Sunspot Tosses Plasma Cloud Toward Earth 94
parallel_prankster writes "The Washington Post reports that a huge sunspot unleashed a blob of charged plasma Thursday that space weather watchers predict will blast past the Earth on Sunday. Satellite operators and power companies are keeping a close eye on the incoming cloud, which could distort the Earth's magnetic field and disrupt radio communications, especially at higher latitudes. The huge blob of charged gas spotted by NASA satellites is speeding toward Earth at more than 2 million mph. The most damaging solar discharges, which are very rare, can move at speeds more than twice that fast. Here's a more detailed article with some animation."
Anonymous Coward releases huge first post (Score:2, Funny)
Could this cut off Facebook access? (Score:5, Funny)
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Heh, yeah, time wasting on Slashdot is much more fashionable!
Re:Could this cut off Facebook access? (Score:5, Funny)
I've thought long and hard about my flamebait moderation and I was just like to stop and apologize for implying that posting on Slashdot in the middle of a work day is as much of a waste of time as Facebook. I never meant any harm and I hope we can put this behind us.
Now let's return to our discussion about how much Facebook sucks in this story about a plasma storm.
Re:Could this cut off Facebook access? (Score:4, Funny)
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Re:Mayan Calendar (Score:5, Funny)
Coincidence? Or does this remind you of a scheduled event per the Mayan Calendar anyone?
Hmm...let me check my Mayan calendar...
...hmm...Thursday I have that office party....and next Sunday is your mother's birthday....
uh...nope--no scheduled giant plasma cloud.
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No worries. Those giant plasma cloud events are never as much fun as the brochures make them look. Oh, sure they've got zero gravity, but how entertaining is that really?
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The Sky is falling!
The Sky is FALLING!
Oh, wait ... no that's just a Russian probe. My bad.
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Those office parties are the best! They always find the hottest virgins to toss off the ziggurat.
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It reminds me of manbearpig... We'd better pass some laws against plasma clouds immediately! :)
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You can if it = { Koran, Bible, Torah }
Another sequel to the 1958 hit (Score:2)
The summary just makes me thing of The Blob so I have trouble taking it seriously.
Re:Another sequel to the 1958 hit (Score:5, Informative)
Would this [nasa.gov] help you take it more seriously?
(really, nothing to worry about anyway. it will just fuck up radio propagation and such)
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Anybody have anything on that? googling didn't seem to turn up much wheat vs chaff... or maybe I'm thinking of earth weather satellites not being replaced...
Just randomly thinking out loud.
Shinku... (Score:5, Funny)
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Everyone knows it should be "Kame-Hame-Ha! [wikia.com]"
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HaDOOOOOOken
FTFY.
Aurora (Score:2)
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Probably not [noaa.gov], unless you live at a pretty high latitude. If it's not cloudy and doesn't cool off from the current balmy temperature of -35F, then I'll be out taking pictures on Sunday.
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Because it is 2012 and all common spacial activities will be labeled as the "end of the world" like event, for the , i told you so at a starbucks near you.
Re:who cares? (Score:4, Informative)
Perhaps it's "news for nerds" because it does actually affect [n0hr.com] nerds?
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You don't think coronal mass ejections -- a stream of plasma bigger than our planet and traveling at millions of miles an hour -- or other aspects of space weather are nerdy?
Um, okay.
Anyway, who cares? I care. This is very nerdy news which I am happy to have on /.
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Coming from a guy named "DumbMarketingGuy (171031)", it's pretty hard to explain to a non-nerd like yourself why nerds find nerdy things interesting. You just aren't going to "get it"
In fact you are likely going to find NOTHING of interest on this website.
The "Stuff that Matters" bit is implied the stuff only matters to slashdots target audience, aka nerds, not you.
Perhaps you would prefer the stock tickers on Fox news instead?
Or perhaps you should just refrain from posting until a story pointing out your
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LMAO. When reading the other responses to this post I heard a bunch of whoosing noises. Read the OP's handle if you need a clue.
It is likely to miss (Score:5, Informative)
SWPC Forecasters have determined that the CME from NOAA Region 1402 near disk center yesterday will likely pass above (north) of Earth. This glancing blow will cause just G1 (Minor) Geomagnetic Storm activity. Look for the first signs of it around 1800Z (1:00 pm EST) on Sunday, January 22, with the bulk of the disturbance to occur Monday, January 23. Watch here for updates.
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Hmm. Well like usual, in Canada. It'll be cloudy, with snow. So, looks like there won't be anything to see anyway.
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Revise your terms, on the "sunspot" at least.
A question: (Score:3)
What makes for a good shielding for home electronics on such matters? Lead sheets?
Re:A question: (Score:5, Funny)
Tin foil hat should be enough
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Whoa! Good thing I have several!
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Just make sure it's *tin* and *not*aluminum*.
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What makes for a good shielding for home electronics on such matters? Lead sheets?
Lead sheets crumble and make a mess, and probably won't do you much good. I think a Faraday cage [wikipedia.org] is what you are looking for.
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Tinfoil over your head is a start. Shape it in a hat shape.
Seriously, though, you'd have to build a faraday cage.
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Pedantically, though, CMEs cannot directly damage your home electronics.
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Well that depends on your definition of damage.
If you mean it can't permanantly damge the physical structure of your home electronics, then yes.
However, the Earth's protective shield will not stop highly energetic charged particles from entering the atmosphere. It will not stop the above average X-Rays incumbent with SMEs. While An old AT 8086 computer was not likely to be impacted by highly energetic particles smashing through them, the newer much, much more densely packed chips of today have much higher p
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For electromagnetic shielding, you want something that is highly conductive. Lead is a poor conductor, so it wouldn't be very good (unless you cool it enough to become superconducting). Silver would be good, but is a bit expensive. Copper is almost as good, but still expensive, though not as much as silver. Aluminum is fairly good and readily available. I would suggest wrapping any electronics that you're worried about in aluminum foil.
That said, for this sort of event, just unplugging your electronics
AAAARHHHH (Score:4, Funny)
*runs to the nearest adult store for shelter*
Invest in T-Shirts (Score:3)
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And all I got was this lousy plasma burn.
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Well he did just sing at the Apollo [nbcnewyork.com].
I direct your attention to the Absorption Map (Score:4, Funny)
Clearly, Jesus does not like South America, and by implication the pagan parade of sin and debauchery that is Carnivale. Repent!
Pat Robertson
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Jesus doesn't like vampires, but vampires like pagan parades and sin.
Rob Pattinson
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Being in So.Cal, I asked my neighbor, Jesus Hernandez, if that was true. He said he only went there for a short trip once, but he liked South America just fine.
The upside (Score:5, Interesting)
Besides sparking pretty auroras, heightened solar activity has a more tangible benefit: It cleans up space junk. As the sun acts up, the Earth’s atmosphere expands, increasing friction on dead satellites, rocket parts and other trash in low Earth orbit, pulling them down.
The amount of debris in Earth orbit “actually decreased during 2011 as solar activity increased toward an anticipated maximum,” NASA’s chief space junk watcher, Nicholas Johnson, wrote in the January issue of the agency’s Orbital Debris Quarterly Newsletter.
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Ha! Now that's a technique for clearing up space junk that I haven't heard proposed before: Induce CMEs in the sun!
Somebody get to work on that. Preferably someone who isn't by appearance or name obviously a mad scientist.
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But everyone knows mad scientists make the coolest technology devices.
Admit it, you'd love to have some of those evil scientist toys.
Glancing blow only (Score:2)
From http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ [noaa.gov]
"2012-01-20 16:35 G1 (Minor) Geomagnetic Storm Possible January 23
SWPC Forecasters have determined that the CME from NOAA Region 1402 near disk center yesterday will likely pass above (north) of Earth. This glancing blow will cause just G1 (Minor) Geomagnetic Storm activity. Look for the first signs of it around 1800Z (1:00 pm EST) on Sunday, January 22, with the bulk of the disturbance to occur Monday, January 23."
unit conversion (Score:5, Informative)
For those that need to know, that plasma cloud is travelling at almost 5.7 billion furlongs/fortnight.
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Could you put that in terms of femtocubits per lakh?
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thumper/~ units
2684 units, 85 prefixes, 64 nonlinear units
You have: lakh
Unknown unit 'lakh'
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Unknown unit 'lakh'
It's a dimensionless quantity that's equal to 100k.
GP is indeed ignorant, as he was asking for a velocity expressed without any time units involved. That won't ever work.
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study of energy transfer (Score:3)
I know our magnetic field protects us from the radiation, but has there been a study to see if and how much energy from the flares and CMEs gets converted into heat?
think of the upside (Score:1)
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Oracle at fault again (Score:2)
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Rimshot? Anyone? (Score:2)
Imma get a big jar and scoop it up to sell to a blood bank. I'm either hilarious, or I really, really need to go to bed.
Forget FB, what about the playoffs? (Score:2)
If TV transmissions are interrupted during the NFL playoffs, I predict massive suicides and/or increases in alcohol consumption across the USA.
Charged gas? (Score:3)
Cheap solar flare detector? (Score:2)
OK, I know radios can detect lightning bursts. But is there a cheap, easy, interesting, and effective way to detect solar plasma hitting the Earth's atmosphere? I don't have the budget of ARPA or NSA so cheap, ACAT. Any good recommendations out there?
If so it it would also make a great HS science toy as well.