In an unprecedented event, two solar flares (bursts of solar material) hit Earth's magnetic field in two days. The solar storms caused unusual activity of the aurora borealis, which could be seen at lower latitudes than usual
The largest sunspot ever formed this week
The solar eruption was too big to measure * Scientists: "This is the most dramatic solar week in history"
6.11.2003
In the photo on the left: the eruption of the sun (the white spot on the right), yesterday evening a photo: the SOHO satellite, and another photo where the spot is visible when the sun's wheel is covered. This photo was also taken by Soho
The BBC website says: "By the time the scientists involved in the study of the sun thought it had already calmed down, it revealed the largest solar flare ever recorded. It was so energetic that it overloaded the instruments that monitor the sun's surface.
Yesterday, at 9:55 in the evening, the astronomers recorded a historic moment: the most powerful solar flare, at least since such eruptions began to be recorded. A huge cloud of hot gas is ejected from the sun, near "area -" 486 sunspot which is 15 times larger than the earth and which is considered the most active on the sun.
Solar eruptions occur when magnetic energy builds up in the sun's atmosphere, near the sunspot - a colder region on the sun, characterized by strong magnetic fields - and is then ejected in a massive burst, equivalent to the eruption of 10 million volcanoes. A bright spot appears above the "rim" of the sun, indicating the place of the eruption, and radio, x-ray and gamma rays and electrically charged particles are emitted into space. The length of the eruptions may reach about 200 thousand km, their height to several tens of thousands of km and thickness to several thousand. Strong eruptions are observed once every few years, and "quiet" eruptions can occur several times a day.
Yesterday's eruption came at the end of ten days in which an unusual wave of eruptions was recorded. The satellite - SOHO sent by the European Space Agency and the American Space Agency and which records all the activity on the surface of the sun - recorded several strong eruptions these days, at degrees 7 and 10 on the X scale (used to measure strong eruptions). At the end of the week, the astronomers believed that the series of eruptions had reached the end, however, on Monday an eruption of X3 intensity was recorded and on Tuesday a tremendous eruption was recorded. Its strength is still being tested, but astronomers estimate that it is the strongest in the last decades - since the eruptions began to be recorded. However, until the data processing was completed, the intensity of the eruption was rated "only" - X17 because it was so strong that some of the measuring instruments on the satellite were out of order for a short time.
The largest solar flares recorded so far occurred in 2001 and 1989 and their intensity was rated X20. Now, in view of the estimate that the latest eruption is greater than X20, scientists are considering re-examining the rating methods. The eruptions are classified according to the wavelength of the X-rays emitted, and categorized in three scales: 9-1 scale, C for minor eruptions that have no or little effect on the Earth; The M scale, which categorizes moderate eruptions that may cause radio interference in the polar regions; And the X scale for strong and long bursts, which may affect satellites, navigation systems, the electricity supply and more (see box).
"I think that the last week will go down in history as the most dramatic week in terms of solar activity that has ever been recorded in human history," said Dr. Pal Barka, deputy director of the scientific project of the SOHO satellite to the BBC. The 11-year cycle of sunspots used as an "eruption factory" - which peaked only three years ago.
Despite the fear, for now there is no damage to the earth
The solar flares, reassure the scientists, do not affect the health of humans. However, they sometimes affect the electricity system, and in the US the latest wave of outbreaks is being monitored for fear of another outage, just a few months after the major power outage in the eastern US. However, at this stage the scientists estimate that only a small part of the gas cloud emitted yesterday may reach the earth, today and tomorrow.
Solar flares may also affect the activity of satellites, navigation systems and more. In January 1997, for example, the Telstar 401 satellite stopped working. Other satellites also suffered malfunctions that day. From an analysis of data received from the SOHO satellite, which records the surface of the sun, it became clear that two days earlier a strong solar eruption had occurred, which raised the level of radiation to which the satellites were exposed and thus caused disruptions.
The eruptions are also accompanied by a "polar glow", a phenomenon in which the particles thrown with great force towards the earth are drawn to the poles and rub in the atmosphere, which causes them to glow.
Previous news - 2/11/2003
In an unprecedented event, two solar flares (bursts of solar material) hit Earth's magnetic field in two days. The solar storms caused unusual aurora activity, which could be seen at lower latitudes than usual. The first solar flare, the largest to hit the Earth in decades, caused planes to change course after suffering interference to their communication systems. It also put satellites out of action and got electricity companies to limit the use of the power line network. The particle cloud of the second solar flare, unlike the first flare, had a magnetic polarization opposite to that of the Earth's geomagnetic field. "This means that the particle cloud could have affected the Earth in a much more violent way," said Paal Barka, deputy director of the SOHO solar observation satellite project. The magnetic storm has passed, but its effects will only be fully apparent in a day or two. Scientists were surprised after the first storm struck at about 1100 GMT on Tuesday. Not only that it erupted three years after the peak of the "season" - the eleven-year cycle of solar storms, but it was also very strong and caused a geomagnetic storm on Earth, rated as 5G, the highest possible level. Even more, the particles it released reached the Earth in 19 hours, burning five times faster than expected. Then, at 2100 GMT on Wednesday another blaze arrived with almost equal intensity. Scientists say that one storm of this size directed at the Earth is a rare event, but two of these in a row is an unprecedented event. Within minutes of the arrival of the two storms, the Earth was flooded with electromagnetic radiation, mainly in the X-ray radiation range. In the delay came clouds of particles, thrown up by what scientists call coronal mass ejections. The second plasma cloud took only nineteen hours to reach Earth. The reported effects of the solar flares so far have included an experimental Japanese "Kodma" satellite, which may have been permanently disabled. Many satellites and operators of space probes have shut down sensitive instruments on board in advance, or directed them away from the particle barrage. Aboard the International Space Station, astronauts Michael Foley and Alexander Cleary were ordered to shelter from the storm for several twenty-minute periods on Tuesday and Wednesday. They entered the Zoizada service module, where the best protection against radiation. The magnetic storms forced air traffic controllers to change transatlantic flight path plans. The US Federal Aviation Administration has warned air passengers against the increased radiation, so says the "New York Times". People flying above 25,000 feet will be exposed to an amount of radiation equivalent to two days of radiation on the ground for every one-hour flight at latitudes above 350 north, the US Aviation Authority said.
A huge burst of material from the sun was hurled at Israel
Damian Carrington and Duncan Graham Rowe, New Scientist News Service, report 31/10/03 that a massive cloud of charged particles from the sun slammed into Earth's magnetic field Wednesday morning. It caused a severe geomagnetic storm and an impressive aurora. The particles were blasted from the star at 1154 GMT on Tuesday, in the largest burst of solar material to reach Earth in decades. Its arrival at 0700 GMT means it arrived faster than expected, at a forward speed of about eight million km/h. The earliest traces were due at 1800 GMT. The good news, according to Pael Barka, a scientist and deputy director of the SOHO solar observation satellite project, is that the storm, created by the particle cloud, has weakened rapidly. This is probably due to the northern direction of the magnetic component of the particles, he says. "If they have a magnetic field directed south, we know that it affects the Earth's magnetosphere in a more violent way", he says, "so we are quite lucky".
The news arrived and caused a sense of relief among satellite and power grid operators, who were preparing for the arrival of the storm. The fluctuations caused by the magnetic field may affect electronic systems and electrical networks by inducing a current in the conductors. Geomagnetic storms may also affect high frequency radio communications and satellite navigation systems. The solar flare has already caused the European Space Agency to shut down several instruments in space, including XMM and Integral. The Mars Express spacecraft also had to switch to using gyroscopes to stabilize itself, as the particle cloud made the use of distant stars as reference points impossible. That shouldn't affect its mission, says Mike McKay, Mars Express and Smart-1 mission manager at the European Space Mission Center in Darmstadt, Germany. But the particle cloud will leave long-term effects, he says: "Solar arrays tend to age a little faster." The particle cloud's speed of arrival is just the latest unusual event in a sun-drenched week. The peak of the sunspot cycle was in 2000, when it should have been the most active, but two giant sunspots and several particle clouds were observed in the last seven days.
One response
That's the actual cause for "global warming" and not al gore's laughable theory