Comments on: Sun vomits forth giant prominence

By: Psychopomp Gecko

Psychopomp Gecko — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 22:25:35 +0000

I don’t suppose there was a family of four in an experimental shuttlecraft in the path of the flare that could gain superpowers, was there?

By: Jason Thibeault

Jason Thibeault — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 19:46:53 +0000

Was wondering if someone would mention the Battle of the Borg. Well done!

By: Skip White

Skip White — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 19:42:20 +0000

The Locutus figure on my desk thanks you for your mention of Wolf 359.

By: F

Sun, 18 Nov 2012 20:47:36 +0000

Well, see now my brain demands that there exist a primary-school orientated educational video called Our Vomiting Sun, circa 1975.

Here’s something you can add to web pages for those who don’t do “apps” and “phones”. http://www.n3kl.org/sun/status.html Plus, make your page cooler and/or freak out people. Win/win!

By: StevoR

StevoR — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 14:01:54 +0000

Cheers. Solar flares rock. Superluminous.

By: lpetrich

lpetrich — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 07:41:29 +0000

Even more, the Earth could not exist in the form that it has without the Sun. Notice that it isn’t mostly hydrogen or helium, like Jupiter or Saturn, and that it isn’t largely water, either. That comes from forming where all these volatile materials would get boiled off.

By: Lofty

Lofty — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 07:25:21 +0000

Sometime sooner or later, probably sooner, one of those prominences will be heading our way. It’ll probably knock out GPS, communications, and other satellites, and could even shut down electrical power grids. High currents in the magnetosphere can induce high currents in power lines, blowing out electric transformers and power stations. The damage to satellites and power grids could be very expensive and disruptive.

Given enough time all major transmission lines will be underground HVDC (because of renewables), transformers will be properly protected, all long distance communications will be fibre optic, and a solar flare will cause a bit of a nuisance to people still using GPS. But if the flare hit us in the next couple of decades, it would be tough.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 06:15:36 +0000

For the android:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.threeDsun&hl=en

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 05:55:36 +0000

Here is a solar prominence smaller than the one that happened but with something tossed in there for scale:

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/525037main_FAQ1-orig_full.jpg

If you have an iPad you should get 3D Sun. Here are some screen shots of it:

http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/11/17/huge-eruption-on-sun/

You can set it with alerts so if anything happens on the sun it will beep.

By: Rodney Nelson

Rodney Nelson — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 04:45:11 +0000

It’s a good damn thing this flare isn’t aimed anywhere toward us. Sure, our magnetosphere could probably shield us, but not without repercussions.

Sometime sooner or later, probably sooner, one of those prominences will be heading our way. It’ll probably knock out GPS, communications, and other satellites, and could even shut down electrical power grids. High currents in the magnetosphere can induce high currents in power lines, blowing out electric transformers and power stations. The damage to satellites and power grids could be very expensive and disruptive.