Sun Erupts in Biggest Storm in Years
Earth in path of solar-ejected cloud
Tuesday, October 28, 2003
(5:34 PM ET) (22:34 GMT)
By Kate Tobin
CNN Writer
CNN.com's Richard Stenger contributed to this report
"The eruption was positioned perfectly. It's headed straight for us like a freight train," said John Kohl, a Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics scientist, in a statement. "A major geomagnetic storm is bound to happen."
The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory satellite spies the third most powerful solar flare on record, the bright blip near the sun's middle, on October 28 (more available at Hot Shots from SOHO).
Image Credit: SOHO -- NASA
CNN
One of the largest known solar flares erupted from the sun on Tuesday, heralding a storm of superheated gas that could hit Earth within a day.
The outburst was classified an X17.2 flare, the third largest on record, according to Paal Brekke, a project scientist with the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), a sun-watching satellite mission jointly run by NASA and the European Space Agency.
In comparison, two solar storms observed last week were between X1 and X5, Brekke said.
Solar flares are associated with coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, eruptions from the sun that, if headed our way, can disrupt communications satellites and power grids.
(More: CNN.com / Science & Space)
2003 © Cable News Network LP, LLLP.
On the Net:
* NASA Scientists Dives Into Perfect Space Storm
ScienceDaily Magazine
* Major Flare Today: Sun Kicks Up Biggest Storm in Years
SPACE.com, Inc
Dan
Space/Science » in reply to Here it comes
Sun Erupts in Biggest Storm in Years . . .