New X-Flare Direction Could Cause Radio Black Outs

Looking at a 1-2 X-Flare and one viewer says this is pointed right at us.




solarimg.org...

X Flare in progress! Peaking around X1.2 – July 12, 2012 16:40 UTC – R3 Strong Radio Blackouts are in effect. A coronal mass ejection may be associated with this strong flare.

www.swpc.noaa.gov...

Not a constant watcher but can anyone verify their claim? And before anyone runs to their caves...yes it's something to watch for but not an ELE on the door step.

Looking for member input.

Peace

spaceweather.com

Big sunspot AR1520 unleashed an X1.4-class solar flare on July 12th at 1653 UT. Because the sunspot was directly facing Earth at the time of the blast, this is a geoeffective event. Stay tuned for updates about possible CMEs and radio blackouts.

Not quite sure what they mean about 'geoeffective ' but I'm guessing it could have some impact on Earth.

Originally posted by fenceSitter
spaceweather.com

Big sunspot AR1520 unleashed an X1.4-class solar flare on July 12th at 1653 UT. Because the sunspot was directly facing Earth at the time of the blast, this is a geoeffective event. Stay tuned for updates about possible CMEs and radio blackouts.

Not quite sure what they mean about 'geoeffective ' but I'm guessing it could have some impact on Earth.

Radio Black outs is what got me.

Peace

i dont see anything on here: www.solarham.net...

there is one on the other side of the sun, but i cant see it affecting us.

Our sun cant produce flares that would wipe our planet out, it can however cause massive blackouts and such. an x1.2 isnt anything to worry about tho unless you got a satellite up in orbit

Originally posted by lonewolf10
i dont see anything on here: www.solarham.net...

there is one on the other side of the sun, but i cant see it affecting us.

Here is the info:. Also posted above by another member.

spaceweather.com...

X-FLARE! Big sunspot AR1520 unleashed an X1.4-class solar flare on July 12th at 1653 UT. Because the sunspot was directly facing Earth at the time of the blast, this is a geoeffective event. Stay tuned for updates about possible CMEs and radio blackouts.

The UV and X-ray pulse from the flare will have ionized Earth's upper atmosphere on the dayside of our planet, disturbing the normal propagation of radio signals, especially at low frequencies.

Yup, gonna be a nice one. Got a great vid from www.solarham.net...

Originally posted by MastaShake
Our sun cant produce flares that would wipe our planet out, it can however cause massive blackouts and such. an x1.2 isnt anything to worry about tho unless you got a satellite up in orbit

I think you might be wrong there. Today Mars has no atmosphere, it seems to have had one in the past and some scientists say that it could have lost its atmosphere due to a large solar flare. Also Mars used to have a strong magnetic field much like Earth's. Maybe it was a combination of a failing magnetic field and a strong solar flare which caused its destruction. Earth's magnetic field is currently weakening and is significantly weaker than it was even 100 years ago.

This current X flare wont cause us to loose our atmosphere though, but a stronger flare and more direct hit could.

Earth loosing its atmosphere faster than Mars

reply to post by jude11


Verify? I haven't looked at the sun lately but yes it is all over the internet from various news outlets. Most of them are downplaying it as a relatively low risk. They claim it's fairly modest in comparison to what is possible, which is a bit scary.