CME WILL MISS EARTH: Yesterday's M3.9-class solar flare hurled a CME into space. It will miss Earth, sailing wide of our planet. Not even a glancing blow is likely. The instigating sunspot, AR2822, is turning toward Earth this weekend. Future eruptions could be geoeffective. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.
STRONG SOLAR FLARE AND RADIO BURST: New sunspot AR2822 exploded on May 7th, producing an M3.9-class solar flare--one of the strongest flares of young Solar Cycle 25. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the explosion near the sun's northeastern limb:
The shadowy wave emerging from the blast site is a "solar tsunami"--a swell of hot magnetized plasma about 100,000 km tall racing along the sun's surface at 250 km/s (560,000 mph).
Strange but true: You can "hear" a solar tsunami. When such a shock wave ripples through the sun's atmosphere, it causes solar plasma to oscillate, generating natural radio emissions detectable by shortwave receivers on Earth.
Indeed, while the eruption was underway, astronomer Thomas Ashcraft heard a roar of static emerge from the loudspeaker of his radio telescope in rural New Mexico. Click on the dynamic spectrum to listen:
"After a long quiet solar minimum, I am happy to have captured the M3.9 solar flare on May 7th," says Ashcraft. "It generated complex and dynamic Type II, Type V and Type III radio emissions at frequencies between 15 MHz and 30 MHz."
Ironically, while the sun was trumpeting radio static, the flare caused a radio blackout. Ultraviolet and X-radiation from the flare ionized the top of Earth's atmosphere, especially over North America: map. Ham radio operators and mariners may have noticed strange propagation effects at frequencies below 30 MHz, with some transmissions below 15 MHz completely extinquished.
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Every item in the Earth to Sky Store has flown to the edge of space and comes with a greeting card showing the item in flight. The interior of the card tells the story of the gift's journey from launch to landing. Mom-satisfaction guaranteed!
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