Recent Solar Flare Could Disrupt Communications 216
w98 writes "CNN has reported that the 4th largest solar flare in the last 15 years may disrupt communications. "Significant solar eruptions are possible in the coming days and there could be disruptions in spacecraft operations, electric power systems, high frequency communications and low-frequency navigation systems," says the article."
Excellent! (Score:4, Funny)
This ought to provide a good excuse for various network problems for a few weeks.... ^_^
Re:Excellent! (Score:5, Funny)
Attention, troops stationed in New Orleans. Execute Order 66!
lol (Score:5, Funny)
The looters?
Re:lol (Score:5, Funny)
> > Attention, troops stationed in New Orleans. Execute Order 66!
>
> Who are the jedi?
> The looters?
"Yes, Lord! We need reinforcements, it's like a scene from Star Wars Galaxies down there!"
- NL-421
Seriously, I hate to duck a BOFH reference, but you know someone's gonna try and work the communications disruptions into a Katrina conspiracy theory... or use the expected communications disruptions as cover for a real conspiracy... or perhaps Karl Rove has a machine that can cause a solar flare, which is what he's using to disrupt communications as part of the metaconspiracy. Or all three, because making up non-falsifiable hypotheses is fun!
And on that point, I can only say "Ha Ha, Only Serious". The reason conspiracy theories have "legs" is precisely because looking for conspiracies (real or imaginary) is fun. Our brains evolved in an environment where the ability to outguess our fellow primate band members was an extremely useful survival trait. So not only is inventing conspiracy theories fun, it's fun for a very good reason.
So trust the Computer. The Computer is your Friend. Because it's not paranoia when they really are out to get you. (Confused yet? Good!)
Re:lol (Score:2)
No way (Score:2)
Re:Excellent! (Score:2, Funny)
On the other hand, the 4th largest in the last 15 years. Wow, that's quite a record and part of a very disturbing trend no less. Time to move to the hills and hide in a cave.
Re:Excellent! (Score:2, Informative)
It is sort of like the crap that comes out of Jesse Jackson's mouth - its always something ignorant, but once in a while its just over the top...
Re:Excellent! (Score:2)
Low frequency products: Soap, Condoms
High Fequency Items: Lube, Dirty Magazines...
This is a more serious issue now that many of us (18-35) don't have land line phones, just cells.
Get Ready For Apocalyptic Physics! (Score:4, Funny)
But beware: you must never show disdain for the New and Apocalypic Physics! Disbelievers will be CONSUMED by the fires of the sun in a mighty CME that will lay waste to those who do not follow Brother Charley!
Re:Get Ready For Apocalyptic Physics! (Score:3, Funny)
Sun Is Ra (Score:2)
That's why Bush couldn't break away earlier from his five-week worship session on the ranch. Then Ra would have been really angry.
Kooks unite! (Score:1)
Re:Kooks unite! (Score:1)
Re:Get Ready For Apocalyptic Physics! (Score:1)
Re:Get Ready For Apocalyptic Physics! (Score:2)
I am not disappointed!
Re:Get Ready For Apocalyptic Physics! (Score:2)
Re:Get Ready For Apocalyptic Physics! (Score:2)
A comunitcations disruption can mean... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:A comunitcations disruption can mean... (Score:2)
It looks like a bad one... (Score:4, Funny)
Take a look at the LASCO or SXI images -- (Score:3, Informative)
EIT's in the middle of a bakeout, so you'll want to take a look at the SOHO/LASCO [nasa.gov] images, or GOES/SXI [noaa.gov]
See the NASA press release [nasa.gov] for more info.
yet another cool image (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:yet another cool image (Score:2)
Yeah wrong picture (Score:1)
Vulcan (Score:2)
Great... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Great... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Great... (Score:1)
Re:Great... (Score:2, Redundant)
Re:Great... (Score:2)
You guys are slacking. Fark would have had it in the top 5.
It's not MY fault... (Score:3, Funny)
Recent Solar Flare Could Disrupt Communicat...
Northern lights? (Score:5, Interesting)
I live on 56N12E
Re:Northern lights? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Northern lights? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Northern lights? (Score:2)
I'm impressed (Score:5, Funny)
Hey, I'm surprised they haven't used the T word yet =)
Re:I'm impressed (Score:2, Funny)
Re:I'm impressed (Score:1, Funny)
What does Ted Turner have to do with this?
SpaceWeather. (Score:5, Informative)
Re: 4th largest solar flare in the last 15 years (Score:4, Funny)
Re: 4th largest solar flare in the last 15 years (Score:2)
I 2nd that. Every time the weather's off, or temperatures are higher, or any other anomily people go off screaming bloody murder that we need the government to control every last industrial and personal asset on the planet to save us from environmental doom.
The truth is that almost all of these envi
Kind of late... (Score:5, Insightful)
According to the information at NOAA, the effects from this event will end by the morning of Sept 8. In other words, it's all over now, if you wanted to prepare.
Now, along with these often comes CME (coronal mass ejections), but this event wasn't facing Earth, so there won't be any of that material heading our way.
I have to ask what good it does for CNN to post this information as though it is an alert to prepare, rather than as an after-the-fact notice?
Re:Kind of late... (Score:2, Informative)
* the active region will be on the disk for a couple of weeks and will most likely continue being very active.
* CME's can range in speed and have a delayed effect on the geomagnetic field. Granted, emissions at that point on the disk may not be well positioned for effect, there can be considerable delay in generating storm conditions. It can take many hours - it's a long way.
Re:Kind of late... (Score:2)
I'm basically fed up with news these days...
I would wonder if CNN has any space geeks on their payroll whose job it is to say "hey, this doesn't say what happened in the most accurate way." It matters to some...
Re:Kind of late... (Score:2)
Also, while it may not have been aimed at earth, it could possibly have been aimed at any number of space probes that have been sent into space. Does anyone know?
Re:Kind of late... (Score:2)
You know I live in Colorado at more than a mile above sea-level and the last two times a solar flare was belatedly announced on Slashdot I had cell phone calls drop the day they were to have occurred multiple times.
I wonder if higher elevation significantly affects the probability of a solar flare disrupting communication with a cell phone tower.
I couldn't see that it would, probably just a coincidence.
Maybe it has to do more with the mountains in combination with solar flares.
Being alert for a Solar Flare HOWTO (Score:3, Informative)
NOAA Article (Score:5, Informative)
FEMA (Score:2, Funny)
Not All Bad (Score:3, Funny)
Biggest. Flare. Ever. (Score:3, Interesting)
This led to the coolest desktop picture ever [nasa.gov] (2400x2400, about 1 meg, be sure to wear sunglasses).
Cool quote FTA: "Luckily, the flare was not aimed directly towards Earth!"
I blame the Republicans (Score:1)
"low frequency navigation" (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm not positive, but I believe they're referring to ADF beacons, which are not used very much these days, except to confirm VHF beacons, and ADF technology is not terribly reliable (receivers can be fooled by lightning, for example.) Pilots are told to listen to the received audio carrier (which I believe contains a morse code sequence) to make sure they have a valid signal.
Given that GPS was relatively popular in planes even 15 years ago (before they had ILS-certified GPS systems, so GPS has only become more popular) I can't see this being a problem except for some parts of the general aviation community which haven't chosen to install GPS panel-mount units or at least buy a handheld unit.
I suppose they could also be referring to LORAN/LORAN-C (used mostly by boats, save during WW2), but...jesus christ, I hope nobody's still relying on LORAN...maybe as a backup to GPS, sure...but...yikes.
Re:"low frequency navigation" (Score:2)
I'm not positive, but I believe they're referring to ADF beacons"
What about cetacean navigational systems? Why don't they care about the whales?
Re:"low frequency navigation" (Score:2)
Re:"low frequency navigation" (Score:2, Informative)
Re:"low frequency navigation" (Score:2, Informative)
Re:"low frequency navigation" (Score:2)
Pretty much every night that I listen to NOPAC [faa.gov] I hear flights across the Pacific calling to Alaska or other points, getting info about flight conditions and spacing for other planes. When the HF is out, the planes form a relay network using VHF from plane to plane to relay messages. If that fails, the planes are supposed to make right-angle turns and space themselves out north and south of the route, to keep them from running into each oth
5th largest in the last 30 years! (Score:2, Informative)
http://www.spaceweather.com/solarflares/topflares
There have also been reports, that the 10cm radio flux with 27000 sfu has been even greater, than that of the 04/11/03 event.
BOFH Excuse Generator (Score:3, Informative)
-Peter
Super Flare - IMAX-Does anyone remember SolarMax? (Score:3, Informative)
Here we go again (Score:4, Funny)
Additional Flares May Be Coming (Score:3, Informative)
According to spaceweather.com [spaceweather.com], the sun spot that trigged this flare just became visible after transiting the far side of the sun for the past two weeks. Explosions later this week and next could produce some lovely September auroras.
Damn right it is (Score:1, Redundant)
This is just scare mongering! (Score:1, Redundant)
Dammit ... (Score:2)
I for one welcome our Solar [%!Z$L (Score:2, Funny)
It's more like this (Score:4, Funny)
Mayor: What do you mean, "biblical"?
Ray: What he means is Old Testament, Mr. Mayor, real wrath-of-God type stuff.
Venkman: Exactly.
Ray: Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies. Rivers and seas boiling.
Egon: Forty years of darkness. Earthquakes, volcanoes...
Winston: The dead rising from the grave.
Venkman: Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together - mass hysteria!
Perminant Disruption (Score:2)
Anyone who watches TV via antenna knew already... (Score:2)
All hail! (Score:2, Funny)
- Jonathan
Has to be said (Score:2)
Biggest flare of all time (Score:2)
An X20+ in 1991, and we all survived.
I wouldn't be too worried unless I was living on the ISS, or if I was a satellite. Where a tinfoil hat would be useful in such a situation (well, OK a lead foil one for my 'nads.)
Correction: X28 on 4 Nov 03 (Score:2)
Re:Biggest flare of all time (Score:2)
Solar activity increase and cycles (Score:5, Informative)
We also know that the 17th century observations of the sun showed very few spots, whereas today spots are quite numerous. That's another variability.
Finally, several scientific papers suggest that solar activity variations have a major effect on the climate, much higher than was previously thought. There is a 208-year cycle that generated drought in South America during recent history, and these solar-forced droughts killed the Maya empire among other victims.
References: "A Variable Sun and the Maya Collapse", Kerr, Science, Vol 292, Issue 5520, 1293 , 18 May 2001 [sciencemag.org] and Solar Forcing of Drought Frequency in the Maya Lowlands, Hodell, Science, Vol 292, Issue 5520, 1367-1370 , 18 May 2001. [sciencemag.org]
So the sun most probably holds the key to long-term climate changes. We need more studies, because obviously, after a few decades of space observations, we don't know enough about cycles that last centuries.
Sorry, BPL users... (Score:2)
Question - In Flight Radiation? (Score:2)
Nice light (Score:2)
At least it was good for someone... (Score:2)
New X5 Flare (Score:2)
New X1.1 Flare and SOHO has missed it all (Score:2)
Communications Disruptions (Score:2)
I thought that this was caused by Slashdot's pending conversion to CSS and ongoing testing. Just goes to show what I know.
U.S. is the cause (Score:2)
How do we see them before the bad stuff hits? (Score:2)
Re:Caused by ... (Score:1, Funny)
It's obvious to the most casual observer that the solar flare is caused by global warming, which in turn, is caused by the Bush administration.
Re:Caused by ... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Caused by ... (Score:4, Insightful)
The point to my comment was that, regardless of the circumstances surrounding an event in the history of an Administration, it is *always* the responsibility of the sitting President to respond to a disaster. Whether the disaster was worse because of some problems from a previous Administration is irrelevant to the people who are suffering through it. The fact is that you take the job of President to accept responsibility, not dodge it.
And I don't engage in debates of Democrats are worse than Republicans because I find them both to be two sides of the same bad penny. Bush is the President and has been for four years. Any attempt to dodge responsibility for anything that happens on his watch is just political grandstanding. It *is* his responsibility. The fact that Republicans have been preaching to the rest of America about taking personal responsibility for their actions makes his attempt to dodge it now all the more hypocritical.
This is assuming that global warming even "caused" Katrina in the first place, which is doubtful.
What caused you to come to the conclusion that it is doubtful that Katrina is caused by global warming?
Re:Caused by ... (Score:2)
But the frequency of large hurricanes is increasing, if the data is correct. Doesn't that indicate some energy increase may account for the increase?
Studies show that virtually everyone who eats a banana eventually dies. Therefore, bananas cause death. Ban them.
I understand logical fallacies, thank you. But if the people who eat bananas have a statistically higher chance of dying than anyone else in a general population then you can safely assu
Re:Caused by ... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Caused by ... (Score:2)
Re:Caused by ... (Score:3)
Wrong. Here [noaa.gov] is the data from the National Hurricane Center on number of major hurricane strikes to the U.S. mainland each decade. Please show me where in this data the number of large hurricanes is increasing?
Don't blindly buy into the "frequency of large hurricanes is increasing" myth being pushed by many so-called environmentalist. They have a political agenda, pure and simple.
Re:Caused by ... (Score:2)
I stand corrected.
Don't blindly buy into the "frequency of large hurricanes is increasing"
I don't. You see that I put "if" in the statement you quoted. I see the facts and stood by your point.
They have a political agenda, pure and simple.
Who doesn't?
Re:Caused by ... (Score:2)
Ya know, no good can come from admitting a mistake on this forum. Assfucks like yourself will just post as AC and shit all over the attempt to correct a mistake. What's the matter? Did your mom stop breast feeding you too early?
Fuck you and your fucking AC post. I realize we all post nom de plume, but posting under our nick
Re:Caused by ... (Score:2)
well, hurricane are increasing in numbers, and are tieed to the oceans, which are getting warmer.
However, my issue with this Administration is that they were told a hurricane of this magnetude would do exactly what Katrina did, but the stopped funding that was needed to fix the levies. also so that could put the money into there illegal war and give financing to an unneeded and over-powered agency, DHS.
That i
Re:In other news... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:In other news... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:4th largest solar flare in the last 15 years (Score:3, Funny)
Re:4th largest solar flare in the last 15 years (Score:2)
Imagine just a little bit of the northern icecaps melting into the pacific ocean. Suddenly the North-Atlantic drift (the flow of warm water from the gulf of mexico to northern europe) ceases to warm norway and sweden. Norway and sweeden are pretty far north. The only thing that keeps them from freezing over is the north-atlantic drift. So if that doesn't keep them warm anymore