Latest Solar flare Stories
TRUCKEE, Calif., Jan. 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Solar flares are all over the news as we head towards the next "solar maximum" in 2012/2013. With recent brilliant displays of northern lights, scientists are concerned that this next solar maximum could deal a devastating blow to our electronic power grid and communications systems. Periods of intense solar activity occur once every eleven years when our sun's magnetic poles flip and the sun sends powerful waves of charged particles...
The geographical sciences website EurekaMag.com publishes insights into specific subjects of all areas of geographical science. The latest review covers Aurora borealis which are the Northern Lights caused by radiation emitted as light from atoms in the upper atmosphere as they are hit by fast-moving electrons and protons. Two other newly published reviews cover Solar Flare which is a large energy release at the sun's surface, and Solar Storm which is a massive burst of solar wind...
Improved Forecasting to Coincide with Peak in Solar Activity After years of relative somnolence, the sun is beginning to stir. By the time it's fully awake in about 20 months, the team at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., charged with researching and tracking solar activity, will have at their dispoal a greatly enhanced forecasting capability. Goddard's Space Weather Laboratory recently received support under NASA's Space Technology Program Game Changing Program to...
[ Watch the Video ] A solar flare from Sunday collided with Earth on Tuesday, becoming the largest solar radiation storm since October 2003. NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center has categorized the storm as "strong," or an S3, storm. These storms can affect satellite operations and short wave radio propagation, but do not cause any harm to humans on Earth. Some polar flights, including a dozen Delta Air Lines planes, were re-routed to avoid communications lapses and exposing...
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency's (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) issued a geomagnetic storm watch as experts predicted that the biggest solar storm since 2005 is expected to hit Earth Tuesday morning, various media outlets are reporting. According to Fox News reports, at approximately 11pm Eastern time on Sunday night, the sun released an "immense blast of plasma" that has caused authorities to redirect the flight plans of certain high-altitude aircraft. In...
LONDON, Jan. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- In 2011, Zaggora launched Hotpants to the world with huge success - selling over 275,000 pairs within the first five months. The concept is focused on harnessing body heat which stimulates calorie burning and helps to reduce cellulite. The success saw an explosion in Facebook fans from 0 to 80,000 in just a couple of months in 2011. Eagerly anticipated by women all over the world, Zaggora has now expanded its range of technology-advanced active...
The Bio Website EurekaMag.com publishes insights into all areas of biological science. The latest insights cover Drosophila which are small flies which have been been heavily used in research in genetics as a model organism genetics, cell-biology, biochemistry, and developmental biology, and Solar Flare which is a large energy release at the sun's surface. The insight into Killer Whale covers this toothed predatory whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family. Mannheim, Germany...
Scientists have warned of a major solar storm hitting the Earth that could possibly knock out radio signals. Experts expect radio blackouts for a few days after the radiation from the coronal mass ejection (CME) hits our planet. The flare is part of a larger increase in activity in the Sun, which is expected to peak around 2013. "Category G1 (Minor) geomagnetic storms are expected 28 and 29 December due to multiple coronal mass ejection arrivals," the National Oceanic and Atmospheric...
[ Watch the Video ] Given a legitimate need to protect Earth from the most intense forms of space weather – great bursts of electromagnetic energy and particles that can sometimes stream from the sun – some people worry that a gigantic "killer solar flare" could hurl enough energy to destroy Earth. Citing the accurate fact that solar activity is currently ramping up in its standard 11-year cycle, there are those who believe that 2012 could be coincident with such a flare. But this...
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) spotted one of the largest new sunspots to have appeared on the surface of the sun in years. The area is nearly 25,000 miles wide, which is over three times larger than the Earth. NASA said the region has already experienced about eight solar flares, including an M-class flare on November 2. The space agency also said that X-class flares are possible, which includes the largest possible solar flares. The sun shot off a flare from this region...
Latest Solar flare Reference Libraries
Photosphere -- The photosphere of an astronomical object is the region at which the optical depth becomes one. In other words, the photosphere is the place where an object stops being transparent. It is typically used to describe the Sun or another star. Because stars are large balls of gas, they have no solid surface. However, there is a depth at which the gas stops being transparent to photons, and this depth provides a visual surface to the star. The Sun's photosphere has a...
Corona -- The corona is the luminous "atmosphere" of the Sun extending millions of kilometers into space, most easily seen during a total solar eclipse. An interesting feature of the corona is the fact that it is much hotter than the visible "surface" of the Sun; the photosphere is approximately 6000°C compared to the corona at over one million °C. The corona is much less dense than the photosphere, however, and so produces less light. The exact mechanism by which the corona is...
Chromosphere -- The chromosphere (literally, "color sphere") is a thin layer of the Sun's atmosphere just above the photosphere, roughly 10,000 kilometers deep. The chromosphere is more visually transparent than the photosphere. The most common solar feature within the chromosphere are spicules, long thin fingers of luminous gas which appear like the blades of a huge field of fiery grass growing upwards from the photosphere below. Spicules rise to the top of the chromosphere and then sink...
Solar Wind -- Solar wind, a stream of particles (mostly high-energy protons ~ 500 Kev) that is continually ejected from the surface of the Sun. The composition of this plasma is identical to the Sun's corona, 73% hydrogen and 25% helium with the remainder as trace impurities, and is ionized. Near Earth, the velocity of the solar wind varies from 200km/s-889km/s. The average is 450 km/s. Approximately 3000 tons of material is lost from the Sun every hour as solar wind. Since solar...
Solar Maximum -- The Sun, a roiling ball of plasma, occupies its place in space approximately 93 million miles from Earth. Though it seems simple to inhabitants of this planet -- the Sun shines, giving light and heat -- the processes occurring in the Sun are so complex that many scientists devote their careers to just one aspect of solar activity. Changes in the activity of the Sun particularly engage solar scientists. Whether fluctuations in the solar magnetic field, expulsions of...
