God Hates Bush Alert - SEVERE SOLAR ACTIVITY:

http://www.spaceweather.com/

One of the most powerful solar flares in years, a remarkable X17-category explosion, erupted from sunspot 486 this morning at approximately 1110 UT. A strong solar radiation storm is in progress. (Click here to learn about the effects of such storms.) The explosion hurled a coronal mass ejection almost directly toward Earth, which could trigger bright auroras when it arrives perhaps as early as tonight.



Above: This SOHO coronagraph image captured at 12:18 UT shows the coronal mass ejection of Oct. 28th billowing directly toward Earth. Such clouds are called halo CMEs. The many speckles are solar protons striking the coronagraph's CCD camera.

Sky watchers should be alert for auroras tonight and tomorrow. High-latitude sites such as New Zealand, Scandinavia, Alaska, Canada and US northern border states from Maine to Washington are favored, as usual, but auroras could descend to lower latitudes when the CME described above sweeps past Earth.

So I might be able to catch an aurora in Maryland? Will have to keep track of the time it hits.

the inner white circle represents the sun's diameter, and the larger disc is to block the glare. So, at least from our perspective, the CME looks even larger.

at least it's not pissing rain anymore...

Sounds painful. :) Hopefully the skys are clear tonight.

......here are some useful links. :evilfrown:
Caution, some links may be hard to access today as every radio, television, satellite and power operator will be logging in constantly to monitor conditions. This is not a joke. This could knock out communications and power grids on a massive scale!

NOAA Space Weather Now

October 28 1713 UTC SUMMARY: 10cm Radio Burst

INTENSE ACTIVE REGIONS EMERGE ON SUN , issued October 21, 2003

SEC Space Weather Alerts ALTS.txt

The last link is a gopher link.

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_832595.html?menu=

Solar storm 'could spark catastrophe'

Scientists are warning a "perfect space storm" that occurred 144 years ago could happen again at any time with catastrophic consequences.

Newly uncovered scientific data has shown the true extent of history's most massive electromagnetic storm which blew up on the first two days of September 1859.

Like "the perfect storm" at sea which inspired a blockbuster movie, it was the result of a number of titanic events coming together.

But in this case the centre of the storm was the sun, not the ocean.

<snip>

....From The Classification of X-ray Solar Flares

"Scientists classify solar flares according to their x-ray brightness in the wavelength range 1 to 8 Angstroms. There are 3 categories: X-class flares are big; they are major events that can trigger planet-wide radio blackouts and long-lasting radiation storms. M-class flares are medium-sized; they generally cause brief radio blackouts that affect Earth's polar regions. Minor radiation storms sometimes follow an M-class flare. Compared to X- and M-class events, C-class flares are small with few noticeable consequences here on Earth."

Stay shielded today folks!