NASA recently reported that the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) captured a video of a major solar flare occurring just two days ago on March 6, 2012.
Since SDO captures images every 12 seconds, it has been able to map the full evolution of these waves and confirm that they can travel across the full breadth of the sun. The waves move at over a million miles per hour, zipping from one side of the sun to the other in about an hour. The movie shows two distinct waves. The first seems to spread in all directions; the second is narrower, moving toward the southeast. Such waves are associated with, and perhaps trigger, fast coronal mass ejections, so it is likely that each one is connected to one of the two CMEs that erupted on March 6.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Tuesday's eruption marks the most intense solar flare observed in the past six years.
If you view the video, you'll notice that the entire surface of the sun appears to ripple in response to the extreme forces of this solar flare eruption caught on film.
Take a closer look:
Today's events may be even more intense as the ejected masses make their way towards Earth...
Weather experts have warned that the geomagnetic storm will hit Earth today and could disrupt airplane routes, power grids, and satellite navigation systems.
This type of extreme solar activity has been rather unusual in recent history, says astrophysicist Harlan Spence at the University of New Hampshire:
"These relatively large (solar) events, which we've had maybe a couple of handfuls total in the course of a decade, we've now had two or three of them, more or less right on top of each other," Spence said by telephone.
The Sun is on the ascendant phase of its 11-year cycle of solar activity, with the peak expected next year, scientists said.
"It's a clear harbinger that the Sun is waking up," Spence said. "We're trying to put this in context not only... of what has the Sun done in the past, but what is the biggest thing the Sun is capable of and what should we be planning for in terms of extreme sorts of events in the future.
Today marks the third phase of the solar flare activity first sighted on Tuesday.
Phases play out as follows:
First, (on Tuesday) the solar flares move close to the speed of light and reach Earth. They often have the potential to cause radio blackouts in this initial phase.
Shorty afterward in the second phase, the solar radiation reaches Earth's magnetic field (this happened on Wednesday) and can impact and impede air traffic near the North and South Poles.
In the final stage (today), the plasma cloud ejected from the sun (this plasma cloud is actually the ejected portion of the Sun's atmosphere) collides with planet Earth.
NASA reported two significant masses associated with Tuesday's solar flares spiraling directly towards Earth at speeds greater than 600 miles a second.
These events generally result in an aurora once the masses are close enough to the Earth's atmosphere (experts say this may happen today).
Today's final phase — one of the strongest solar flares in recent history — holds the greatest potential for affecting power grids and some agricultural operations.
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