Massive solar flare hits Earth tonight

Massive solar flare hits Earth tonight

www.tgdaily.com

The coronal mass ejection associated with the flare is currently traveling about 900 Km/second and is expected to reach Earth’s orbit tonight at about 10pm EST. It's the biggest flare yet in the current solar cycle.
A flare of this size could have noticeable effects on Earth when the cloud of charged particles reaches us. It's possible that radio transmissions and GPS systems could be knocked out, and power grids could be affected.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Hmmmm i swear i saw this movie awhile back.
DOOOM DOOOM

Well guys just in case be ready for a power outage.


www.tgdaily.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

A prime opportunity for some foreign satelites to 'fail'?
And not just from the flare.

reply to post by TheAmused


10.00pm EST, thats 3.00am to all of those who operate on GMT. I notice that the article says that the Aurora effects may extend further than normal from the poles. I always wish when I hear these suggestions from Nasa/other astronomy and space science organisations, that they would actualy figure out how to pin point the exact places from which an observer might hope to actualy see the effects.
Being in Britain, and having virtualy no money most of the time, I have never been able to afford to see the northern lights for myself, even though its on my bucket list so to speak. If I get the oppertunity to witness such a thing from the steps of my home however, I will be doing backflips of pure joy. Unfortunately, even were the effects to reach the south of England tomorrow morning, I will likely as not be incapable of seeing them, due to the fact that the region is currently under a blanket of fog, and theres little to no wind right now. *Sigh*
I will however be very interested to see if mobile communications, power, and hardwire comms are still operational in the morning. Lets hope this isnt another Carrington Event.

reply to post by TheAmused


I know this might be a stupid question, but, on a cloudy day the sun dont really make england very bright, so if its cloudy will we be protected from the flare too, and saved from impending doom?
thanks for the info in advance

reply to post by TrueBrit


this page offers some nice forecasting tools that may be of some help to you. it is centered on alaska but does offer tools for a wider range of viewers. check it out:

Geophysical Institute

reply to post by iforget


You are a most wonderful person, and I salute you! I have been hoping for a tool like this for absolutely ages! Thank you very much for letting me know.
According to the page you sent me to, I probably wont be able to see a whole hell of a lot, even if the local weather improves somewhat before 3.00am tomorrow, since the indications are that it will be just visible on the horizon... if you are in Scotland that is, the opposite end of the United Kingdom. However, I have a freind who lives in Elgin, and from there, he may be able to see it. Lucky bugger. I shall endevour to inform him of this rare astronomical delicacy, and hopefully at least one of us will get an eyefull.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/d1920bf88a31.png[/atsimg]

* It's tradition that this get posted...no offense intended. Things like this always alarm me a bit, so this calms me down

reply to post by TrueBrit

you can see the northen lights in the uk, "thay just donte advertise i seen them about a month ago just look north off the moon for green looking cloudes"it has to be clear thou and the brown ring arouund the monn meens the northen lights. are comingi seen them on walney island.

reply to post by TheAmused


Says here that they will be visible from the UK:

uk.yahoo.com...=AgUnamjMi9Obak1DejRwHos4hJp4;_ylu=X3o'___'NrYzZ0amNlBGE'___' cwMjExX05ld3NfTm9ydGhlcm5fTGlnaHRzX2luX0JyaXRhaW4EY3BvcwMxBGcDaWQtMjc2MDIEaW50bAN1awRpdGMDMARwa2d2AzUEcG9zAzIEc2VjA3RkLWZlYXQEc2xrA3RpdGxlBHRlc3QDNzAy /SIG=13e9d3br9/EXP=1298037823/**http%3A//uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20110217/tuk-storm-to-bring-northern-lights-to-br-a7ad41d.html

I'll try get a view but i'm SE

Hi all i have been looking at this site for a while now and felt i had to join up tonight

I seen this just on the news *SBS Australia* but already see it on this thread about 2hrs ago it reported that china was experiencing grid problems already????

Just looked on their site but cant find anything

But channel 7 has this, It seems it could hurt chinas communications
au.news.yahoo.com...

cheers

i whent to sweeden and i dident see them but i looked out last month and seen them in the uk lol

I encourage everyone to try to take a look if there is a possibility you can see the aurora in your area.

In 2004, I was on my way home from Charleston WV. I worked for a photography company and was making a late night trip back home to Ohio after a horribly busy 3 days of work. We were heading out of the city and I kept seeing what I thought were spotlights in the sky. We get farther and farther away from the city and I begin to think that I was having a vision problem from seeing the camera flash go off for 12 hours a day, for three straight days. I kept catching it in my peripheral vision and was convinced I was just "seeing things".

A few hours later we were almost home. We stopped at my coworker's mom's house to use the bathroom (it was about 3am, nothing was open and we still had an hour to get home) and I got out of the car, looked up at the sky and was blown away by what I saw. I pointed it out to my coworker and we agreed to drive way out in country to get a better look.

We get out of the car on a back road and were completely blown away. I had no idea what we were looking at! There was also a meteor shower happening at the same time. We watched the sky until the sun started to come up.

The next day I googled it and realized there had been a solar storm. The auroras were visible as far south as Dayton Ohio.

The auroras we saw that night were not colorful, they were white. They also were not just in the north, they were all throughout the sky. It was amazing. It is something that I will never ever forget. The only way I can describe it is it was almost like we could see the wind. Probably not the best description, but my coworker actually asked me if that's what it was.

So, if you get the chance, try to have a look. You won't be disappointed

China already reporting disturbances to radio communications, according to reports.

UK users might experience power cuts. I'm hearing the government is considering controlled power cuts in certain areas, but is currently monitoring reports from the far east before making a decision.

Arkansas:

Thursday February 17 2011, 10:49:48 UTC 100 minutes ago Arkansas 4.7 3.5 Detail
Thursday February 17 2011, 10:49:48 UTC 100 minutes ago Arkansas 4.7 3.5 Detail
Thursday February 17 2011, 10:49:48 UTC 100 minutes ago Arkansas 3.8 6.5 Detail
Thursday February 17 2011, 10:49:48 UTC 100 minutes ago Arkansas 4.0 3.5 Detail

hisz.rsoe.hu...



Not sure about others but this has me mildly concern.

New topic:

Is anyone having problems with their cell phone?
For several days now, my phone loses all signals and, for the most part it's clear. AT&T doesn't know why and I wonder if it has to do with these CME interfering with some satellites!

Could just be me paranoid but the moon here looks VERY bright tonight
Would there be anyway to see if their is a connection?

Im from Perth Australia

This has excited me somewhat.
I'm in the East Midlands, UK. Clouds seem to clearing a little here, just hope that fog doesn't settle back in tonight.
Gonna have to keep my eyes peeled. Hopefully it won't be too cold for a dressing down and jammies
xD

reply to post by infinite


Hey Infinite, have you got a link or anything regarding the proposed power cuts?

reply to post by stefplz


I hope we get to see the lights here in the north west too..!!! Ill try and get some pics if it stays clear.

You should have your camera at the ready too

reply to post by Human_Alien


The Arkansas quakes continue and their getting larger - concerned myself.