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A massive solar flare erupted from the surface of the
Sun at 9:51 UTC (4:51 EDT) on October 28, 2003. The solar flare
persisted for more than an hour, peaking at 11:10 UTC (5:10 EDT). |
Environmental Impacts:
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Associated with the
flare was an ejection of a billion tons or more of gas from the
Sun’s tenuous outer atmosphere, or corona. Both the flare and the
coronal mass ejection accelerated electrically charged particles to
very high energies and hurled them at near the speed of light
directly toward the Earth. It takes light roughly 8 minutes to
travel from the Sun to Earth, and these particles made the trip in
less than an hour. According to
NOAA Space
Environment Center that the coronal mass ejection hit
the Earth’s magnetosphere around 12 noon UTC (7:00 EDT) today
October 29.
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The first image on the right
captured by LASCO is an occultation disc, which allows the sensor to focus
on the scattering of light from the Sun’s surface off the free electrons
in the Sun’s corona. This light appears as the orange halo seemingly
radiating outward from the Sun. (The white circle on the occultation disc
shows the actual size and location of the solar disc). Note the bright
white features extending from beneath and to the left of the Sun. These
are coronal mass ejections on October 28, which appear to be heading
directly toward the Earth. (Movie
of the Sun observed by LASCO from
NOAA Space Environment
Center ).
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The left one in the second
image on your right, shows the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) view
of the Sun’s visible surface. The dark patches are sunspots, which are a
tepid 4,000 Kelvin—much cooler than the Sun’s typical surface temperature
of 6,000 Kelvin. The right scene on the second image on your right shows
the view from the Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT). This sensor
shows the light from a single ionized species of iron that is formed at
about 1.5 million Kelvin high in the Sun’s corona. October 28’s solar
flare appears as the bright green-white feature toward the bottom left of
the solar disc. (Movie
of Sun observed by MDI from
NOAA Space Environment
Center ).
(EIT
Close-up of the Flare from
NOAA Space Environment Center
).
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To put this event in
perspective, NOAA predicts the impacts of the coronal mass ejection on the
Earth’s magnetosphere will be a “4” (severe) on a scale of 1 to 5. The
flare is the third largest ever recorded in the 30 years since NOAA began
observing soft X-ray emissions from the Sun. Today’s flare is listed as an
X17.2, with an X20 being the most intense flare ever observed in that
time. People living in Quebec, Canada, may recall that in March 1989 an
X15 solar storm was strong enough to knock out the region’s power grid.
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Officials say it is possible
that people in the Southern Hemisphere will see aurorae at much lower
latitudes than usual on Oct. 29, when the coronal mass ejection reaches
Earth. It is also possible that people could experience problems using
telecommunications devices, such as satellite phones and pagers. In May
1998, for example, the commercial Galaxy IV satellite was damaged by a
solar storm, knocking out its ability to support telecommunications.
NASA's Photos of Aurora in October 2003:
by
Chuck Johnson, Cleary Summit,
Alaska, Oct. 16-17
by
Chuck Johnson, Cleary Summit,
Alaska, Oct. 16-17
By
Stephane Levesque, Luceville,
Quebec, Canada, Oct. 21
By
Stephane Levesque, Luceville,
Quebec, Canada, Oct. 21
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Image NTSC 720x486 031029_01_tva.jpg shows
the LASCO image of solar flare on October 28, 2003. |
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Image NTSC 720x486 031029_02_tva.jpgshows
the MDI and EIT image of solar flare on October 28, 2003. |
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Image NTSC 640x480 031029_01_tvb.jpg shows
the LASCO image of solar flare on October 28, 2003. |
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Image NTSC 640x480
031029_02_tvb.jpgshows
the MDI and EIT image of solar flare on October 28, 2003. |
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