"The sun unleashed a cosmic double whammy Tuesday (March 6), erupting with two major flares to cap a busy day of powerful solar storms. One of the flares is the most powerful solar eruption of the year, so far. Both of the huge flares ranked as X-class storms, the strongest type of solar flares the sun can have. They followed several weaker, but still powerful, sun storms on Tuesday and came just days after another major solar flare on Sunday night. The first big solar storm was also the most powerful one, ranking as an X5.4-class flare after erupting at 7:02 p.m. EST (0002 March 7 GMT), according to an alert from the Space Weather Prediction Center operated by the National Weather Service. It is the strongest solar flare yet for 2012. The second event occurred just over an hour later, reaching a maximum strength of X1.3. Several space-based observatories witnessed the solar flares, including NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory and the agency's Stereo-B spacecraft. The sun-watching observatories spotted huge clouds of charged particles called coronal mass ejections, or CMEs erupting from the solar flares. "First-look data from Stereo-B are not sufficient to determine if the cloud is heading for Earth," astronomer Tony Phillips wrote on his website Spaceweather.com, which monitors space weather events. "Our best guess is 'probably, yes, but not directly toward Earth.' A glancing blow to our planet's magnetosphere is possible on March 8th or 9th." [Worst Solar Storms in History] According to Phillips, the big X5.4 solar flare erupted from the giant active sunspot AR1429, which was also responsible for the major sun storm on Sunday. When aimed directly at Earth, X-class solar flares can endanger astronauts and satellites in orbit, interfere with satellite communications and damage power grids on Earth. They can also amplify the Earth's display of northern and southern lights, also known as auroras. Charged particles from the solar storms can interact with Earth's upper atmosphere, resulting in a glow that is typically visible to observers at high northern or southern latitudes. Astronomers rank solar flares by strength using five categories: A, B, C, M and X. The A-class flares are the weakest sun storms, while the X-class events are the most powerful solar flares. This ranking system was designed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and resembles the Richter scale used for earthquakes in that each category is 10 times stronger than the one before it, NASA officials have said. So a B-class solar flare is 10 times stronger than an A-class event, while a C-class solar storm releases 10 times more energy than B-class flare (or 100 times more energy than an A-class event). The categories are also broken down into subsets, from 1 to 9, to pinpoint a solar flare's strength. Only X-class solar flares have subcategories that go higher than 9. The most powerful solar flare on record occurred in 2003 and was estimated to be an X28 on the solar flare scale, NASA officials said. Tuesday's X-class solar flares followed a string of other eruptions that included M-class and C-class events, space weather officials said. Both of the day's X-class sun storms were stronger than the X1.1 solar flare of March 5. Prior to this week, the only huge solar flare of 2012 occurred on Jan. 27, when the sun unleashed an X1.7-class eruption. The sun is currently going through an active phase of its 11-year weather cycle. The current cycle is known as Solar Cycle 24 and is expected to reach its peak level of activity in 2013, NASA officials have said." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/...id10|htmlws-main-bb|dl1|sec1_lnk3&pLid=141687 Hmmmmmmmm......... Maybe you global warmin' alarmists can dream up a scheme fer nanny Gubment ta tax us n' take our liberties if ya can cornvince those real gullible suckers that vote fer dim wit Democrats that ya can corntrol ol' sol, (the same ball o' gas that causes the global warmin'),eh?????...... burp.... pffffffft.... (a little sneaker that is a source of green house gas)....
I don't think Obamaprompter is a very skilled venture capitalist, and I don't ever want Nanny Gubment pickin' winners n' losers. Even if Mitt Romney did it, (who clearly does have skills and competence in this area that Obamaprompter lacks). Obamaprompter is the least competent POTUS in American history, (yet: he is one of the most arrogant). A VERY dangerous combination. Current technology has big time limits in any cost benefit proposition.... In any event, once the technology exists to make solar competitive with fossil fuels the private sector well need to make it werk at a profit. Me overpriced two cents.
Yea, Uncle Ferd out inna side yard with his fire-retarded suit gettin' ready to do battle with the solar flare breathin' dragon... Solar storm barreling toward Earth this weekend 13 July`12 The space weather forecast for Earth looks a bit stormy this weekend, but scientists said not to worry.
It's a sign and warning. Some scientists believe that we will experience an event this year which will basically fry all electronics on one unknown side of our planet due to the EMP released by uncontrolled Solar Flares or something along those lines. The fact that the Mayans were experts in astronomy also draws me to the conclusion that the so called 2012 apocalypse will basically be a solar flare incident.
LOL. Source? The Mayans were no more experts in astronomy than the ancient Babylonians or Egyptians..
http://solarstormwarning.com/ http://space.about.com/od/sunsol/a/Solar_Flare_2012_Conspiracy.html NASA predicts massive solar storm. Will A Massive Solar Flare Destroy the Earth? Countless media outlets have been reporting that the Sun is gearing up for a massive solar storm that would disrupt communications, electronic devises and possibly power grids all over the world. Is this a sign that the 2012 prophecy is true? Was there any truth to the events in the blockbuster movie 2012? Is This Related To the 2012 Prophecy? Almost as soon as it was revealed that NASA was worried that a massive solar storm could erupt in the coming years, conspiracy theorists began pointing to the Mayan prophecy that predicts the end of the world in 2012. First of all, the Mayans made no such prophecy. (You can read about that in detail here.) Secondly, it is very unlikely that such a coronal mass ejection would occur by the end of 2012. The peak of the solar maximum will not occur until at least 2013, and such massive solar storms do not typically occur until shortly after the peak of surface activity. Thirdly, and more to the point, such a solar flare would not destroy the Earth. At least not directly. Yes, the sudden flux in charged particles would have an adverse effect on our electrical systems (including the entire grid system). And there will be some aurorae where there usually aren’t any. But ultimately, life will continue to flourish on the Earth. When I said "at least not directly" I was being a bit coy. The reason is, you see, is that the impact to our electrical grid could be devastating and it could take months to repair. That means possibly no electricity for months. I’ll let you ponder the consequences for that for a moment. But don’t worry, the government is aware of this and they are putting safeguards in place to prevent such a cataclysm. We should be find. What About the Movie 2012? Now I feel obligated to address the specific scenario that was outlined in the blockbuster movie 2012. In the article I wrote on the 2012 conspiracy I addressed virtually all of the scientific reasons that the Earth could face an end. (And even some that made no scientific sense.) But never in my wildest dreams would I have come up with what I saw in the movie. I’ll look past the completely bogus assertion that planetary alignment caused increased solar activity. (No planetary alignments will occur in 2012. But even if there was, this would have no effect on solar activity. This was complete pandering to the 2012 conspiracy community.) Rather, I will just acknowledge for the sake of this article that a massive solar flare occurs in 2012. The crux of the story is that solar neutrinos from the Sun are emitted during the flare with such a flux that they are heating up the Earth’s core. (For those of you reading this article that have a background in physics, I will give you a moment to quell your laughter and wipe the tears from your eyes before continuing to read.) Now, the Sun does emit neutrinos in hugh amounts. You, while sitting there reading this, have 50 trillion solar neutrinos passing through your body every second. The reason that they don’t harm you is that they are charge neutral and have a nearly negligible mass. Neutrinos are weakly interacting particles; and the same number that enter the Earth pass through the other side uninterrupted. How do we know this? Because we have spent literally billions of dollars to make these measurements. As it turns out neutrinos are excellent for doing all kinds of science. The explanation given in the movie for why these neutrinos suddenly decided to change their non-interacting nature is that, while in the Earth, the neutrinos underwent some kind of quantum change that is not elaborated upon. Umm, sure. This actually makes no sense, but is probably a nod to a problem in solar neutrino physics. Basically there was a discrepancy in the amount of solar neutrinos measured on Earth. However, this discrepancy was worked out during the last decade. Essentially, neutrinos can change type through oscillation. (There are three types.) But they can’t change into some completely new type of particle as was eluded to in the movie. So there it is, while the movie was visually entertaining the science was pretty much awful (and I really didn’t go into the half of it). And the possible solar storms headed our way in the next several years aren’t likely to bring the Earth to an end. ------------------------------------ And look what happened today; Read more at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48183944/ns/technology_and_science-space/ This is just the beginning! No power failure expected now but more intense storms expected in the near future. Intense solar storm bombarding Earth now updated 7/14/2012 11:02:29 AM ET A strong solar storm is battering the Earth now and could amplify the planet's northern lights displays. The solar storm is cosmic fallout from a massive solar flare on Thursday that included a powerful eruption on the sun, known as a coronal mass ejection. The eruption sent a wave of charged solar plasma toward Earth, which was expected to arrive sometime between 5 a.m. and 9 a.m. EDT (0900 and 1400 GMT), according to forecasts by NASA and the NOAA-run Space Weather Prediction Center. Space Weather officials said the solar storm could trigger a level G2 geomagnetic storm on Earth, a moderate-level event that could spark auroras at latitudes as low as New York or Idaho, after 9 a.m. EDT. Most northern lights displays, which occur when charged solar particle interact with Earth's upper atmosphere, are confined to high-latitude regions around the polar regions by the planet's magnetic field. "Weekend auroras are likely," the space weather-tracking website Spaceweather.com wrote in an alert. This weekend's solar storm originated from one of the most powerful sun flares to occur this year. The flare registered as an X1.4-class sun storm, one of the strongest flares the sun can unleash. It marked the sixth X-class solar flare of 2012. The solar storm erupted from the giant sunspot AR1520, or Active Region 1520, which is actually a group of sunspots that at its peak may have stretched across 186,000 miles of the sun's surface, NASA scientists have said. The Space Weather Prediction Center is keeping a close watch on AR1520, as well as several other active spots on the sun, for signs of more activity. "All eyes are on the solar wind data to note the expected passage on Saturday of a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) from Thursday's solar event," center officials wrote in an update late Friday. The solar storm is not expected to pose a major risk to satellites and spacecraft in orbit, or power systems on Earth, officials have said.The sun is currently in the middle of an active phase in its 11-year sunspot cycle. The current cycle is known as Solar Cycle 24 and expected to peak in 2013. -----------------------------------------------------------------------and here's evidence Mayans were expert astronomers; http://www.experiment-resources.com/mayan-astronomy.html Even without technology they knew many things. Very few ancient astronomers capture the imagination in quite the same way as the Mayans, perhaps because of the conspiracy theories surrounding the alleged end of the world in 2012, as predicted by their calendar. Their incredibly accurate astronomical calculations and sophisticated mathematics were steeped in religion and omens, their priests discerning the very will of the gods behind the occurrences of natural phenomena. Perhaps more than even the Egyptian or Indian astronomers, the observations of the Mayan priest-astronomers were wholly dedicated to astrology and this pervaded every single aspect of everyday life. This has created the New Age boom in Mayan books and paraphernalia, where their calendar and numerology is bolted on to Eastern philosophy and Greek wisdom. Of course, we tend to look at all astrology as bunkum, designed to make people part with their hard-earned cash. However, to ancient peoples, it was an integral part of life, predicting the endless cycles of nature, life, death, and rebirth that were essential to agricultural and nomadic peoples. It is not surprising that the Mayans observed the stars to chart the seasons, in common with most of the world’s great cultures, and they developed a calendar of their own, trying to generate ever more accurate measurements and times. Mayan astronomy was certainly steeped in esoterica and ceremony, but this cannot hide the high degree of accuracy of their observations and the mathematical sophistication needed to devise their complex system of calendars running concurrently. MAYAN ASTRONOMY The Mayans did not have any complex instruments for charting the positions of celestial objects, so their observations were with the naked eye. They may have used rudimentary instruments, such as crossed sticks to chart position, but they lacked the armillary spheres or sextants of other civilizations. However, the Mayans were excellent builders and many of their temples and buildings are aligned to help observers monitor position. For example, many buildings pointed towards the equinoxes or midsummer, whilst other buildings had doorways and windows aligned with the most northerly or southerly rising of Venus, one of the most important celestial bodies to the Mayan culture. So accurate were their observations that their predictions of the orbit of Venus lost only two hours in a 584-day cycle. Maybe, but an expert is still an expert, Einstein and Newton are both experts but different like Mayans and Ancient Egyptians. I never claimed the ancient Egyptians or Babylonians were inferior to the Mayans i astronomy, where did you get that from?
Buddy, did you even read what you posted? 2012 is bogus, a lot of paranoid, superstitious hooey. Regarding Mayan "astronomy" in particular, I was only comparing them to the Babylonians and Egyptians to point out that they did not know about things like solar storms - they didn't even know what the sun was to begin with! Neither was there ANY way so long ago for them to predict solar storms in the present, and as your own pasted information above states, they in fact never made such a prediction anyway. What the Mayans did was similar to what the other ancients did: track the apparent movements of the heavens. We're talking cultures that grew up fresh on the heels of the initial development of agriculture, which did in fact rely on measuring the movements of the sun and stars, as that was the way to discern years and seasons. But your beloved Mayans also thought, like so many other ancients, that the sun circled the Earth, not vice versa, and they also shared the habit of animal and human sacrifices for the sake of their superstitions. There ain't no Nibiru and there ain't gonna be no end of the world in 2012. There could theoretically be a powerful solar storm, as there theoretically could be one at most any time, since the Sun can be a rather unpredictable thing. It's just not terribly likely, and again, the Mayans never made a 2012 doomsday prediction anyway. Let's look at what 2012 actually is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_phenomenon The 2012 phenomenon comprises a range of eschatological beliefs according to which cataclysmic or transformative events will occur on 21 December 2012.[1][2][3][4] This date is regarded as the end-date of a 5,125-year-long cycle in the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar. Various astronomical alignments and numerological formulae have been proposed as pertaining to this date, though none have been accepted by mainstream scholarship. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesoamerican_Long_Count_calendar The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar is a non-repeating, vigesimal (base-20) and base-18 calendar used by several Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures, most notably the Maya. For this reason, it is sometimes known as the Maya (or Mayan) Long Count calendar. Using a modified vigesimal tally, the Long Count calendar identifies a day by counting the number of days passed since a mythical creation date that corresponds to August 11, 3114 BCE in the Gregorian calendar.[n 1] The Long Count calendar was widely used on monuments. Funny stuff - the Mayans apparently had the Earth aged a bit younger than even today's biblical creationist nutters. The completion of 13 b'ak'tuns (August 11, 3114 BCE) marks the Creation of the world of human beings according to the Maya. On this day, Raised-up-Sky-Lord caused three stones to be set by associated gods at Lying-Down-Sky, First-Three-Stone-Place. Because the sky still lay on the primordial sea, it was black. The setting of the three stones centered the cosmos which allowed the sky to be raised, revealing the sun. ^ Wouldn't that be a fun creation account for today's creationists to try and reconcile with modern science?
You do have a point, I mean why should we technically listen to the same Mayan people who sacrificed each-other to please the Sun Gods? On the contrary with or without Mayan prophecy, something unusual is happening to our sun and I really do think something will be-fold during this year or at least 2013 when our Suns Solar Cycle 24 is at its peak. But maybe this (what is happening today) is what the Mayan's predicted? What if the Mayans knew something will happen during the solar cycle of 24, even if it was a small scale event? Why does it have to be a catastrophic event? Did they actually claim there was going to be a catastrophic event? I never said planet Niburu because that's plain stupid. In truth the 2012 conspiracy doesn't have to be a devastating event like portrayed in the movie 2012, it can just be a solar flare frying 1/3 of our planets electronics and leaving many in darkness, without electricity and power for at most a week. Only time can tell the truth.
Investigation of the facts will tell the truth, my friend. I know of nothing to indicate that Mayans were even aware of solar events. They would have needed special equipment to even detect them, since solar flares are not visible to the naked eye, yet they didn't have so much as a telescope. Also, I don't know why you're still hung up on this "end of the world" or "catastrophe" prophecy idea, because from what I've seen, there exists no such prophecy, period. All we have is a calendar of their invention that will be "ending" later this year. It's like predicting a great catastrophe on December 31st simply because the Gregorian Calendar "ends" there, nothing more. Also, as I mentioned earlier, the sun is too unpredictable for anyone to foretell any specific solar event thousands of years out. Even now, NASA can't really predict a specific solar event (at least I don't think they can), though with the awareness of the solar cycle, they & we can obviously anticipate when solar storms will be more likely to occur. Now, it's kind of interesting that the Mayan Calendar happens to "end" just before a solar maximum.. I doubt there's anything to it, but it does make for a convenient coincidence, doesn't it? I also expect there will be a lot of very excited nutters if there is in fact a sizable solar event this year or next. They'll feel vindicated by that, I suppose, though even if it does happen, all it'll mean is that the world's electric companies may be extra busy for a while repairing the damage, and then life will go on as usual
Observing solar braids to figure out how the sun works... NASA Telescope Spots Solar Braids January 24, 2013 - Five or 10 minutes is not a long time when it comes to a NASA mission, but it was long enough for NASA's High Resolution Coronal Imager, or Hi-C, telescope to capture the sharpest images ever taken of the sun's scorching atmosphere.
Lost NASA satellite found... NASA Finds Lost Space Probe August 23, 2016 - After losing communication with a space probe two years ago, NASA says it has reestablished contact.
