Large Filament Eruption On The Sun: 8/31/2012--SPECTACULAR!

A filament of magnetism curling around the sun's southeastern limb erupted on August 31st 2012, producing a coronal mass ejection (CME), a C8-class solar flare, and one of the most beautiful movies ever recorded by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory.

This also happens to be at 720p and in a good color range/energy frequency (rather than looking at the x-ray or ultraviolet views, which don't let you see the darker/cooler stuff as easy); absolutely breathtaking solar imagery. I've never seen a filament go straight out like that, the length of which was easily into the hundreds of thousands of kilometers.
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More info from SolarHam.net (NEW WINDOW & a GREAT website for up-to-the-minute solar news and warnings/information; kind of like a weather site with Physics, Astronomy, Cosmology, and Chemistry--mostly in just the basic understanding sense:

The filament located in the southeast quadrant appears to have erupted. A spectacular video below by SDO captured the event in progress. The plasma filled feature stretched hundreds of thousands of kilometers across and the Solar X-Rays reached close to the M1.0 threshold. A bright Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) was generated and a glancing blow impact will possible within the next 72 hours.

(And some more information from that same site that is more particular about the effects that that event will cause, directed towards us. The SDO is looking basically in our direction so if a CME, solar flare eruption, filament, and the like erupt then if it's in view it will be coming towards Earth and if we see it STRAIGHT on, we will be hit HARD. For those wondering about the orientation and how things are located roughly. Here's the information, some of which will require some Physics knowledge to understand what it means, so you will have to dig around and teach yourself that, as it would take awhile to explain every detail in this report...)

Here's what will hit us and what it will do; this is a minor one, as it wasn't directed directly at us:
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Minor Radiation Storm: Low energy protons are currently streaming past Earth at higher levels. A minor radiation storm is currently in progress.
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ALERT: Proton Event 10MeV Integral Flux exceeded 10pfu
Begin Time: 2012 Sep 01 1335 UTC
NOAA Scale: S1 - Minor
Potential Impacts: Radio - Minor impacts on polar HF (high frequency) radio propagation resulting in fades at lower frequencies.


I hope you learned a bit and very much enjoyed that video.
kceaton1says...

*promote

This is most likely the most AMAZING filament eruption to be caught on video. It is caused by a little process called magnetic reconnection. It's a little process that gives us our solar flares, these filaments, CMEs (Coronal Mass Ejections), auroras, and the possible potential for very dangerous radiation storms every few millennium--give or take a few. Basically, plasma flows along these field lines of magnetism. When things get out of hand, then those field lines distort and change and all of a sudden things get very dangerous (AND sometimes beautiful). The faster the magnetic field changes the faster the particles will travel making them more and more dangerous as the events unfold fast enough giving them more energy (kinetic & heat), which in turn if directed at us means it penetrates much further into our protective field and anything outside of the field, crispy--in the shredded DNA, cells, you name it sense.

Occasionally, Earth's magnetic field breaks down a bit (if I remember why correctly it was a certain "sequence" within our magnetic shield and it reacts badly with the Sun's--don't quote me though, I really need to look it back up again it was a very long time ago I remember this from), if a large solar flare directed towards Earth ever happened before Earth had enough time to fully build back it's strength we would be FAR more in trouble than usual, but this would be a rare event. Usually what happens is that the charged particles follow Earth's magnetic lines and go to the poles, which is the one place on Earth where you do suffer the most radiation from the Sun (basically wherever the poles are as the plasma follows the polarity or "field lines" of Earth's magnetic field). It's also why the closer you are to the poles the better your view is of the aurora as the particles streaming in, if there is a sufficient quantity moving very fast (the more energy, especially kinetic--speed, the farther the penetration into the atmosphere and the lower the aurora becomes visible), will enter the atmosphere and begin to be absorbed by various elements that our atmosphere is compromised of like Nitrogen.

Here's a quick explanation. Basically, the particles collide with atoms of molecules/elements or anything in the higher atmosphere, exciting their electrons into higher energy levels, which is known fundamentally in science as quantum leap/atomic transition/electron transition it's one of the atom's most fundamental abilities dealing with "extra energy" being pushed into a system that wants balance (this is a very common process that happens ALL DAY long, EVERYWHERE around you; it transfers photons essentially--pure energy--BUT, what is the energy in the form of as it's energy level makes it do very many different things; you could see things, what you consider the normal range of light--it's EXACTLY how light goes THROUGH a window--it doesn't go through the window it is transferred via the atoms from one side to the next, this is ALSO why people are trying to get invisibility to work as it just might; HEAT is another one that is transferred all the time--it literally radiates outwards from our bodies and then we are surrounded by excited electrons and the infrared range of light we are putting out, the heat of a human body...or any animal; this goes on and on, it happens everywhere and as I said ALL-THE-TIME, it's perhaps one of the most critical processes and abilities of the atom and how photons also transfer their energy between areas in a direction; a little off-topic information for those that don't realize how much is going on, everywhere, all the time, at any given second...it's a complicated, but beautiful world)), and making them give off light that we see when the charge they've taken on finally returns the molecule/element's electrons to their normal orbits in the electron shell; the color depends on what molecule/element was being bombarded and how much energy was involved from the particle that hit it). This of course transfers all the energy that those particles had and we get a nice light show.

/I thought I'd fill my promote with something useful; ...on why these happen...
//edit-For a little more clarity, grammar and a bit more information that I hope some will appreciate if it helps anyone learn something or atleast go look up some of this and learn some on their own; taking an interest in science, it's one of the most important things in the world that we have.
///Spreading science is just as important; it's the one literal thing we do/use that has ever allowed us to deal with the worst problems we have: fear, pain, death, disease, sorrow, despair, ignorance, etc... Science IS the light in the dark. It is our best hope for mankind's continued existence and a good life. It is the single most important activity we now do as a group; it's our savior from us and what's out there...

kceaton1says...

*brief Short, but great.

This truly is one of the most amazing CME or Filament eruptions I've ever seen. I personally think this is, literally, the BEST I've witnessed. It's mesmerizing and AMAZING to watch... Truly an amazing dance of high energy Physics with extremely powerful forces of Physics also at play, making this little dance all come together; much like the beautiful loops of plasma formed over sunspots as the plasma flows from the negative flow sunspot it's positive brother. This flow between these two areas create magnificent loops of plasma above the Sun's surface sometimes stable for awhile until there is a magnetic reconnection, which in turn creates the stunning filament that was created in the southeastern area (which now has rotated towards us and is more central southern area) of the Sun and then shooting off into space in many directions. All thanks to NASA's SDO satellite that took this amazing video (and photos; there is also a FAR bigger array of things that the little satellite got: scientific readings at several time increments, photos in every energy frequency you want basically, same with video, and other assorted stuff--it REALLY IS the little satellite that CAN do, it has shown time and time again that NASA knew what they were doing when they made it and they have lived up to their reputation of exceeding the standard of excellence that is expected of them--JUST LIKE the now infamous Curiosity rover; GO NASA).

P.S.- This is off-topic, but here it goes anyway... There is a great need for us to overhaul our education system, there have been so many examples lately that show the need for more science/engineering students from/in the United Sates. Which right now just isn't happening. The U.S. superiority complex is losing to ITSELF, mostly thanks to idiotic Bible-thumping Republicans/Tea-Party members. Just look at what NASA has done in the last 10 years with the small and ridiculous budget they have--the same people that once put men on the Moon and created a HUGE amount of new devices (like the MRI, just for a quick example; there's a huge list somewhere--NASA happens to be one of the only government agencies that uses its money, files patents, and then the U.S. creates a consumer version that makes quite a bit of money...). NASA has a PERFECT Curiosity landing, a landing that was extremely complicated and...well, awesome. A team like that would make use of EVERY PENNY, better than a bank could. Sadly our government is delusional along with the citizens who almost believe sometimes that NASA should just be zeroed out. BUT, I think NASA of course deserves 20 or 30 times the money it receives. We, in HOW we treat our own REMARKABLE, admired, and talked of world wide Space Program, make ourselves look like the idiots we are (atleast the ones that deserve that statement). If Obama wants to do something interesting he should raise NASA's budget by quite a bit, as Mitt has made it clear that he plans to just raise the military's already bloated beyond definition ("We're a hyperpower...") budget and to possibly engage in two wars, plus a second and brand-new Cold War with Putin's Russia.

Asmosays...

>> ^zaust:

erm sorry couldn't be bothered to read lengthy posts but:
Looks like an evil lava ghost from mario or something!!!!


All over the world, scientists are wondering why it feels like a little part of them just died...

Seriously though, can you imagine the amount of energy require to eject what could be millions of tonnes of plasma that far, that fast...

Fucking astounding.

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