Major Hole in Our Sun – Brace Yourselves
(if someone has more information, such that we shouldn’t be concerned, please post a comment…)
Once again there’s an interesting discussion over at Above Top Secret. This time it concerns a coronal hole in our Sun that has just appeared. Supposedly these holes tend to occur at solar maximums, and we are not meant to have the next maximum until 2012/2013. So either this is just unusual timing for a coronal hole, or the maximum has arrived far sooner than predicted. If it is the former, then hold on to your hats, a CME might be heading our way (the NOAA says there is a “slight chance for a C-class flare” in the next 3 days). Last time, in 2003, a coronal hole was followed five days later by a deadly earthquake in Algeria. If it is the later, then the biggest concern is that the USA has not upgraded their electrical system yet.
Here’s a NASA image of the hole – it looks worrisome, but apparantly is quite normal, as you can see from the second image which is from the 2003 hole.
(the current image is here in high res – as I view it, the hole has rotate towards the right)
(The holes are different shapes – the first is a rift, the second is a horseshoe)
Here’s some info on coronal holes:
There are three major classifications for coronal holes: Polar, non-polar, and transient. In general, polar coronal holes exist for many years, forming from non-polar holes that drift pole-ward and merge, generally soon after a solar maximum. They reach their largest area around the time of solar minimum, where they can occupy as much as 15% of the disk, and they wane and disappear around the time of the next maximum (Harvey & Recely 2002).
Polar coronal hole boundaries distort over their lifetimes, and this is due to sunspot activity (Maravilla et al. 2001). Non-polar holes are more isolated, and they are limited to a latitude range of ±60◦. They are associated with an active or formerly active magnetic region and generally persist for a few months – over one to several rotations (Harvey & Recely 2002).
Transient holes have briefer lifetimes, generally lasting for only one to two days; they are associated with eruptive events such as flares and coronal mass ejections (Harvey & Recely 2002).
http://www.jamesgoulding.com/Research_II/The%20Sun/Sun%20(Wang-Sheeley%20I).pdf
Related posts:
As the Sun Awakens, NASA Keeps a Wary Eye on Space Weather
NASA Science
June 6, 2010
“The sun is waking up from a deep slumber, and in the next few years we expect to see much higher levels of solar activity. At the same time, our technological society has developed an unprecedented sensitivity to solar storms. The intersection of these two issues is what we’re getting together to discuss.”
http://www.infowars.com/as-the-sun-awakens-nasa-keeps-a-wary-eye-on-space-weather/
June 9, 2010
AURORA WATCH: NOAA forecasters estimate a 60% chance of geomagnetic activity today when a solar wind stream is expected to hit Earth’s magnetic field. High latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras.
CRACKLING SUNSPOT: New sunspot 1078 is growing rapidly and crackling with low-level solar flares. Click on the image to view some of the action recorded on June 8th by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO):
http://spaceweather.com/
NewScientist
What’s wrong with the sun?
09 June 2010 by Stuart Clark
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627640.800-whats-wrong-with-the-sun.html?full=true
I was so very happy (if that is the right frame of mind) to see yahoo news talking about the solar storms.
I have conveyed these very real threats to so many and they scoff at the idea that we could lose power grids, satillites ect.
Could someone put together a real index of what would happen if stores were without their registers(run on computers,elect.) How about the water company not dispensing clean water. The gas stations unable to pump gas ( by the way movies always show a lone station with some gas) HOW do they work without elect.??
Help yourselves people, our industrialization may be our real downfall!
Third world countries have a better chance then most of us.
How many out there know how to make a fire for warmth, boil water for drinking, protect your loved ones from intruders?? Good Luck all!~
from Space Weather.com
SOLAR FLARES: Today, June 12th at 0055 UT, new sunspot 1081 unleashed an impulsive M1-class solar flare. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the blast in high-resolution:
http://spaceweather.com/
The explosion hurled a billion-ton coronal mass ejection (CME) off the sun’s western limb; the cloud will probably not hit Earth. The explosion also produced a Type II radio burst. “Although the Sun was setting here in New Mexico, I was able to record the burst at 28 MHz and 24 MHz,” says amateur radio astronomer Thomas Ashcraft. “Here is an audio file. The slow swoosh is radio noise from the sun!”
The M2-flare was followed at 0917 UT by an even more picturesque C6-flare. SDO recorded that one, too: movie, still frame. More flares seem likely as restless sunspot 1081 continues to grow. Readers with solar telescopes are encouraged to monitor developments.
http://spaceweather.com/
End of the world in 2013 says NASA
Jun 15th 2010
By Oliver Jones
Asylum.co.uk
Every so often we hear one of these end-of-the-world stories. There’s a meteor that’s going to hit earth, or the sun’s going to lose its gravitational pull. And generally we can ignore them because they’re the calculator speculations of some shed-scientist crackpot.
Today we heard another: The earth is going to be hit by a barrage of solar flares in 2013 when the sun’s magnetic energy cycle coincides with its 11-year peak in super-powered sun spot activity — but this time it wasn’t a maverick amateur making the predictions, nope, it was NASA:
http://www.asylum.co.uk/2010/06/15/solar-flares-could-end-everything-say-nasa/?icid=main