back to article As Hurricane Irma grows, Earth now lashed by SOLAR storms

Those living on the top and bottom of our planet are in for a superb light show over the next few days – as the Aurora Borealis in the north, and Australis in the south, will be on full display. The auroras fire up when charged particles from the Sun interact with the Earth's magnetic field, producing the amazing visual …

  1. J P
    Mushroom

    Just going to leave this here...

    https://www.lloyds.com/news-and-insight/risk-insight/library/natural-environment/solar-storm

    (Icon because, obviously)

  2. Tom 7

    People who link global warming to sunspots are wankers

    but I swear solar activity makes it cloudy here.

    1. bombastic bob Silver badge
      Thumb Down

      Re: People who link global warming to sunspots are wankers

      not sunspots, just solar activity - i.e. if the sun puts out MORE light+heat+other_radiation then it kinda tends to WARM the PLANET, ya know?

      because, regardless of your model, Mr. Sun will be the heat source.

      a big 'thumbs down' for the 'wanker' pejorative. It's as bad as 'denier'.

      1. JeffyPoooh
        Pint

        Re: People who link global warming to sunspots are wankers

        Ah, Bob. I believe that Tom simply meant that whenever there's something astronomically-interesting in the sky, it's inevitably cloudy. I caught his drift because that's the way it typically works here too.

        1. Mark 110

          Re: People who link global warming to sunspots are wankers

          So not time to head to Formby beach to top my tan up from the extra radiation then . . .

          (and I agree - wankers was the wrong word. Thick?)

          1. wallaby

            Re: People who link global warming to sunspots are wankers

            "So not time to head to Formby beach to top my tan up from the extra radiation then . . ."

            Sun must already be bad round there - look at the Squirrels - they are all red !!

      2. Alt C

        Re: People who link global warming to sunspots are wankers

        Aww bless Bob - are the use of pejoratives offending you? poor snowflake - perhaps you ought to hold back on calling people names like OBAKA? - I've noticed this with both the right and left they love to call the others names but first to run to their high horse when it happens to them or their ideas FFS grow up a little.

      3. Pen-y-gors

        Re: People who link global warming to sunspots are wankers

        @bob

        It's as bad as 'denier'.

        What's so wrong with 'denier'? How else am I supposed to specify the quality of my tights? (that's 'pantyhose' for Merkins)

      4. Rich 11

        Re: People who link global warming to sunspots are wankers

        i.e. if the sun puts out MORE light+heat+other_radiation then it kinda tends to WARM the PLANET, ya know?

        I expect Bob will be able to produce solid evidence that the sun has been putting out 'MORE light+heat+other_radiation', and also explain why the measured increase in greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere has a much less significant effect.

      5. wallaby

        Re: People who link global warming to sunspots are wankers

        "a big 'thumbs down' for the 'wanker' pejorative. It's as bad as 'denier'"

        Sod the flares - BombasticBob is complaining about pejoratives and hasn't even blamed Microsoft for this. I upvoted him the other week - one more miracle and he will be up for sainthood

      6. phuzz Silver badge
        Paris Hilton

        Re: People who link global warming to sunspots are wankers

        I don't see the problem with "wanker", after all, it's an unusual person who's never masturbated.

        >>>>> Paris, for ... reasons.

    2. JEDIDIAH
      Devil

      Re: People who link global warming to sunspots are wankers

      I'm just waiting on someone to blame the solar storms on global warming.

  3. Daedalus

    This is the

    As predicted by Robert A. Heinlein in "The Year of the Jackpot". Crazy politics, check. Public nudity, check. Nuclear threats, check. Storms, check. Earthquakes...well when is there not an earthquake in California?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Year_of_the_Jackpot

    Head for the hills. You'll last a bit longer...

    1. Duncan Macdonald

      Re: This is the

      Actually in "The Year of the Jackpot" story - you would live a bit longer at the bottom of the deepest mine and even longer (a few tens of minutes!) on the equator on the far side of the Earth from the Sun. (Hills would be no protection!!)

      1. newspuppy

        Re: This is the way to survive....

        or better yet.. in a submarine as deep as you can go, as water is a wonderful absorber of gamma rays...

        it is postulated that a burst of gamma rays may have caused a mass extinction event on Earth 440 million years ago ( Ordovician extinction event) , when combined, are the second-largest of the five major extinction events in Earth's history in terms of percentage of genera that became extinct—and a similar celestial catastrophe could happen again, according to a 2004 paper ( https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-astrobiology/article/did-a-gammaray-burst-initiate-the-late-ordovician-mass-extinction/F37A58C811EB82496CEF6CF989159807 ) . A ten-second burst would have stripped the Earth's atmosphere of half of its ozone almost immediately, exposing surface-dwelling organisms, including those responsible for planetary photosynthesis, to high levels of ultraviolet radiation, killing most everything not deep in the water.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Public nudity?

      I must have missed that...or at least missed how there is more this year than any other year.

      1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

        Re: Public nudity?

        I was in Brighton last year, when a couple of thousand people on The Naked Bike Ride went past. It's the largest increase in public nudity that I've ever come across.*

        My immediate thought was "chafing!" Oh and, don't get caught in the chain...

        *Yes, I realised what I'd done as was I typing it. But couldn't bring myself to delete it.

        1. Daedalus

          Re: Public nudity?

          Concerning "chafing" and bikes: apparently the current depilatory fashions among young ladies are leading to much discomfort, with or without spandex. Something about lushness being necessary for the maintenance of proper moisture and essential oils in the appropriate spots.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Public nudity?

            They've been doing those naked bike rides in cities all over the world for years, it is nothing new.

  4. Phil Endecott

    Is there a version of that video that doesn;t require me to agree to Twitter's terms and conditions?

    1. Richard Tobin

      https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/quick_double_x_flare-1041.gif

    2. Pen-y-gors

      Just agree - but cross your fingers.

      1. Brewster's Angle Grinder Silver badge

        Indeed. "Crossed keys" is a valid defence in any English court of law.

  5. Richard Tobin

    Arithmetic

    "For reference, an X2 is twice as powerful as an X1, and half as powerful as an X3."

    No, an X2 flare is two-thirds as powerful as an X3 flare. Within a class (A/B/C/M/X) the scale is linear.

    1. Will Godfrey Silver badge
      Angel

      Re: Arithmetic

      Are you sure about that?

      Most of the real world ratios I know about seem to be square, cubic or logarithmic.

      1. Richard Boyce

        Re: Arithmetic

        The NASA page linked to in the story confirms that it's linear.

  6. CentralCoasty
    Facepalm

    Bah..... should have checked first....,

    http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/aurora-30-minute-forecast

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Coincidentally

    Had severe headache, muscle pain, etc and vision problems yesterday around 4am until some 9 at night.

    Maybe related?

    Isnt there a recent study linking solar field anomalies with various health problems?

    Humans are supposed to be capable of detecting magnetic fields and an article was also published linking mass whale strandings to solar activity.

    1. Pascal Monett Silver badge

      Re: "Humans are supposed to be capable of detecting magnetic fields"

      Um, no, we're not. We need a compass, pigeons do not.

      Now, it may be that we can be more or less sensitive to magnetic fields, like dogs who turn North/South to pee, but they don't know why they're doing it, just as we don't feel magnetism like pigeons who actively use that sense to orient their flight.

      1. Ben1892

        Re: "Humans are supposed to be capable of detecting magnetic fields"

        Ah, that explains why I keep on walking down the road to the pub then ?? "Sorry Boss, can't come in today, solar activity keeps on steering me to the Hare and Hounds"

      2. W4YBO

        Re: "Humans are supposed to be capable of detecting magnetic fields"

        In the science series "Through the Wormhole" with Morgan Freeman, a researcher showed an experiment in which a specially constructed belt vibrated when the wearer turned through North. After four (six?) weeks, the test subjects could fairly reliably determine North blindfolded. Nifty skill to develop.

    2. Pen-y-gors

      Re: Coincidentally

      More likely related to the fifth pint of Doom Bar and a dirty glass.

    3. vogon00

      Re: Coincidentally

      Alternatively, you just described the effects of going clubbing and using 'pejorative' language near aggressive fellow patrons...

  8. knarf

    We'll all go blind and be ruled by man eating plants

    This will be Triffic !

  9. Mystic Megabyte
    Mushroom

    space, it's not so smooth

    So you're halfway to Mars when all your electronics get fried, not good!

    Or the onboard AI recommends going EVA to fix the transmitter, bad!

    1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

      Re: space, it's not so smooth

      Valves are immune to EMP. So how do they do against those nasty massively charged particles in space? Could we build them a nice valve computer - or at least a valve amp for their guitar, so they've got something to do while awaiting certain death.

      1. IT Poser

        Re: space, it's not so smooth

        Theoretically we could but, since we gave up valve research for silicon, we never miniaturized valve tech.

  10. Florida1920

    The facts of life

    All you create

    All you destroy

    All that you do

    All that you say. ...

    All that is now

    All that is gone

    All that's to come

    and everything under

    the sun is in tune

    but the sun

    is eclipsed by the moon.

  11. Stoneshop
    Mushroom

    the equivalent explosive power of 24,000,000,000 kilotons of TNT.

    ... making the Tsar Bomba look like a wet firecracker.

    1. JeffyPoooh
      Pint

      Re: the equivalent explosive power of 24,000,000,000 kilotons of TNT.

      Theorized Solar Nanoflares may be responsible for raising the temperature of the Solar Corona. They're caused by twisted off bits of magnetic field. They're supposed to be about 50-Megatonnes equivalent each, and the quantity per second is just a buzzing noise.

      Busy place...

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