It’s getting to be that time again, solar flares

[91cavgt]

I read last week that a CME was detected that was so strong it put a crack in the sun. what do you make of that?

That doesn’t make much sense to me. There was a CME that hit earth last week but it wasn’t a strong one.

[91cavgt]

Great post!

One clarification. All solar flares emit radiation, mostly X-rays, which , if earth directed, reach earth at the speed of light. This radiation can cause radio blackout including GPS if strong enough and especially at northern latitudes. It also can damage satellites and expose astronauts plus high altitude planes to unhealthy levels of radiation. CMEs can follow flare eruptions and are composed of particles such as protons, electrons and neutrons. CMEs travel at the speed of the solar wind and take 2-3 days to reach earth. Of the two, CMEs have more potential to cause electrical problems and do make radio communication noisy but do not cause blackouts. Both radiation and CMEs, even mild ones, cause aurora (the northern lights). Canada and further north have enjoyed some fantastic light shows lately.

You explain it a lot better than I can!

It is my understanding that CMEs can also produce electrical currents here, but due to the atmosphere, the initial blast primarily effects high altitude devices like satellites and planes, correct?

[Etxbuckman]

So is this why cell phones and internet service seems to have been issues lately? Figured it was something to do with old devices trying to work with 5G infrastructure.

[91cavgt]

So is this why cell phones and internet service seems to have been issues lately? Figured it was something to do with old devices trying to work with 5G infrastructure.

Personally, I think it is more of a 5G problem then anything. Both my phone(IPhone 8) and my wife’s phone(iPhone 13) have been having problems since the implementation of 5G regardless of solar activity.

[Texas Grown]

I read last week that a CME was detected that was so strong it put a crack in the sun. what do you make of that?

Don't worry Billy! I'll weld up that crack.

[treestand]

You explain it a lot better than I can!

It is my understanding that CMEs can also produce electrical currents here, but due to the atmosphere, the initial blast primarily effects high altitude devices like satellites and planes, correct?

The atmosphere does protect us from much of the radiation. The magnetosphere protects us from the charged particles of a CME until it becomes overwhelmed by a big one. Both affect satellites and high altitude planes more than anything on the ground. BTW, Elon Musk lost a bunch of satellites to a solar storm about a month ago.


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[91cavgt]

Yet another X class solar flare occurred today. This time it was stronger than the last one at X2.2, but luckily it too was not aimed at us.


Activity is really picking up quick in this solar cycle!!!

[Johnny Dangerr]

Yet another X class solar flare occurred today. This time it was stronger than the last one at X2.2, but luckily it too was not aimed at us.


Activity is really picking up quick in this solar cycle!!!

Yes it hit Asian and Australia

[Johnny Dangerr]

Yet another X class solar flare occurred today. This time it was stronger than the last one at X2.2, but luckily it too was not aimed at us.


Activity is really picking up quick in this solar cycle!!!

Yes it hit Asian and Australia

[91cavgt]

Well, we got VERY lucky. On September 5th, a massive solar flare occurred. Luckily for us, it was on the far side of the sun. Instrumentation that measures a solar flares strength is not on the far side of the sun, but other instrumentation is. Based on the readings the instrumentation measured, this flare was right up there, or higher than any other flare we have seen over the last 2 solar cycles. In 2012 there was an X25 flare that barely missed us, so this one was probably as strong if not stronger.


In short, this one would have knocked out power for a while over a big area, but not over all of the planet.

https://www.newsweek.com/cme-september-5-eruption-venus-sunspot-1740631

[ctom87]

I think I have alien abductions figured out, guys.

Edit. Actually perhaps this is a legit question. In my lifetime am I more likely to be personally affected by a solar flare or be abducted by aliens?

[91cavgt]

I think I have alien abductions figured out, guys.

Edit. Actually perhaps this is a legit question. In my lifetime am I more likely to be personally affected by a solar flare or be abducted by aliens?

Odds are you have already experienced the effects of a solar flare but just didn’t know. Just like hurricanes, solar flares come in different strengths. The moderate ones will cause problems with satellites, like the satellite radio that comes in most vehicles nowadays. Strong solar flares can knock out power like what happened in 1989. Really strong solar flares don’t happen very often, but they have happened several times in recorded history. If one of those were to hit us then we could see electricity getting knocked out for weeks to months over a pretty big area.

[ctom87]

Wow thats pretty neat. What happened in 1989?

[91cavgt]

On March 13, 1989 the entire province of Quebec, Canada suffered an electrical power blackout. Hundreds of blackouts occur in some part of North America every year. The Quebec Blackout was different, because this one was caused by a solar storm!

https://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/sun_darkness.html

Power generation dropped offline in New England too, but no blackouts occurred there because we were able to send power in from other parts of the country. Quebec was without power for 12 hours. There were actually 2 solar flares that caused this problem. First an M7.3 and then an X4.5. The first flare cleared the way so when the second flare occurred, it had an unimpeded path all the way to earth.

[91cavgt]

Activity on the sun has been interesting today, to say the least. There have been 2 strong M class solar flares, and an x1 solar flare just occurred too. The source of 2 of the 3 step by flares we have had today is a new sun spot that is over 130,000 km wide!! It is the largest sun spot we have seen in many years. As of right now, it doesn’t look like we will see any major problems from these flares, but if things change or if stronger flares happen then I’ll update this thread.