Sunday, September 11, 2005

'798' Heavy Solar Flares This Week. Space.com -- An ongoing series of seven major solar flares, including two on Saturday, could disrupt communications on Earth and generate colorful sky shows for people at high northern latitudes for the next several days. Even more serious effects are possible early in the week. The spate of activity from the Sun is being generated by a large sunspot named 798. Sunspots are cooler and darker regions of pent-up magnetic activity. When they unleash their energy, it's a bit like the top coming off a shaken champagne bottle. The sunspot is just rotating into view, so its energy has been directed sideways and not directly at Earth. In coming days, if more major flares erupt as forecasters expect, they'll head right at us and radio blackouts, cell phone dropouts and other communications disruptions are more likely, scientists said. Solar flares send radiation to Earth in about 8 minutes. Hours later, clouds of charged particles can engulf the planet. If the magnetic field of a storm is oriented opposite to our planet's protective magnetic field, gaps are created and radiation leaks to the planet's surface, potentially threatening astronauts aboard the International Space Station, sometimes shorting out satellites, and even causing terrestrial power grids to trip. Solar activity is at "very high levels," according to NOAA's Space Environment Center (SEC). There have been seven major flares in recent days, including a tremendous X-17 eruption Wednesday. An event Friday evening was an X-6. On Saturday, an X-1 and an X-2 erupted. Even an X-1 can cause severe disruptions. ... There is a 75 percent chance of more X-class flares each day through Tuesday, the SEC says. On Friday, a space radiation storm was captured in an image from the SOHO spacecraft, which monitors the Sun. The spacecraft has since experienced a radiation bakeout and has been unable to return its full suite of imagery. The Sun is currently at a low point in its 11-year cycle of activity. While sunspots and flares are less common now, astronomers say they can pack plenty of punch when they do occur. (09/11/05) [Synergic Earth News] 10:22:43 PM

A September Sun Upon moving to the Southwest in 1994 I discovered that Even in the desert, There still remains a September Sun - G.S. 11:17:36 AM