Solar flares are here, everyone unplug your dryer!


Turns out we have exceptionally high solar activity right now, with a category 4 solar flair expected to impact the planet, potentially affecting satellite communications, electronics and power grids.

Of course, if history is any guide the news is absolutely over excited over this, at best those in the northern states may see pretty lights at night.  I was particularly amused this afternoon at a CNN weather person recommending you unplug your dryer just to be safe.  I mean, is that really the most important appliance in his house?  🤣

Also, kind of off topic, if you have binoculars or a telescope with the right solar filters you can catch a glimpse of the dark spots on the sun associated with this CME.  Amazing to imagine that it is about 15-16x wider than the earth. 

erik_squires

You never know what you will hear.

 

I was just out observing the sun with my solar telescope. Wow. I have never seen the sun so active. Huge prominences, arches of plasm extending high above the surface. Big circular spikes extending from the ubiquitous sunspots. The whole sun is boiling. So different than calm times when it is just a yellow disk.

@ghdprentice  I'm going to try to put my binoculars and solar filters together tomorrow and take a close look!

So, to all of you who plug your amps straight into the wall without using protection like your daddy told you to, let's see how we all fair on the other side of this. :)

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