Massive solar flare hits Earth tonight

is it possible the radiation from a strong enough solar flare could affect our DNA? Is there perhaps a type of energy in the solar flares that could be unknown?

Just a question.

Does anyone else get insomnia during these periods? Before knowing about them. I seem to have a bout of it every time there is a big one. So much so I was going to make a thread in times past.

I can't help but ask now, cause I'm running on fumes. Past 4 nights

Look at all the creepy wording in this article:
www.crunchgear.com...

The Sun giveth, and the Sun taketh away.

is apparently giving China a bit of a headache.

And over at en.wikipedia.org...

Solar flares are classified as A, B, C, M or X according to the peak flux (in watts per square meter, W/m2) of 100 to 800 picometer X-rays near Earth, as measured on the GOES spacecraft. Each class has a peak flux ten times greater than the preceding one, with X class flares having a peak flux of order 10−4 W/m2. Within a class there is a linear scale from 1 to 9, so an X2 flare is twice as powerful as an X1 flare, and is four times more powerful than an M5 flare. The more powerful M and X class flares are often associated with a variety of effects on the near-Earth space environment. Although the GOES classification is commonly used to indicate the size of a flare, it is only one measure.

The radiation risks posed by coronal mass ejections are a major concern in discussions of a manned mission to Mars, the moon, or other planets. Energetic protons can pass through the human body, doing biochemical damage,[4] and hence present a hazard to astronauts during interplanetary travel. Some kind of physical or magnetic shielding would be required to protect the astronauts. Most proton storms take two or more hours from the time of visual detection to reach Earth's orbit. A solar flare on January 20, 2005 released the highest concentration of protons ever directly measured,[5] taking only 15 minutes after observation to reach Earth, indicating a velocity of approximately one-third light speed, giving astronauts as little as 15 minutes to reach shelter.

IMOOC..
IF I was in the path of the sun at this time, I'd stay indoors.. eg DAYLIGHT..

Link

powerful solar eruption that triggered a huge geomagnetic storm has disturbed radio communications and could disrupt electrical power grids, radio and satellite communication in the next days, NASA said.

A strong wave of charged plasma particles emanating from the Jupiter-sized sun spot, the most powerful seen in four years, has already disrupted radio communication in southern China. The Class X flash -- the largest such category -- erupted at 0156 GMT Tuesday, according to the US space agency.

Well, i'm not panicking about this flare activity,as we must have been through them many times before, I am however going through the house unplugging electronic items that are not in use (just in case) I cant afford to replace anything, but so far ive not seen anything here in the uk, i'm on the east coast near the humber area and its cloudy at the moment. I'll let you know if anything happens, unless i'm not able too!!

Some more frightening information: we've barely begun our solar minimum and we already have a 35% chance of solar storm during the flare hitting tonight. It was rated as 45% but has since been lowered. There is still a chance this solar flare could cause solar storms though.

www.theweatherspace.com...

So, should I be concerned driving home tonight and it killing the electronics in my car while I am on the way to pull the main breaker on my home?

ok, I have a question. what does the mean for me and what should if any should I start doing? should I disconnect power from my boat.. radar, radios etc???????

Will we just see lights in the sky and maybe a few dropped calls as they are reporting? No I am not panicking but just want to be prepared.

11:20pm in the uk and its foggy as "£$^, considering the cme was absolutely nowhere near the size of the 1980 one I am going to call it a night xD think i'll keep the ol' magnetosphere page open though, the ground level radio anomolys showing up are not what I expected to be hearing about 3 days ago.

reply to post by madscientistintraining


I think its ment to hit us around 3am GMT

oh cool, im in anchorage, alaska at the moment, maybe ill get to see a show

I'm just taking precautions, I have only done what I would do in a thunder storm, I think you would be fine in a boat, I would only worry if your grid connected if the power goes down it causes spikes when switched back on, this is what blows your equipment.

Day of the Triffids springs to mind...

Originally posted by 9Cib27

Some more frightening information

Will you please stop fearmongering!!!!

There is NOTHING "frightening" about an X2 Class flare, unless you are an astronaught. Sheesh!
Stop being so overdramatic and getting naive or otherwise not-in-the-know people worried, for goodness' sake!

Four years ago we had worse - did any of you wake up to destroyed electronic equipment, death and destruction from that particularly harsh solar event?
What about the X48 that we've had before, remember all the devastation that one caused?...No?? Hmm.

An X2 is NOT the Carrington Event.

Originally posted by timewalker
Just a question.

Does anyone else get insomnia during these periods? Before knowing about them. I seem to have a bout of it every time there is a big one. So much so I was going to make a thread in times past.

I can't help but ask now, cause I'm running on fumes. Past 4 nights

I too have had trouble sleeping all this week. Of course it could just be that I lay awake staring out the window because I am too damn worried that I might just miss the damn auroras.

Originally posted by OptimisticPessimist

Originally posted by 9Cib27

Some more frightening information

Will you please stop fearmongering!!!!

There is NOTHING "frightening" about an X2 Class flare, unless you are an astronaught. Sheesh!
Stop being so overdramatic and getting naive or otherwise not-in-the-know people worried, for goodness' sake!

Four years ago we had worse - did any of you wake up to destroyed electronic equipment, death and destruction from that particularly harsh solar event?
What about the X48 that we've had before, remember all the devastation that one caused?...No?? Hmm.

An X2 is NOT the Carrington Event.

When was the last time YOU experienced a flare of this size??

I'm lucky, I'm still 3hrs in darkness when this hits... Stay indoors.. IMOO..

reply to post by UKWO1Phot


The last time? Me, personally?
Probably the same time the rest of the world did, and the time before that, etc.
Like I said, we've had worse, not long ago either and can anyone remember the damage it caused them? No you can't, because there wasn't any that concerned us...because we're not astronaughts, or (I at least) don't own a power station or satellite.

Look, if you're all going to get so frightened over this, then I seriously wonder whether your hearts will take the stress when we actually hit solar max!!

But, if you wish to feel genuine fear or even worry over this then that is of course, your perogative.

Look up the 'Carrington Event' and see the things that were reported from that, then come back and tell me you're still worried about the consequences of a lil' old medium sized flare.

Looks like it is starting. Look at the graphs.
www2.nict.go.jp...

Originally posted by sliceNodice
Looks like it is starting. Look at the graphs.
www2.nict.go.jp...

Slice wondering if you could help. Regarding that site you linked, I remember a while back whilst reading a thread regards the magnetasphere someone posted a link to a site very similar, well the layout was similar, but I was able to click something on the page that showed the graphs & pictures in a video kind of motion, as though all pictures taken from all the 20 min shots were put together in a slide show, Wonder if you or anyone knows where that site is. Its just for someone not as clued up on what the graphs mean (Like me) the motion capture would be a great thing to view as I could see it changing dramatically