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Space & Astronomy

Earth hit by strongest solar flare in 10 years

By T.K. Randall
September 7, 2017 · Comment icon 56 comments

Sufficiently large solar flares can cause widespread disruption. Image Credit: NASA/Steele Hill
Two extremely powerful solar flares erupted from a large sunspot on the Sun's surface yesterday.
The two flares erupted approximately three hours apart with the second being the strongest recorded solar flare to have been observed in over a decade.

The flares were reported to have caused significant disruption to high-frequency radio signals with a "wide area of blackouts [and] loss of contact for up to an hour over [the] sunlit side of Earth."
Low frequency communication, which is used in navigation, was also disrupted for a short time.

"We are heading toward solar minimum, but the interesting thing about that is you can still have events, they're just not as frequent," said space weather scientist Rob Steenburgh.

"We're not having X-flares every day for a week, for instance - the activity is less frequent, but no less potentially strong. These kind of events are just part of living with a star."



Source: Space.com | Comments (56)




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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #47 Posted by Nzo 7 years ago
They dont call it the DEATH STAR for no reason. I am just saying.
Comment icon #48 Posted by Noteverythingisaconspiracy 7 years ago
You do know the Deathstar is fictional don't you ?
Comment icon #49 Posted by Astra. 7 years ago
I see, so you were being serious ? 
Comment icon #50 Posted by Nzo 7 years ago
There is no scientific research to back up what I am saying, so how can I possibly be serious? Yes I know that the Deathstar is fictional. Is'nt it amazing how similiar the death star is to our sun. Its huge and round and has sunspots that look like planet killing death rays. I wonder if G. Lucas actually knew about the sun and sunspots and if it influenced his creation of the death star? If, not it is extremely coincidental.
Comment icon #51 Posted by ziomek 7 years ago
Hmm  
Comment icon #52 Posted by Astra. 7 years ago
Since folk here are not mind readers, and all we have is text to go by, sometimes it's worth adding an emoticon so at least others know whether you are being humorous or not...just sayin! ..
Comment icon #53 Posted by Nzo 7 years ago
I had no idea that people would take issue with me dissing the sun.  Which is a total surprise to me and makes me want to ask, what would have been your rebuttal had I been serious? I guess, maybe people still worship the sun? I have a line of thought that I amuse myself with from time to time. There are some(cannot remember where I read it, probably a religious studies course in university or science fiction novel) that think that the sun is sentient. God(RA) for lack of a better understanding.  I think to myself, if this were to be true and this sun is sentient like all the other stars in ... [More]
Comment icon #54 Posted by krone 7 years ago
Yes, I feel the same way when the news talks about a 'disruption' that, translated, means some flights were grounded for a couple of hours. Give me a break! Most of those flights are wholly unnecessary and the whole industry's doomed anyway, since we're on our last oil and no one's come up with an electric passenger jet. A couple of flights being grounded is going to seem like a joke in a couple of years' time.
Comment icon #55 Posted by krone 7 years ago
Not defending theology here but this is, i believe, the whole question that most religions were created to try and find an answer to. Whether one feels any of them have succeeded, and to which extent, is a whole other question.
Comment icon #56 Posted by pallidin 7 years ago
Good God you people are weird.


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