Sun Produces Strongest Flare Ever Recorded 422
idontneedanickname writes "The BBC is reporting about the newest flare unleashed by the sun. According to NASA's SOHO website, "Today word came from the SEC that their best estimate was X28. We have a new number 1 X-ray flare for the record books." As usual there are magnificent images to be admired."
This one's not headed straight for us...
Anyone else think... (Score:5, Funny)
That Sun Microsystems was coming out with a new line of servers when they read the headline?
First the SunFire line, now the SunFlare line, the STRONGEST EVER!
That was close! (Score:4, Funny)
Okay... (Score:0, Funny)
(Pun so totally intended.)
What's with all these flares? (Score:5, Funny)
is anyone surprised? (Score:1, Funny)
Fucking SUVs (Score:5, Funny)
Emissions are way up and pollution is at an all time high in many areas. Add to that that the polar ice shelves are rapidly breaking up and falling into the ocean, and you've got yourself a recipe for disaster.
Re:What's with all these flares? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Other source (Score:5, Funny)
Reads as: We have no fucking idea what's going on.
Re:Anyone else think... (Score:1, Funny)
Are we sure... (Score:3, Funny)
Sheesh (Score:1, Funny)
That darn 486 (Score:5, Funny)
Next we'll see cloned sunspots from AMD and Cyrix, followed by a massive rebranding campaign by Intel...
Wait. What were we talking about again?
Re:Anyone else think... (Score:2, Funny)
Solar Chili - Take 2 (Score:4, Funny)
The more you burn, gravity can let it toot
The more you toot, the better your feel
So burn Hydrogen in every nuclear meal!
In Space...nobody can smell your vapors
-1 Troll (I wish I could think of something to post)
-1 Overrated (I wish my ADD would let me read and absorb all of this...functional illiteracy doesn't help either)
What it means to me (Score:2, Funny)
TiVo recordings of shows received from satellite TV might be interrupted.
Re:What's with all these flares? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:What's with all these flares? (Score:2, Funny)
I for one... (Score:-1, Funny)
Re:Anyone else think... (Score:2, Funny)
Would be a good idea for Sun to follow actually. Great naming scheme, especially given how many flares there have been recently. Easy marketting line: "Sun Flare X35 - the only Sun Flare on Earth!"
Will get them a bit of bad will if a really strong sun flare does end up wasting half the electronics in the world though...
Daniel
Re:You mean YAWN Old News (Score:1, Funny)
This is Slashdot, we ARE in the basements
anomalous! (Score:5, Funny)
The probability of this happening is a double secret statistical anomaly.
I'M a Power Supply Designer (Score:5, Funny)
Morlocks unite! (Score:1, Funny)
* evolving night vision
* digging an extensive system of tunnels underneath all Wendy's locations
* building a large metal Sphinx-like thing that wails periodically
* keeping an eye out for Weena
Who's in?
End Of The World Is Nigh! DOOM! DOOM! DOOM! (Score:3, Funny)
<sarcasm>
The sun is angry; we are doomed. These flares are just the beginning, they will increase in magnitude until they are so big, they penetrate the Earth's magnetic field, destroy the entire ozone layer and sanitize the surface of the Earth with UV rays - just like an autoclave. [mira.org] Not even bacteria will survive except underground and deep in the Ocean.
The signs are showing, this is the END OF THE WORLD! The sun has been showing more activity since 1940 than it has for the last 1000 years put together. [newscientist.com] Doom is imminent!
Scientists don't act worried, they think they understand the sun and how it works, but science it just guesses. Maybe the sun is made of iron instead of hydrogen [pairlist.net] where would all the theories that say we are safe be then, if such a basic 'fact' about the sun turned out to be wrong?
As the flares grow in size and number you will all see that my theory is correct! "What is my theory?" you ask. It is that since the END OF THE WORLD makes a good movie plot point, that it must be happening NOW! These are going to be interesting times... We should all start storing canned food and porno mags in bomb shelters now before it's too late and we get cooked by the MASSIVE RADIATION STORM!
And what if the sun should stop flaring, and I should get proven wrong. WE ARE STILL DOOMED! In the same way that load from a light socket makes the generators in a power plant harder to turn, so geomagnetic storms transfer the kinetic energy of megatons of speeding charged particles directly to the magmatic dynamo at our planet's core. Small purturbations can affect this chaotic fluid flow in unpredictable ways but the most worrying is that the shock from the kinetic energy of all those particles will cause avalanches at the core/mantle boundary [lbl.gov] this will cause massive vulcanism that will cover the earth with lava!
If that doesn't get us, terrorists wielding viruses [organicconsumers.org] will.
Get out your sandwich board and whisky! Walk the streets and warn! THE END OF THE WORLD IS NIGH!!!!
<sarcasm>
Re:What's with all these flares? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Other source (Score:3, Funny)
"Warm and dry, but cooler with some rain".
Re:Bruce Dickinson: Prophet? (Score:1, Funny)
"I got a fever and the only prescription for it is more cowbell!"
Helioeccentric (Score:5, Funny)
Sol: I'm sorry. I was late. I was having lunch.
I need to talk about your flare.
Sol: Really? I have 15 spots on. I, uh, (shows him)
Well, ok, 15 is minimum, ok?
Sol: Ok.
Now, it's up to you whether or not you want to just do the bare minimum. Well, like Sirius, for example, has 37 pieces of flare. And a terrific smile.
Sol: Ok. Ok, you want me to flare more?
Look. Sol.
Sol: Yeah.
People can get a sunburn anywhere, ok? They come to Earth for the atmosphere and the attitude. That's what the flare's about. It's about fun.
Sol: Ok. So, more then?
Look, we want you to express yourself, ok? If you think the bare minimum is enough, then ok. But some suns choose to flare more and we encourage that, ok? You do want to express yourself, don't you?
Sol: Yeah. Yeah.
Great. Great. That's all I ask.
Sol: Ok.
Re:Solar Flares (Score:3, Funny)
I mean it's OBVIOUSLY a conspiracy between a few trillion tons* of hydrogen and some scientists to cheat the taxpayers out of money! The nerve of these stars sometimes....
* I have no idea how heavy the sun actually is (and I don't particularly care)
Region 486 (Score:5, Funny)
Thank goodness it wasn't from the Pentium IV region, or even the extremely Hot Athlon XP region, we'd be burnt to a crisp. Damn solar over-clockers, If they burn out this sun, where are we gunna get another one? The bidders have been grabbing them up on ebay like hotcakes.
Can't believe nobody metioned Nostradamus yet! (Score:2, Funny)
Re:The high activity may repeat in two weeks (Score:2, Funny)
This... this is what's wrong with education today! They don't teach young'uns anything anymore!
X28 Popups (Score:3, Funny)
Maybe the Sun wasn't getting enough response from its X-10 popups?
Re:Solar Flares (Score:5, Funny)
Tough noogies.
Useless informational post:
The sun's weight is one solar mass. Have a nice day.
Re:The high activity may repeat in two weeks (Score:3, Funny)
"Safe" solar power my ass... (Score:2, Funny)
Let's face it, it's time to shut down the sun before it kills us and step up use of safe energy sources like coal and oil. The sun has had its chance, and it blew it.
Re:What's with all these flares? (Score:3, Funny)
I'll get modded down, but it's worth it (Score:3, Funny)
I won't bore you with the laundry list of other problems that I've encountered while working on various SUVs, but suffice it to say there have been many, not the least of which is I've never seen a SUV that has run faster than its Rice-grinder counterpart, despite the SUVs' faster chip architecture. My six-disc in-dash CD changer and Bose speaker system runs faster than this 285 horsepower machine at times. From a productivity standpoint, I don't get how people can claim that the SUV is a superior machine.
SUV addicts, flame me if you'd like, but I'd rather hear some intelligent reasons why anyone would choose to use a SUV over other faster, cheaper, more stable vehicles.
Re:What's with all these flares? (Score:3, Funny)
Perhaps we should chill it for now.