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 …

[J P]

Just going to leave this here...

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

(Icon because, obviously)

[Tom 7]

People who link global warming to sunspots are wankers

but I swear solar activity makes it cloudy here.

[bombastic bob]

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'.

[JeffyPoooh]

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.

[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?)

[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 !!

[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.

[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)

[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.

[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

[phuzz]

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.

[JEDIDIAH]

Re: People who link global warming to sunspots are wankers

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

[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...

[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!!)

[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.

[Anonymous Coward]

Public nudity?

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

[I ain't Spartacus]

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.

[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.

[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.

[Phil Endecott]

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

[Richard Tobin]

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

[Pen-y-gors]

Just agree - but cross your fingers.

[Brewster's Angle Grinder]

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

[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.

[Will Godfrey]

Re: Arithmetic

Are you sure about that?

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

[Richard Boyce]

Re: Arithmetic

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

[CentralCoasty]

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

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

[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.

[Pascal Monett]

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.

[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"

[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.

[Pen-y-gors]

Re: Coincidentally

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

[vogon00]

Re: Coincidentally

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

[knarf]

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

This will be Triffic !

[Mystic Megabyte]

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!

[I ain't Spartacus]

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.

[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.

[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.

[Stoneshop]

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

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

[JeffyPoooh]

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...