Breaking wave 'big as the USA' spied on Sun's surface

NASA boffins, staring into the Sun with a new space telescope, say they have detected unthinkably enormous waves rolling across the star's hot surface - as if a gigantic breaker of the sort beloved by surfers were scaled up to the size of the United States. Giant breakers of the solar corona. Credit: NASA/SDO/Astrophysical …

[Anonymous Coward]

So...

... how many Waleses is it then exactly?

[Svantevid]

By El Reg standards...

"big as the USA" would be translated to 473.000 Wales/4,2 Congos. No more of that silly imperial/metric nonsense, please.

[ravenviz]

Waleses?

Can I have it in Jamaicas please.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/04/090406-ice-shelf-collapse-picture.html

[Svantevid]

@ ravenviz

Sorry, no. As the El Reg Standards Soviet declared, here are the relevant units:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/Design/page/reg-standards-converter.html

However, one Jamaica is 0,53 Wales(es?) or 0,0047 Democratic Republics of Congo.

[Mister_C]

Imperial measurements

In Belgium they might consider Congos to be an imperial measurement

[PartTimeLegend]

"NASA boffins, staring into the Sun..."

Every 5 year old knows not to stare directly into the Sun.

[Christoph]

Which USA?

Is that all the states, the continental states, or the contiguous states?

[Anonymous Coward]

for an older photo of this sort of thing

http://www.b3ta.com/board/2219607

[John Smith 19]

"Moving at 6-14Km/s"

or roughly M17-M42

Sadly if it's density is *anything* like most plasmas you'd need a board the size of truck to surf it (assuming the radiation didn't cook you first)

One thing about space weather, it's *huge*.

Surfs up.

[jubtastic1]

28G

Means our surfer will weigh in at about 4.5 Mini coopers, quite the handicap for even the most adept of plasma surfers.

[Anonymous Coward]

Also

moving at 6-14kms might make Clidro's a bit tricky. Won't have to worry about any super-sonic handling anomolies, as there won't be any air.

That and it'll be a tad warmer and brighter than you'd be used to. And radioactive.

[Tom 7]

Thats not a wave

thats an eddy.

[Anonymous Coward]

?your shipboard computer?

or Iron Maiden's mascot?

[Ray 8]

hmmm

Wonder what Keanu Reeves would say