Solar Storm on the Sun

Solar flare 2012 was the worst solar storm in a decade. This time the scientists were only 13 minutes off on the predicted time of the solar storm. Following 11 years of considerable calm, the sun has woken up again to send out flares after strong flares in all directions and now earth-bound sentinels can feel the stirrings in the atmosphere and their surroundings in the form of geomagnetic storms.
The prediction was utilized and timely warnings were sent out to satellite operators and power connection operators to shut off sensitive systems. Geomagnetic storms that are stirred by solar flares can adversely affect the power supply, and interfere with satellite communication. They can even fry satellites and leave them useless. Following the warning, some airlines of Canada and Europe changed the routes of polar flights as the north pole and surrounding area was mostly the target of charged particles called CME (coronal mass ejection) and X rays hurled out by the sun.
Yesterday sun spewed the most powerful solar flare of this season. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) rated the flare an X1.7-class eruption. The scientists rate flares according to classes defined by alphabets and while X-class flares are the most powerful type of solar storm, M-class storms falling within the mid-range and C-class flares are the weakest ones. Luckily earth was not in the target range of this massive flare.
Dean Pesnell, SDO Project Scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, stated, “It’s a great week for Space Weather!
Scientists are excited about this solar activity and their thrill can be felt. Facebook update of officials from NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center read, “Region 1402 is Alive!!!!!!!!!!!!! Another huge X-ray event is in progress.”
Radiation levels are climbing right now and is expected to peak in the later months of 2012 and 2013. What we are experiencing in the form of spectacular northern lights is just the beginning, claim the scientists.
Doug Biesecker, a physicist at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center, said, “The radiation storm will almost certainly be weaker. The coronal mass ejection seems to be headed well away from Earth, which is good because this one seems like a bigger beast than the last one, but that’s still preliminary.”
The exact prediction of solar flares has become more important in our age as much of the world’s networks are interconnected and the population has become increasingly reliant on technology that use satellite communication. Solar flares hamper satellite communication due to the geomagnetic storm stirred up by the flares, so being pre-informed is of paramount importance.
Strong flares as this one can disrupt satellite communication. Even weaker flares interfare with earth’s magnetic field and cause brilliant auroras that are more popularly called the Norther and Southern Lights.
CME that is large enough can trigger a big geomagnetic storm in the earth’s atmosphere, affecting radio communication, air flight schedules, communication, and power outages.

http://nvonews.com/2012/01/28/solar-flare-2012-was-the-worst-solar-storm-in-a-decade/

Sun Storms May Super Charge Northern Lights

Particles ejected by recent solar storms are due to slam into Earth over the next few days, possibly causing super-charged northern lights displays and temporary radio blackouts in some areas, experts say.

On Monday, the sun unleashed a massive eruption of solar plasma known as a coronal mass ejection (CME). The CME's fast-moving charged particles should squarely strike Earth's magnetic field at about 3:20 p.m. EST (2020 GMT) Wednesday, give or take seven hours, according to the website Spaceweather.com.

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The particles from another CME could deliver a glancing blow to our planet a few hours earlier on Wednesday, Spaceweather.com reported.

The two impacts will likely spawn minor and/or moderate geomagnetic storms at high latitudes on Wednesday and Thursday. If they're powerful enough, geomagnetic storms can temporarily disrupt GPS signals, radio communications and power grids.

"Category G1 (Minor) geomagnetic storms are expected 28 and 29 December due to multiple coronal mass ejection arrivals," the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center wrote in an update Tuesday. "R1 (Minor) radio blackouts are expected until 31 December."

Geomagnetic storms can also trigger dramatic aurora displays, which are also known as the northern and southern lights. So skywatchers at higher latitudes may want to look up after sunset over the next few days.

The sun's recent eruptions are part of a pattern.

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After remaining surprisingly quiet from 2005 through 2010, our star has come alive in 2011, spouting off numerous powerful flares and CMEs. An August flare, for example, was the strongest one seen in more than four years.

Most experts expect such outbursts to continue over the next few years. Solar activity waxes and wanes on an 11-year cycle, and scientists think the current one — known asSolar Cycle 24 — will peak in 2013.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45799869/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/sun-storms-may-super-charge-northern-lights/#.Two-ULyF9NE

Comet Lovejoy Plunges into the Sun

Dec. 16, 2011: This morning, an armada of spacecraft witnessed something that many experts thought impossible.  Comet Lovejoy flew through the hot atmosphere of the sun and emerged intact.

"It's absolutely astounding," says Karl Battams of the Naval Research Lab in Washington DC.  "I did not think the comet's icy core was big enough to survive plunging through the several million degree solar corona for close to an hour, but Comet Lovejoy is still with us."

In the SDO movies, the comet's tail wriggles wildly as the comet plunges through the sun's hot atmosphere only 120,000 km above the stellar surface. This could be a sign that the comet was buffeted by plasma waves coursing through the corona.  Or perhaps the tail was bouncing back and forth off great magnetic loops known to permeate the sun's atmosphere.  No one knows.

The comet's close encounter was recorded by at least five spacecraft: NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory and twin STEREO probes, Europe's Proba2 microsatellite, and the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory.  The most dramatic footage so far comes from

"This is all new," says Battams.  "SDO is giving us our first look¹ at comets travelling through the sun's atmosphere. How the two interact is cutting-edge research." 

“The motions of the comet material in the sun’s magnetic  field are just fascinating,” adds SDO project scientist Dean Pesnell of the Goddard Space Flight Center.   “The abrupt changes in direction reminded me of how the solar wind affected the tail of Comet Encke in 2007 (movie).”

Comet Lovejoy was discovered on Dec. 2, 2011, by amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy of Australia.  Researchers quickly realized that the new find was a member of the Kreutz family of sungrazing comets.  Named after the German astronomer Heinrich Kreutz, who first studied them, Kreutz sungrazers are fragments of a single giant comet that broke apart back in the 12th century (probably the Great Comet of 1106).  Kreutz sungrazers are typically small (~10 meters wide) and numerous. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory sees one falling into the sun every few days.

At the time of discovery, Comet Lovejoy appeared to be at least ten times larger than the usual Kreutz sungrazer, somewhere in the in the 100 to 200 meter range.  In light of today's events, researchers are revising those numbers upward.

 SDO, which saw the comet go in (movie) and then come back out again (movie).

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/16dec_cometlovejoy/