14
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How are the solar flares from May 23, 2021 extraordinary?
How are the solar flares from May 23, 2021 extraordinary?
They weren't at all extraordinary. The Sun has been quiescent for the last three or so years. This quiescence is typical of the period ...
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9
votes
What caused a huge piece of the Sun to break off?
Not a CME, but pretty neat. This is a prominence, the plasma in the prominence got entrailed into a "vortex" that presumably exists at the solar pole. The wind speeds in the plasma are ...
- 115k
7
votes
Where do Coronal Mass Ejections go?
Coronal Mass ejections are not easy to detect from Earth (until they hit the ionosphere and cause a geomagnetic storm) The first was discovered by a space-based solar observatory in 1971. They are, ...
- 115k
6
votes
Accepted
Does coronal mass ejection include radiation at optical wavelengths?
Coronal mass ejections consist of a very hot, but thin, plasma. Their very weak intrinsic emission would be dominated by ultraviolet and X-ray lines and bremsstrahlung continuum. There is very little ...
- 146k
6
votes
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Difference in creation of solar flares and CME?
The point of my comment was that the connection between CMEs and flares would make for a good 20 page research paper in a college course. The connections are still only understood at a kind of ...
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5
votes
Directionality of solar flares
First, I have provided some background on these phenomena at: https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/a/16786/13663
Solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are not the same phenomena.
I am aware ...
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4
votes
Accepted
Can CME destroy planetary rings?
Yes it can reach both Saturn and Jupiter. But it's not powerful enough to remove their rings. Even Earth's radiation belts don't get blown away.
Edit: Jupiter's magnetic field is $\approx 770 \mu T$ (...
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4
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how much advanced notice would we have for an Earth bound coronal mass ejection?
To supplement Rory Alsop's answer, it is also possible to detect some CMEs through X-ray observations of the Sun. We have a few satellites continually monitoring the Sun, and if we're lucky we'll see ...
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4
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how much advanced notice would we have for an Earth bound coronal mass ejection?
Could be as much as an hour.
Looking at NASA's Space Weather Prediction Centre page on CMEs
Imminent CME arrival is first observed by the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite, located at ...
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3
votes
How are the solar flares from May 23, 2021 extraordinary?
Could somebody please guide me how this is read from the (above linked) NOAA forecast model graphs?
The yellow dot is the sun, the green dot is the position of the Earth. The CME is the blob of high ...
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3
votes
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Does Earth's magnetic field become stronger when a solar flare hits?
No, but the magnetic dipole of Earth has a field strength that increases with closer distance. On the direct line between Earth and Sun the magnetic field strength is always $B(r) = M/r^3$ where $M$ ...
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3
votes
Why do CME's "zig-zag" on their way to Earth?
Why do CME's “zig-zag” on their way to Earth?
They don't. Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) do not jump back-and-forth as they propagate outward. Their general shape does get distorted due to mass ...
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3
votes
Accepted
What online tools are available to investigate and classify solar eruptions?
How are these flares tracked after they've been detected?
Since you already linked to https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/a/16786/13663, I won't belabor the differences between a solar flare and ...
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3
votes
Calibrating raw photometric measurements
I have never worked with SMEI but I do have some experience with photometry and, while I do not understand completely the question, I think I can give you some ideas. First of all, did you get the ...
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3
votes
Accepted
Calibrating raw photometric measurements
If I understand the question correctly, you have raw data from a CCD sensor in arbitray units (which correlate with brightness) and your challenge is to callibrate this intensity for a certain ...
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3
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What are the main differences between solar flares and coronal mass ejections?
The following are largely excerpts from an answer I wrote at https://physics.stackexchange.com/a/258093/59023.
What are the main differences between solar flares and coronal mass ejections?
There ...
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3
votes
how accurate are the predictions for coronal mass ejections-(location, timing and magnitude)?
Old question; I hope you’re still active here…
Basically, we CAN’T predict coronal mass ejections in advance. See http://solar.physics.montana.edu/press/ssu_index.html
Other solar events, such as the ...
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2
votes
Might someone see changes to the corona during a solar eclipse?
Yes. There is a chance of one or more solar flares or CME's occurring during the eclipse and these would be noticeable during totality. There are actually two NASA jets equipped with telescopes and ...
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2
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How was the acceleration calculated for this CME (Coronal Mass Ejection)?
The average velocity in the interval 8:05 to 8:36 is 331.2. So, use $v_1=$ 331.2 at $t_1=$ 08:20:30 under the assumption that acceleration is constant.
The average velocity between 8:36 and 9:27 is $...
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2
votes
How are the solar flares from May 23, 2021 extraordinary?
According to NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center there was a Solar radio burst at 245 MHz at ~21:30 UTC that was 3300 flux units above background (1 flux unit $= {\rm 10^{-22} Wm^{-2} Hz^{-1}}$) on ...
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2
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What is the lower limit of a coronal mass ejection?
No, as ‘coronal mass ejection’ is defined ambiguously and refers to an event that is not physically bound to some exact limit and therefore cannot have an undisputable lowest limit value, in the ...
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2
votes
Physical properties of the stellar corona?
...how typical is the solar corona?
The Sun is remarkably "average" (e.g., see https://physics.stackexchange.com/a/262732/59023). So my best guess is that the corona is also remarkably &...
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2
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Strength of the relationship between very large solar flares, coronal mass ejections, and solar proton events?
First, have you looked through my answer at: https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/a/16786/13663?
First, is my understanding that either a large flare or a large CME could have caused a large solar ...
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2
votes
Detecting anomalies from the sun from home
The most extreme solar flares are visible as bright marks on the face of the sun and the most extreme CME are apparent as aurorae even at low latitudes.
Detecting CME as they leave the sun is ...
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1
vote
Where do these materials on the Sun come from, if not nothingness?
Good question. The material comes from the Sun, is ejected into the loop quickly, and slowly rains back down.
In the linked video at timestamp 0:11 you see the complete Sun and the flare erupting on ...
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1
vote
Accepted
What would be the effects of a -400 nanotesla geomagnetic storm on modern electronics?
You basically asked the same question over on Worldbuilding. I'm copying my answer to that question here. This answer does not specifically address the strength of the magnetic pulse because whether ...
- 552
1
vote
What effects do CMEs have on planets like Mercury?
Much like Earth, Mercury also has a magnetic field, only much weaker. Because of this, the high velocity charged particles accompanying CMEs distort Mercury's magnetic field at a much greater ...
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Solar flares/CME dangers to life?
I would say, that with our current atmosphere and magnetic field there's not a "direct" threat to life as they shield the Earth.
The atmosphere is opaque to X-ray radiation that can come ...
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Solar flares/CME dangers to life?
Abrevaya et al. (2020) in "The UV surface habitability of Proxima b: first experiments revealing probable life survival to stellar flares" (abstract, PDF) say:
"Our results show the ...
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