Do you like staring down the barrel of a gun? This is a fairly good analogy for what the Earth is facing at this moment, as sunspot region 1158 points directly at the planet.
Dr. Tony Philips of spaceweather.com calls the region, “Behemoth”. “The active region is now more than 100,000 km wide with at least a dozen Earth-sized dark cores scattered beneath its unstable magnetic canopy. Earth-directed eruptions are likely in the hours ahead.”
The NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center has issued an X-Ray Flux Alert measuring R2 on the NOAA space weather scale.
Translation: Limited blackout of HF radio communication on sunlit side, and degradation of low-frequency navigation signals.
Further Translation: Not that big of a threat to you and I, at the moment.
Given the dramatic size of the sunspot region, and even though the current progression of solar cycle 24 is lower than originally forecast, nearly any given sunspot region, even this one, could still pose a threat to our way of life.
The Carrington event of 1859 should always serve as a reminder of our high-tech vulnerability to a large eruptive radiation event from our neighbor, 93 million miles away.
We’re ‘sitting ducks’ so to speak, over the next few days, and will be again at some point in the near future as sunspots rise and sink into the conveyor region of the sun.
This region is only shooting C-class flares at this time, and all looks safe so far.
We haven’t kept records of such events like the Carrington event long enough to know how often they happen. All we can do is watch the show, and be reasonably prepared to make it through life should we lose the conveniences of modern technology for a time.
If you enjoyed this, or topics of preparedness, geophysical – current events – risks, consider our survival blog RSS feed, new posts by E-mail, or bookmark us at Modern Survival Blog
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Posted on Sun, 13 Feb 2011 21:42:52 +0000 at http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ModernSurvivalBlog/~3/v10QDDGCOss/
Comments: http://modernsurvivalblog.com/solar-cycle/staring-down-the-barrel-at-sunspot-1158/#comments
Dr. Tony Philips of spaceweather.com calls the region, “Behemoth”. “The active region is now more than 100,000 km wide with at least a dozen Earth-sized dark cores scattered beneath its unstable magnetic canopy. Earth-directed eruptions are likely in the hours ahead.”
The NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center has issued an X-Ray Flux Alert measuring R2 on the NOAA space weather scale.
Translation: Limited blackout of HF radio communication on sunlit side, and degradation of low-frequency navigation signals.
Further Translation: Not that big of a threat to you and I, at the moment.
Given the dramatic size of the sunspot region, and even though the current progression of solar cycle 24 is lower than originally forecast, nearly any given sunspot region, even this one, could still pose a threat to our way of life.
The Carrington event of 1859 should always serve as a reminder of our high-tech vulnerability to a large eruptive radiation event from our neighbor, 93 million miles away.
We’re ‘sitting ducks’ so to speak, over the next few days, and will be again at some point in the near future as sunspots rise and sink into the conveyor region of the sun.
This region is only shooting C-class flares at this time, and all looks safe so far.
We haven’t kept records of such events like the Carrington event long enough to know how often they happen. All we can do is watch the show, and be reasonably prepared to make it through life should we lose the conveniences of modern technology for a time.
If you enjoyed this, or topics of preparedness, geophysical – current events – risks, consider our survival blog RSS feed, new posts by E-mail, or bookmark us at Modern Survival Blog
Modern Survival Blog related posts
Magnetically Charged Spots Suddenly Dot the Sun
Huge Face on the Sun!
Watch Out… Sunspot 1131, Enormous Filament
15 Interesting Facts about the Sun
Summer Solstice Fireworks
Posted on Sun, 13 Feb 2011 21:42:52 +0000 at http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ModernSurvivalBlog/~3/v10QDDGCOss/
Comments: http://modernsurvivalblog.com/solar-cycle/staring-down-the-barrel-at-sunspot-1158/#comments