Another X~Class Solar Flare Today......Check it OUT!

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/hotshots/2003_11_04/

....more about today's Coronal Mass Ejection....

www.spaceweather.com


SUPERFLARE: Giant sunspot 486 unleashed another powerful solar flare on Nov. 4th (1950 UT). Ionizing radiation hit Earth's atmosphere soon after the explosion and caused a severe radio blackout, which radio listeners noticed across North America.

This latest flare from sunspot 486 could be historic. The blast saturated X-ray detectors onboard GOES satellites for 11 minutes. The last time a flare did this, on April 2nd, 2001, it was classified as an X20--the biggest ever recorded at the time. The Nov. 4th, 2003, solar flare appears to have been even stronger.

:kick:

This is my radiated brain on drugs...

....but my funds are low and the debts are high...so me not *sigh* :smoke:

It's taking like 20 minutes to get a Text message sent...

.....*moons over your pic of DJ* :evilgrin:

Our DJ is hotter than the sun !! :loveya: :hi: :evilgrin:

.....the HOTTEST...I DO LOVE HIM! *on fire* :evilgrin::loveya: :hi:

I read an article a few years ago about a cycle of the sun that was recently discovered where the sun heats up and cools just a teeny bit over and over again every several hundred years or so. They said that "The Little Ice Age" in the 1400's and 1500's resulted in average temperatures that were about one degree less than normal over 100 years. It said that it was a result of the last occurrence of that sun cycle, and the next cycle is occurring in the next 100 years.

Probably those two flares are part of the "cooldown" cycle that's beginning again. If there's any good that would come out of this, it's that global warming would be impeded a little bit.

Just my theory. It seems to coincide with that cycle.

From a NASA article describing some Solar research from 2001 (emphasis added): http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/20011207iceage.html

(snip)

During the coldest part of the Little Ice Age, from 1645 to 1715, there is believed to have been a decrease in the total energy output from the Sun, as indicated by little or no sunspot activity. Known as the Maunder Minimum, astronomers of the time observed only about 50 sunspots for a 30-year period as opposed to a more typical
40-50,000 spots. The Sun normally shows signs of variability, such as its eleven-year sunspot cycle. Within that time, it goes from a minimum to a maximum period of activity represented by a peak in sunspots and flare activity.

(snip)

This isn't an area of very firm scientific knowledge, from what I can tell, but the current hypotheses are that a cooler Sun coincides with times of fewer sunspots, not more sunspots.

I'm not terribly current on Solar research, but I don't think there is any evidence that the Sun is entering a "cooldown" cycle at the moment, especially given the plentitude of sunspot activity. So I wouldn't count on that to impede global warming in any way.

--Peter

....unprecidented in observations untill now!:(

But indeed this does seem to be a rather prolonged Solar maximum.

:shrug:

--Peter

Too bad it's been overcast for a week. :(

In fact, there are fairly few sunspots. The activity is coming from a couple of hyperactive ones; the most active of the lot is called "Area 486".

Any way you look at it, this is anomalous solar activity.

The "only" strange thing that has happened in our solar system lately has been a dramatic increase in "cosmic dust", which has led to the conclusion that our solar system is passing through a tenuous dust cloud right now. It is possible that this dust could be sparking off solar flares, but that's just a WAG -- a Wild Assed Guess -- on my part.

However, Jupiter, Mars, and Uranus have been showing global warming of their own. Again, these are new findings and are subject to confirmation or disproof, but the real proof is that the universe is a chaotic, dynamic place, and most of human history has been marked by relative calm -- except for several ice ages, a massive volcanic blowout at Toba 75 kYa, and other assorted mini-apocalypses.

All of these things are worth tracking through space science websites. But, as always, we are rather more ignorant of the universe than we would like to believe.

--bkl

So I am corrected that this is no longer the "Solar maximum". Thanks! (Shows how up I am on Solar stuff these days. ;-) )

But where did you get the information that Jupiter, Mars, and Uranus have been showing global warming of their own?

There was a report out in the press a couple years ago about "Mars global warming", but it was complete junk, and I do mean complete. (I've posted about it here in the past.) There was also a report out in the press shortly afterwards about "Pluto global warming". That was at least based on solid research, but would have been far more accurately labelled "Pluto experiences late summer heat wave".

Anything on Jupiter and/or Uranus would be completely news to me.

The cosmic dust increase is also news to me. It appears real, though: Here's an article I found on it: http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/dust_storm_030814.html

--Peter