Today's 2nd flare bigger than first?

On 30 OCT 2003 03:22:52 GMT, (Mark London) wrote:

I heard on the radio a couple of hours ago that today's flare was bigger than
the previous one, but spaceweather.com indicates it's weaker. Anyone know
what's the story with it? I assume the radio had it wrong, but I just want to
make sure.

I think that's our news media at work. Todays Flare was X11 as opposed
to the previous X18. I've heard bad reporting about both events all
day long. Today I kept hearing reports about the flare heading toward
earth and the possibility of later communications outages, nobody
seemed to realize it had arrived last night and was ongoing and
weakening today. Oh well, they usually get it wrong so why would
this be any different?

Oh well, they usually get it wrong so why would
this be any different?

More media sensationalism doing another fine job of dumbing down the general
population.

Mark
The Catman
^..^

www.geocities.com/mark_rosengarten
Owner/Coordinator of the Neko Ultraportable Solar Observatory
Fun WITH The Sun for Everyone!

On 30 Oct 2003 10:28:06 GMT, elete (Mark
Rosengarten) wrote:

Oh well, they usually get it wrong so why would
this be any different?

More media sensationalism doing another fine job of dumbing down the general
population.

Mark


Ya. Even Discovery Channels Daily Planet got something way wrong.
They did a special and indicated that Xrays with the equivalent
intensity as getting a hand or arm Xray arrived with the storm of
particles. That was what was the idea they communicated. The truth
is Xrays travel at light speed and arrived the day before, 8 minutes
after the event!

Mark Rosengarten wrote:
More media sensationalism doing another fine job of dumbing down the general
population.

Here is the press release from the Center for Astrophysics.

Mike Simmons

CfA Release No.: 03-23
For Immediate Release: Oct. 30, 2003

Contacts:
David Aguilar
617-495-7462


Christine Lafon
617-495-7463


NOTE TO EDITORS: A high-resolution image and movie will be posted online
at
http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/press/pr0323image.html

WE'RE GOING TO GET HIT AGAIN!

Cambridge, MA- Just when we thought we were through the worst of it, a
second gigantic solar flare has erupted, sending another coronal mass
ejection directly towards Earth. The X10-class flare was detected by an
orbiting GOES satellite at 3:37 p.m. EST on Wednesday, Oct. 29th and
peaked
at 3:49 p.m., according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration.

"It's like the Earth is looking right down the barrel of a giant gun
pointed
at us by the Sun...and it's taken two big shots at us," says John Kohl,
a
solar astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
(CfA) and principal investigator for the Ultraviolet Coronagraph
Spectrometer on board NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)
spacecraft.

"The Sun is really churned up. The timing of two very large X-class
flares
aimed directly at the Earth, occurring one right after another, is
unprecedented," says Kohl. " I have not seen anything like it in my
entire
career as a solar physicist. The probability of this happening is so low
that it is a statistical anomaly."

As the faster moving particles from the second eruption catch up to the
slower moving particles from the first eruption - the combined effects
cannot be predicted. Kohl states, "This second blast is moving like a
fast
freight train that very soon will plow into the back of the slower
moving
freight train in front of it just as it pulls into the station. The
station,
in this case, happens to be the planet Earth."

The two eruptions may create a combined geomagnetic storm that could
influence the Earth in a number of ways, including disrupting satellite
communications and power grids. However, precautions have already been
taken
to minimize the potential impact. For example, power companies have
reduced
the line loads to allow leeway for possible surges.

People on the ground are well protected from the ongoing geomagnetic
storm
due to the Earth's natural shielding. Pacemakers and similar devices are
not
affected. Airline travel also is safe, since the Earth's magnetosphere
and
atmosphere block the solar radiation. The web site space.com reports
that
the astronauts aboard the International Space Station are taking the
precaution of staying in the most shielded areas of the station during
these
periods of high solar activity.

A solar flare is a magnetic storm on the sun. It appears as a very
bright
spot, and blurps gas from the Sun's surface into space. Solar flares are
classified based upon their x-ray energy output at peak burst intensity.
Solar flares generally don't have much of an effect on our world.

A coronal mass ejection (CME), by contrast, can affect the Earth
dramatically. A CME is a huge eruption from the Sun that blasts a
billion
tons of highly charged particles into space at speeds greater than a
million
miles per hour. When those charged particles reach the Earth, they can
damage orbiting satellites. The particles also interact with the Earth's
magnetosphere to create spectacular auroras known as the Northern and
Southern Lights.

Solar flares and coronal mass ejections often occur together like
touchdowns
and field goals in football games. Astronomers see the X-rays from the
solar
flare first because they travel at the speed of light. Then, the
slower-moving (although still blazingly fast) high-energy protons from
the
CME reach the Earth, and that's when the fireworks begin!

"We thought we were getting through this first major solar event
relatively
untouched," muses Kohl, "but now it's turned into a cliffhanger. Part
two is
yet to come!"

Headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for
Astrophysics is a joint collaboration between the Smithsonian
Astrophysical
Observatory and the Harvard College Observatory. CfA scientists,
organized
into six research divisions, study the origin, evolution and ultimate
fate
of the universe.