Thursday, October 31, 2013

Wondering about the great Halloween CME.

What is a CME?  These letters stand for "Coronal Mass Ejection".  It seems that our sun is now quite active with a lot of active sunspot regions that is generating a lot of solar flares and result is  series of CMEs.  Some will sweep past the Earth and some will deliver a glancing blow.  So, if your cell phones or your satellite TVs start acting goofy, you will know what is causing it.  But today, to help celebrate Halloween, we may take a direct hit.  There was an eruption from an Earth-facing sunspot on Monday.  Here are a couple of pictures of them taken from the SOHO satellite:


 
 

OK, do you want to know more about them?  If not, stop reading and go to some other blog.  If you do, just read on. . .

CMEs are quite fast.  They travel out into space from the sun at about 2000 miles per second, that is 7.2 million miles per hour.  I bet you can't outrun them, even in a really fast car or jet or rocket.  They can also contain ten billion tons of mass.  Imaging being punched in the face with that much mass.

Of course, if we do take a direct hit, the part of the world closer to the poles will be affected the most.  Canada and northern US, England, Europe, etc will get the strongest affects.  But, even though this is Halloween, make sure you treat all those ghosts and goblins with a lots of real sweet candy and have a great day, you hear? 


at

6 comments:

  1. GypsyOctober 31, 2013 at 2:59 PM

    So is this CME a fireball that is ejected from the sun and travels out in space, hopefully cooling as it moves along?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dizzy-DickOctober 31, 2013 at 6:55 PM

      A CME is a cloud of charged particles that, if it hits Earth, the charge from the particles is induced in electric wires and equipment causing surges, etc. that can cause havoc.

      Delete
  2. The Odd EssayOctober 31, 2013 at 3:38 PM

    I think I got hit... okay, just joking.... but I've had serious problems with my computer... took it to Staples today.... apparently when I hooked up to the Doubletree Hotel computer system a couple of weeks ago I picked up an ungodly amount of viruses (despite having a virus program...that I paid for!.... ) and now am paying Staples about $250 to clean up and install something better... I hope.... AND... Bill's having computer problems... he's on Linux... nothing I know a thing about... AND.... okay... I know, I'm ranting a little... but still... I'd like to blame it all on the sun and other galaxy problems.... (thank goodness I still carry around my old Dell that I use as a backup... this old lady is LOST without her computer!)... I did read the whole blog, Dizzy.... but will admit I get lost sometimes in the technicalities.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dizzy-DickOctober 31, 2013 at 6:57 PM

      I had trouble with my computer and my tablet today and could not answer my comments until just now. I don't know how long my system was down since I went and had eye surgery today.

      Delete
  3. jimkabobOctober 31, 2013 at 3:44 PM

    Maybe we can catch sight of some Northern Lights. Every once and a great while they make it to the lower 48. But if they're that strong, a few vacuum tubes might get burned out.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dizzy-DickOctober 31, 2013 at 6:58 PM

      They do come a lot further south during CME attacks. Let me know if you see any.

      Delete