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The Crab Nebula has shocked astronomers by emitting an unprecedented blast of gamma rays, the highest-energy light in the Universe. The cause of the 12 April gamma-ray flare, described at the Third Fermi Symposium in Rome, is a total mystery. It seems to have come from a small area of the famous nebula, which is the wreckage from an exploded star. The object has long been considered a steady source of light, but the Fermi telescope hints at greater activity. The gamma-ray emission lasted for some six days, hitting levels 30 times higher than normal and varying at times from...

One Raptor, one flare, high above the Gulf of Mexico, U.S. of A. Via http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-200905.htm (medium, large, huge) The Photographer Staff Sgt. James L. Harper Jr., United States Air Force  

"Suspicious Item at Palo Verde Proves to Be a Smoke Flare Plant Security, Law Enforcement Agencies Respond with Coordination and Effectiveness" SNIPPET: "PHOENIX, Oct 13, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Law enforcement officials have determined that a suspicious item found early this morning by security forces at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station is a non-explosive device that never posed a threat to plant operations or employees. The item, four to six inches long with a fuse, was a commercially produced smoke flare, according to officials at the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office who responded to the incident and later disposed of...

The eruption hurled a coronal mass ejection (CME) into space, just missing a direct sun-Earth line. Forecasters expect the cloud to deliver no more than a glancing blow to our planet's magnetic field when it billows by on August 9th or 10th--not be a major space weather event. Future eruptions could turn out differently. Active region 1093 is rotating toward Earth. By the end of this weekend, we'll be in the line of fire if its magnetic fields become unstable again. Space Weather Phone subscribers will be the first to know.

Severe Geomagnetic Storm Expected From Tuesday's Solar Flare Wednesday, December 13, 2006 By Robert Roy Britt Space weather forecasters revised their predictions for storminess Wednesday after a major flare erupted on the Sun overnight, threatening damage to communication systems and power grids while offering up the wonder of the Northern Lights. "We're looking for very strong, severe geomagnetic storming" to begin probably around mid-day Thursday, Joe Kunches, lead forecaster at the NOAA Space Environment Center, told SPACE.com. The storm is expected to generate aurora or Northern Lights as far south as the northern United States Thursday night. Astronauts aboard the...

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:...

Photo #1. Somewhere on planet Earth a USAF C-141B Starlifter Cargo and Troop Transport lights up the sky with a spectacular and awesome flare release. USAF Image ID: 021205-O-9999G-017. PhotographerSenior Airman Greg Davis, United States Air Force Courtesieshttp://www.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/photos/021205-O-9999G-017.jpghttp://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-20060914.htm (photo as sized above, ALT text, caption info) Photo #2. Italy, August 28, 2006: A Member of Explosive Ordnance Mobile Unit Eight (EODMU-8) practices static line parachute proficiency operations with combat equipment on board Naval Air Station (NAS) Sigonella, Italy. USN Image ID: 060828-N-3572Z-025. PhotographerMass Communication Specialist Seaman Chad Zenthoefer, United States Navy Courtesieshttp://www.news.navy.mil/view_single.asp?id=38550 (caption)http://www.news.navy.mil/management/photodb/photos/060828-N-3572Z-025.jpghttp://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-20060905.htm (picture as sized above, ALT text)...

Pilot Reports 'Missile' Fired at Jetliner Near LAX (11/28/05) FBI agents and Homeland Security officials spent the weekend investigating the report of a possible missile fired at an American Airlines plane taking off from Los Angeles International Airport. Sources tell ABC News the pilot of American Airlines Flight 621, en route to Chicago, radioed air traffic controllers after takeoff from LAX. He told them a missile had been fired at the aircraft and missed. The plane was over water when the pilot said he saw a smoke trail pass by the cockpit. FBI agents believe it was a flare or...

A very strong class X17.1 solar flare exploded on the Sun at 17:40 UTC (1:40 pm EDT). This is a significant event. Very few solar flares ever reach the X-class rating, and far fewer ever exceed an X10 level. Only a few solar flares each solar cycle (a 10-year period) exceed an X10 rating. An X17 solar flare is 17 times more intense in x-rays than a class X1.0 (which is, by itself, a very energetic event). This particular event was strong enough to saturate one of the x-ray sensors on the GOES spacecraft and very nearly saturated both sensors....

Earlier this month the Sun was as quiet as can be and free of the dark sunspots that generate eruptions of magnetic energy and hot gas. Now the solar surface is dotted with brooding blotches, and overnight a major flare erupted. The strong eruption, labeled an X2, involved an intense flash of radiation late Wednesday evening (East Coast time). All X-flares are considered major, and the associated number denotes just how strong they are. Major flares sometimes also hurl clouds of hot gas into space. These coronal mass ejections (CMEs) can threaten Earth-orbiting satellites and surface power grids, and also...

“In 1990 they found that the Earth goes through abrupt temperature changes from deep ice samples in Greenland of about 10,000 years ago the Earth’s temperature dropped 19 degrees” (research found by weather channel) taking 5-10 years (weather channel) but from analytical data, I intend to show this could take for the most part one year (Robert T Bailey) and more shocking a large part of the temperature change will happen this year! The End of the World as we known it is coming; an ice Age will change the face of the Earth. We have a crisis here. In...

A solar flare last Nov. 4 was at the time said to be at least X28 on a scale of intensity. That made it the strongest in modern times. And astronomers said at the time that it might have been stronger, but it saturated instruments on satellites used for analyzing the Sun's storms. Solar flares are intense outburst of solar radiation that include X-rays and are often accompanied by ejections of charged material in giant clouds. Now researchers at the University of Otago in New Zealand say the flare was an X45. (All X-flares are major, and the larger the...

Haitian unrest spreads as clashes flare in capital By Marcus Warren in Port-au-Prince (Filed: 16/02/2004) Violence erupted on the streets of Port-au-Prince yesterday as the Haitian opposition staged its first protest rally in the capital since rebels seized the northern port of Gonaives 11 days ago. Thousands of protesters opposing President Jean-Bertrand Aristide swept towards the city centre, chanting: "He must go! He must go!"A young Haitian rides a bicycle past a burning barricade Counter-demonstrators threw stones at the protesters and a woman was nearly lynched in revenge for the attack. The demonstrations were broken up when police fired live...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 November 6 Flare Well AR 10486Credit: SOHO - EIT Consortium, ESA, NASA Explanation: Almost out of view from our fair planet, rotating around the Sun's western edge, giant sunspot region AR 10486 lashed out with another intense solar flare followed by a large coronal mass ejection (CME) on Tuesday, November 4th at about 1950 Universal Time. The flare itself is seen here at the lower right in...

The X18+ solar flare has been associated with a high velocity FULL HALO coronal mass ejection. There IS an Earthward directed component. Estimated plane of sky velocity for this event is 2381 km/sec, although it is probable the true velocity is above 2400 km/sec because there is some evidence for acceleration of the CME. True x-ray intensity is unknown, but is probably near the X30 x-ray level (possibly between X30 and X40). VERY impressive event! Definitely one for the record books. We have no idea yet when this one might impact the Earth or how strong the impact might be....

For those of you who missed last nights aurora show, you may have another chance!

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 October 29 A Powerful Solar Flare Credit: SOHO Consortium, LASCO, ESA, NASA Explanation: Yesterday, our Sun produced one of the most powerful solar flares in recorded history. Seen across the electromagnetic spectrum, the Sun briefly became over 100 times brighter in X-rays than normal. Over the next few days, as energetic particles emitted from these regions strike the Earth, satellite communications might be affected and auroras might...

Event #49 - 28 October 2003 Issued: 16:30 UTC, 28 October 2003 SOURCE EVENT Class X17.2 Flare in Region 486 at 11:10 UTC on 28 October 2003 Type II: 1250 km/sec Estimated LASCO-derived Plane of Sky Velocity: 2125 km/sec ESTIMATED TIME OF ARRIVAL OF SHOCK AT EARTH Estimated Impact Window: 00:00 UTC on 29 October to 21:00 UTC on 29 October Preferred Predicted Impact Time: 08:00 UTC, 29 October 2003 (3 am EST on 29 October) Estimated Shock Strength (0=Weakest, 9=Strongest): 9 Predicted Behavior of IMF at Shock Impact At Shock Impact, the Interplanetary Magnetic Field is predicted to initially...

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ MIDDLE LATITUDE AURORAL ACTIVITY WATCH WATCH UPDATED: 17:00 UTC, 27 OCTOBER 2003 /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ ** UPDATED TO INCLUDE NEW PREDICTIVE INFORMATION ** VALID BEGINNING AT: 19:00 UTC ON 27 OCTOBER VALID UNTIL: 23:00 UTC (7 pm EDT) ON 29 OCTOBER HIGH RISK PERIOD: 28 OCTOBER (UTC DAYS) MODERATE RISK PERIOD: 27 - 29 OCTOBER PREDICTED ACTIVITY INDICES: 20, 50, 30, 25 (27 OCTOBER - 30 OCTOBER) POTENTIAL MAGNITUDE OF MIDDLE LATITUDE AURORAL ACTIVITY: MODERATE TO HIGH POTENTIAL DURATION OF THIS ACTIVITY: MAIN BELT = 18 TO 24 HOURS MINOR BELT = 24 TO 36 HOURS ESTIMATED OPTIMUM OBSERVING CONDITIONS: NEAR...

SOLAR EXPLOSIONS: Solar activity is high. An intense X5-class solar flare erupted today (Oct. 23rd at 8:35 UT) from sunspot 486 near the sun's southeastern limb. The explosion hurled a coronal mass ejection (CME) into space. See the movie. Although the CME was not Earth-directed, it could deliver a glancing blow to our planet's magnetic field as early as Oct 24th (although the 25th is more likely). Sunspotcycle.com Another CME was already en route when this morning's explosion occured. Pictured right, it was launched on Oct 22nd by an explosion near sunspot 484. Forecasters expect it to arrive on Oct....