EASTERN BLAST: The quiet didn't last long. Earth-orbiting satellites detected an M3-class solar flare at 0735 UT on Feb. 24th. The source was an active region located just behind the sun's eastern limb. The eruption also produced strong radio emissions, a coronal mass ejection (not Earth directed).

Isn't the worse part supposed to be in 2012?
We're just getting started

Yes, that's maximum, and it's expected to be the worst in over a hundred years due to the recent unusual minimum.

Mayan coincidence? I think not.

Megadoom

A replay of the Carrington Event (1859?) would be truly devastating---probably worse than 'One Second After'. Basically what amounts to a large scale EMP attack by God. The House passed a bill to buy spares for the high voltage electrical transformers that would be destroyed in that or a number of other possible scenarios last year but it died in the Senate. It's too bad, it looked like a moment of lucidity for a week or so there.

Im glad i started the caveman diet recently, at least ill be prepared to eat my rats raw

SpaceWeather Reports:

X-FLARE: Earth-orbiting satellites have just detected an impulsive X1-class solar flare. Stay tuned for analysis.

FAST CORONAL MASS EJECTION: A coronal mass ejection (CME) exploded from the vicinity of sunspot 1164 during the late hours of March 7th. It leapt away from the sun traveling ~2200 km/s, making it the fastest CME since Sept. 2005. A movie of the cloud prepared by Karl Battams of the Naval Research Lab shows a possibly substantial Earth-directed component. This CME and at least one other could brush against Earth's magnetic field on March 9th or 10th. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras.

Update - looks like the X Flare did not produce a significant CME (big motha blast of energy) towards us. We were lucky this time, but the 'Sun Gun' is warming up and the shots are coming faster and more frequently...

(SpaceWeather.Com)
UPDATE (March 10 @ 1800 UT): Newly-arriving coronagraph data from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory show no bright CME emerging from this eruption. Some material was surely hurled in our direction, but probably not enough for significant Earth-effects.

After four years without any X-flares, the sun has produced two of the powerful blasts in less than one month: Feb. 15th and March 9th. This continues the recent trend of increasing solar activity, and shows that Solar Cycle 24 is heating up. NOAA forecasters estimate a 5% chance of more X-flares during the next 24 hours.

Kinda freaky...



It's like the sun is looking at us... the Great Eye of Sauron turns to find us...