullion to be used for margin requirements. CME's latest move underscored the rising...

Natural fluctuations in the sun's atmosphere could cause it to fire a giant plasma ball at Earth, shutting down the planet's electric grids and leading to widespread social collapse, according to a report from the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS). Funded by NASA, the report draws attention to naturally occurring events known as coronal mass ejections (CME), in which a ball of plasma -- the charged, high-energy particles that comprise stars -- is fired from the sun. If such a ball strikes the Earth, it could produce rapid changes in the planet's magnetic field, leading to a surge of...

ASTRONOMERS are claiming that Earth is witnessing the biggest and most powerful Sunspot ever seen and the sunspot is yet to peak in intensity. A sunspot is a magnetic storm on the surface of the sun and the area of the spot is colder than the normal surface. The normal surface is about 5000 degrees, the temperature of a sunspot is about 3000 degrees. The size of a sunspot varies, ranging from the size of the moon to 65 times larger than the size of earth and lasts for about a month then fades away. This newest sunspot is thought...

Over the period of several hours SOHO observed a large bubble-like coronal mass ejection (CME) blast from the far side of the Sun and out into space to the right (Dec. 8-9, 2008). The particle cloud will have no effect on Earth. Even within the rather narrow field of view of this C2 coronagraph, the bubble expands to the size of the sun. CMEs often appear bulbous in shape, but this might be likened to an expanding smoke ring. The sun is still near its lowest levels of activity in the solar cycle, but starting to break out of its...

Christian Methodist Episcopal Bishop Kenneth Wayne Carter has been suspended by the church until his criminal case is resolved. Carter, 51, was indicted by a Tarrant County grand jury last month on sexual assault charges involving a 46-year-old Dallas County man. The man was applying for a job as the bishop’s driver and says he was assaulted at Carter’s home in Arlington. Carter was released on $10,000 bail last week. The CME’s College of Bishops made the decision to suspend Carter with pay during a special meeting last week. Under the suspension, Carter is barred from performing sacramental duties. Although...

Chicago CME exchange, NYMEX in merger talks Mon Jan 28, 3:02 PM ET CME Group, Inc. and NYMEX Holdings, Inc. said Monday they were conducting initial merger talks which could result in the Chicago-based exchange taking over the New York commodities bourse. The two companies described their merger talks as "preliminary" in a joint statement, saying they had agreed to a 30-day exclusive negotiating session. Under the terms being discussed, NYMEX shareholders would potentially receive 36 dollars in cash and 0.1323 of a share of CME Group's common stock in exchange for each NYMEX share. CME said it expects to...

Updated: 06:15 UTC on 13 December 2006 Solar Terrestrial Dispatch www.spacew.com VALID BEGINNING AT: 00:00 UTC ON 14 DECEMBER VALID UNTIL: 23:00 UTC (5 pm EDT) ON 15 DECEMBER HIGH RISK PERIOD: 14 DECEMBER (UTC DAYS) MODERATE RISK PERIOD: 14 - 15 DECEMBER PREDICTED ACTIVITY INDICES: 15, 70, 30, 15 (13 - 16 DECEMBER) POTENTIAL MAGNITUDE OF MIDDLE LATITUDE AURORAL ACTIVITY: HIGH POTENTIAL DURATION OF THIS ACTIVITY: MAIN BELT = 12 HOURS MINOR BELT = 12-24 HOURS ESTIMATED OPTIMUM OBSERVING CONDITIONS: NEAR AND AFTER LOCAL MIDNIGHT EXPECTED LUNAR INTERFERENCE: MODERATE AFTER LOCAL MIDNIGHT OVERALL OPPORTUNITY FOR OBSERVATIONS FROM MIDDLE LATITUDES:...