Biggest Solar Flare In Years Temporarily Disrupts Radio Signals On Earth (phys.org) 28
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Phys.Org: A NASA telescope has captured the biggest solar flare in years, which temporarily knocked out radio communication on Earth. The sun spit out the huge flare on Thursday, resulting in two hours of radio interference in parts of the U.S. and other sunlit parts of the world. Scientists said it was the biggest flare since 2017. Multiple pilots reported communication disruptions, with the impact felt across the country, said the government's Space Weather Prediction Center.
Scientists are now monitoring this sunspot region and analyzing for a possible outburst of plasma from the sun, also known as a coronal mass ejection, directed at Earth. The eruption occurred in the far northwest section of the sun, according to the center. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory caught the action in extreme ultraviolet light, recording the powerful surge of energy as a huge, bright flash. Launched in 2010, the spacecraft is in an extremely high orbit around Earth, where it constantly monitors the sun. The sun is nearing the peak of its 11-year or so solar cycle. Maximum sunspot activity is predicted for 2025.
Scientists are now monitoring this sunspot region and analyzing for a possible outburst of plasma from the sun, also known as a coronal mass ejection, directed at Earth. The eruption occurred in the far northwest section of the sun, according to the center. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory caught the action in extreme ultraviolet light, recording the powerful surge of energy as a huge, bright flash. Launched in 2010, the spacecraft is in an extremely high orbit around Earth, where it constantly monitors the sun. The sun is nearing the peak of its 11-year or so solar cycle. Maximum sunspot activity is predicted for 2025.
Perfect (Score:4, Funny)
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An airplane went down on I-26 reporting simultaneous fuel pump and two ECU failures - related?
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No. The solar flare was from 12pm - 2pm EST but the crash didn't happen until 8:15pm EST. The report says:
A single-engine Diamond DA-40 crashed on Interstate 26 near Asheville Regional Airport around 8:15 p.m. with two people on board, the Federal Aviation Administration reported. The North Carolina State Highway Patrol said the plane hit power lines that cross I-26 and one wing hit a tractor-trailer, WLOS-TV reported.
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So still possible. ESD damage to memory, corruption of firmware, etc.
"The problem in a radiation environment with floating-gate memories is that data is lost to radiation even when the device is in an unpowered state."
Not LIKLEY, but still POSSIBLE.
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No, not at all likely, because airplane engines date from the 60s.
If there is an electronic ignition (which is fairly new to GA, but has been in experimental aircraft for decades), there will still be a mechanical backup - ye olde magneto. Most light aircraft use
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The solar flare was from 12pm - 2pm
It lasted for 14 hours? That's an amazing solar flare. It has to be longest ever recorded.
What you meant to say is the flare lasted from 12 noon [theserverside.com] until 2PM [rmg.co.uk].
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What you meant to say is the flare lasted
funny like the guy even asks if he is making a pedantic argument.
ffs, just stick to 24h format and stop inventing problems.
btw, you english speakers are getting dates wrong too: it's ddmmaaaa to print and aaaammdd to write, store and sort, so stop mixing orders up. just stop, that's not "cultural", it's idiotic.
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And yes - just stop using anything else [www.gov.uk]. Most-significant digit to least-significant digit, so each succeeding digit only increases the accuracy of the number.
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The solar flare was from 12pm - 2pm
It lasted for 14 hours? That's an amazing solar flare. It has to be longest ever recorded.
What you meant to say is the flare lasted from 12 noon [theserverside.com] until 2PM [rmg.co.uk].
This is both an incorrect and logically inconsistent bit of posting.
If your contention is that 12pm and 12am do not even exist, according to the link you cite and based on the literal meaning of am and pm, then you can't claim that 12pm to 2pm is 14 hours - what you would have to claim is that the elapsed time is indeterminate.
It is true that the literal meaning of am and pm make both noon and midnight indeterminate as they are the dividing line, being neither before nor after. And it is commonly argued by
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Re: Perfect (Score:2)
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Didn't you RTFS? Or even RTFA? OK - it's Slashdot, so what would be unacceptable in public life is acceptable here. The SDO (and a couple of other sun observing satellites and ground stations) are the warning system(s).
Oh, you want more than a few hours of warning? Well, you do get warnings on an approximately 11-year cycle, which is the most accurately predictable Solar cycle. That's rarely as much as a year off (with rounding).
If you want, say, a w
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Additional material (Score:5, Interesting)
I found some additional material on the science page of The Guardian that explains the rarity and severity of the event a little better.
December Solar Flare [theguardian.com]
Well (Score:3)
NASA has 'captured' a solar flare (Score:2)
Where are they keeping it? ;)
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A secure location, where it is being studied by top men.
Event (Score:2)
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i just had to google and ...
People also search for
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... no, i don't want to know more.
Thank gawd! (Score:2)
Nope (Score:2)
It did not "knock[] out radio communication on Earth." It knocked out some very tiny small fraction of some communications on Earth.
To wit, "Multiple pilots reported communication disruptions." That's it.
One good burp (Score:2)
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The U.S. grid is not prepared (Score:1)