ANOTHER GIANT SOLAR FLARE ...

--posted by D.W.N and Kaspel
____edited by VY Maha________

ANOTHER GIANT SOLAR FLARE ...
14 September 2005
GIANT SOLAR FLARE HITS U.S., CANADA

Note: there was another X-class flare today. Could be geoeffective,
but I'm not sure.

Strong northern lights, or aurora, another sign of the ongoing powerful "geomagnetic storm."

Even NASA is on alert, with Johnson Space Center's radiation experts staffing their desks around the clock to ensure that astronauts aboard the International Space Station are ready for any shower of heavy radiation.

Power systems in the northern U.S. states and Canada reported electrical surges on Thursday, caused by the magnetic pulse from the solar eruption interacting with Earth's magnetic field, essentially turning the planet into a giant electrical generator.

Sept. 12, 2005— A rowdy sunspot cluster hurled a record-breaking flare into space on Wednesday, blacking out all high- and low- frequency radio communications on both American continents, causing power surges, blinding satellites and lighting up aurorae, and more trouble is likely on the way, say experts.

A massive initial X-ray flare on Sept. 7 was immediately followed by an eruption of solar material that broke free from the sun at a speed of 5.8 million miles per hour, the speediest seen in 20 years of CME observations by the National Center for Atmospheric Research's High Altitude Observatory in Hawaii.

Earth and near-Earth space was first hit with X-rays, followed by an ongoing magnetic storm and hard radiation.

The sunspot cluster causing all the trouble was just coming around the edge of the sun last week. Now it has rotated with the sun into better view and is showing no signs of calming down, said Larry Combs, a space weather forecaster with the National Oceanic and Space Administration's Space Environment Center.

"This particular region (on the sun) is just now reaching the center of the sun," said Combs. "It's just now getting into the bull's-eye."


A coronal mass ejection (CME) is racing toward Earth. Watch for severe geomagnetic storms to ensue. There have been much larger events in our recent and past history. This latest event comes from three X-Class flares which launched yesterday evening. It should take 24 to 48 hours to hit the Earth's magnetic field. So it is possible to experience itseffects as soon as late night/early morning.

Watch for "extreme" weather to follow, most likely in the way of straight-line winds, micro-burst, wind shears, and tornadoes. Also, sudden temperature shifts may occur.

Alerts have already been sent out to all power companies, military services, FAA (airlines), communication satellite companies, and NASA-ISS.