Here comes the SUN.

Solar wind
speed: 404.3 km/sec
density: 0.1 protons/cm

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: B9 0900 UT Apr24
24-hr: B9 0900 UT Apr24

NOAA forecasters estimate a 30% chance of M-class solar flares during the next 24 hours.

COMET AND CME: A comet dove into the sun on May 11th and seemed to trigger a massive eruption--emphasis on seemed. Watch the movie, then scroll down for further discussion.

A comet goes in; a CME comes out. Coincidence? Probably, yes, the sequence was coincidental. The comet disintegrated as much as a million kilometers above the stellar surface. There's no known way that the wispy, vaporous remains of a relatively lightweight comet could cause a billion-ton cloud of hot plasma to fly away from the sun at 420 km/s (the observed speed of the CME). Moreover, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory photographed the eruption that did propel the CME into space. There's no comet in the field of view of this must-see movie.
http://www.spaceweather.com/

Thank you Carol, as always something dramatic you bring to us.

Video is amazing. You are great, Carol.

Recently I read interesting article about sun changing our matter.
Characteristics of Matter Are Changing: The Sun is Emitting A Mystery Particle


When probing the deepest reaches of the Cosmos or magnifying our understanding of the quantum world, a whole host of mysteries present themselves. This is to be expected when pushing our knowledge of the Universe to the limit.

But what if a well-known -- and apparently constant -- characteristic of matter starts behaving mysteriously?

This is exactly what has been noticed in recent years; the decay rates of radioactive elements are changing. This is especially mysterious as we are talking about elements with "constant" decay rates -- these values aren't supposed to change. School textbooks teach us this from an early age.

This is the conclusion that researchers from Stanford and Purdue University have arrived at, but the only explanation they have is even weirder than the phenomenon itself: The sun might be emitting a previously unknown particle that is meddling with the decay rates of matter. Or, at the very least, we are seeing some new physics.

Many fields of science depend on measuring constant decay rates. For example, to accurately date ancient artifacts, archaeologists measure the quantity of carbon-14 found inside organic samples at dig sites. This is a technique known as carbon dating.

Carbon-14 has a very defined half-life of 5730 years; i.e. it takes 5,730 years for half of a sample of carbon-14 to radioactively decay into stable nitrogen-14. Through spectroscopic analysis of the ancient organic sample, by finding out what proportion of carbon-14 remains, we can accurately calculate how old it is.

But as you can see, carbon dating makes one huge assumption: radioactive decay rates remain constant and always have been constant. If this new finding is proven to be correct, even if the impact is small, it will throw the science community into a spin.

Interestingly, researchers at Purdue first noticed something awry when they were using radioactive samples for random number generation. Each decay event occurs randomly (hence the white noise you'd hear from a Geiger counter), so radioactive samples provide a non-biased random number generator.

However, when they compared their measurements with other scientists' work, the values of the published decay rates were not the same. In fact, after further research they found that not only were they not constant, but they'd vary with the seasons. Decay rates would slightly decrease during the summer and increase during the winter.

Experimental error and environmental conditions have all been ruled out -- the decay rates are changing throughout the year in a predictable pattern. And there seems to be only one answer.

As the Earth is closer to the sun during the winter months in the Northern Hemisphere (our planet's orbit is slightly eccentric, or elongated), could the sun be influencing decay rates?

In another moment of weirdness, Purdue nuclear engineer Jere Jenkins noticed an inexplicable drop in the decay rate of manganese-54 when he was testing it one night in 2006. It so happened that this drop occurred just over a day before a large flare erupted on the sun.

Did the sun somehow communicate with the manganese-54 sample? If it did, something from the sun would have had to travel through the Earth (as the sample was on the far side of our planet from the sun at the time) unhindered.

The sun link was made even stronger when Peter Sturrock, Stanford professor emeritus of applied physics, suggested that the Purdue scientists look for other recurring patterns in decay rates. As an expert of the inner workings of the sun, Sturrock had a hunch that solar neutrinos might hold the key to this mystery.

Sure enough, the researchers noticed the decay rates vary repeatedly every 33 days -- a period of time that matches the rotational period of the core of the sun. The solar core is the source of solar neutrinos.

It may all sound rather circumstantial, but these threads of evidence appear to lead to a common source of the radioactive decay rate variation. But there's a huge problem with speculation that solar neutrinos could impact decay rates on Earth: neutrinos aren't supposed to work like that.

Neutrinos, born from the nuclear processes in the core of the sun, are ghostly particles. They can literally pass through the Earth unhindered as they so weakly interact. How could such a quantum welterweight have any measurable impact on radioactive samples in the lab?

In short, nobody knows.

If neutrinos are the culprits, it means we are falling terribly short of understanding the true nature of these subatomic particles. But if (and this is a big if) neutrinos aren't to blame, is the sun generating an as-yet-to-be- discovered particle?

If either case is true, we'll have to go back and re-write those textbooks.

Sources:
stanford.edu

Carol wrote:

COMET AND CME: A comet dove into the sun on May 11th and seemed to trigger a massive eruption--emphasis on seemed. Watch the movie, then scroll down for further discussion.

A comet goes in; a CME comes out. Coincidence? Probably, yes, the sequence was coincidental. The comet disintegrated as much as a million kilometers above the stellar surface. There's no known way that the wispy, vaporous remains of a relatively lightweight comet could cause a billion-ton cloud of hot plasma to fly away from the sun at 420 km/s (the observed speed of the CME). Moreover, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory photographed the eruption that did propel the CME into space. There's no comet in the field of view of this must-see movie.
http://www.spaceweather.com/

Did you watch the video labelled "Video proof that Elenin has come and gone" on Jenetta's post #1 on the "Here comes Elenin" thread Carol? It shows a similar thing that apparently occurred a while ago, only this shows a huge comet aiming for the Sun which the Sun deflected with a massive CME. Think you'll find it interesting.
http://www.themistsofavalon.net/t2511-here-comes-elenin

* Geomagnetic storm activity expected from around 6pm and could last 24 hours
* Possible disruption to power grids and satellites
* Flights over polar regions face being rerouted

This astonishing sequence of images shows a dramatic 'flare' bursting out from the sun which could affect satellite communications and power supplies here on Earth. The spectacular development unleashed a radiation firestorm on a level not seen for five years which is expected to cause a 'moderate' geomagnetic storm when it reaches Earth. Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the event which combines a flare, a coronal mass ejection (CME) and a minor radiation storm.

'This one was rather dramatic,' said Bill Murtagh, programme co-ordinator at the NWS's Space Weather Prediction Centre, describing the M-2 (medium-sized) solar flare that peaked at 1:41 am Eastern time in the United States, or 0541 GMT on Monday.

'We saw the initial flare occurring and it wasn't that big but then the eruption associated with it -- we got energy particle radiation flowing in and we got a big coronal mass ejection,' he said.

'You can see all the materials blasting up from the sun so it is quite fantastic to look at.'
Nasa's solar dynamics observatory, which launched last year and provided the high-definition pictures and video of the event, described it as 'visually spectacular,' but noted that since the eruption was not pointed directly at Earth, the effects were expected to remain 'fairly small'.
'The large cloud of particles mushroomed up and fell back down looking as if it covered an area of almost half the solar surface,' said a Nasa statement.
Murtagh said space weather analysts were watching closely to see whether the event would cause any collision of magnetic fields between the sun and Earth, some 93million miles (150million km) apart.

Advance warning: A solar spot in the centre of the sun reveals itself as the source of the strongest flare in four years on February 14, 2011, in an image taken by Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory

'Part of our job here is to monitor and determine whether it is Earth-directed because essentially that material that is blasting out is gas with magnetic field combined,' he told AFP.
'In a day or so from now, we are expecting some of that material to impact us here on Earth and create a geomagnetic storm,' he said.
'We don't expect it to be any kind of a real severe one but it could be kind of a moderate level storm.'
The Space Weather Prediction Centre said the event is 'expected to cause G1 (minor) to G2 (moderate) levels of geomagnetic storm activity today, beginning around 1800 GMT'.
Any geomagnetic storm activity will likely be over within 12-24 hours.
'The Solar Radiation Storm includes a significant contribution of high energy protons, the first such occurrence of an event of that type since December 2006,' the NWS said.

More...
A look back at Endeavour: NASA releases first-ever pictures of space shuttle docked on International Space Station
Tropical regions to get even hotter summers within 20 years 'due to global warming'... and it's here to stay

How Jupiter robbed Mars of mass and built the asteroid belt as the planets formed our solar system billions of years ago

As many as 12 satellites and spacecraft are monitoring the heliosphere, and one instrument in particular on board Nasa's lunar reconnaissance orbiter is measuring radiation and its effects.

'Certainly over the (two-year) lifetime of the mission this is the most significant event,' said Harlan Spence, principal investigator for the cosmic ray telescope for the effects of radiation, or CRaTER.

'This is really exciting because ironically when we were developing the mission initially we thought we would be launching closer to a solar maximum when these big solar particle events typically occur,' Spence told AFP.

'Instead we launched into a historic solar minimum that took a long, long time to wake up,' he said. 'This is interesting and significant because it shows the sun is returning to its more typical active state.' The resulting geomagnetic storm could cause some disruption in power grids, satellites that operate global positioning systems and other devices, and may lead to some rerouting of flights over the polar regions, Murtagh said.

'Generally it is not going to cause any big problems, it will just have to be managed,' he said. 'If you fly from the United States to Asia, flying over the North Pole, there are well over a dozen flights every day,' he added. 'During these big radiation storms some of these airlines will reroute the flights away from the polar regions for safety reasons to make sure they can maintain communications.

'People operating satellites would keep an eye on this, too, because geomagnetic storming can interfere with satellites in various ways whether it is the satellite itself or the signal coming down from the receiver.' The aurora borealis (Northern Lights) and aurora australis (Southern Lights) will also probably be visible in the late hours of today and tomorrow, Nasa said.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2000596/Solar-flare-Sunspot-cycle-threatens-disrupt-Earth-communications-power.html#ixzz1OhPV6pPh[/center]

June 7, 2011– Over the past few days, amateur astronomers have recorded some of the most photogenic solar activity in years. Onlookers describe huge prominences of magnetized plasma rising above the stellar surface as “Unbelievable!”–”Hydrogen at its best”–”Massive and incredible!” This shot was simply hair-raising. C. Alex Young, a solar astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center who runs a website called The Sun Today, said in a video describing the event. “The sun produced a quite spectacular prominence eruption that had a solar flare and high-energy particles associated with it, but I’ve just never seen material released like this before,” Young said. “It looks like somebody just kicked a giant clod of dirt into the air and then it fell back down.” M-FLARE AND RADIATION STORM: This morning around 0641 UT, magnetic fields above sunspot complex 1226-1233 became unstable and erupted, producing an M2-class solar flare and a massive CME. The blast also triggered an S1-class radiation storm. –Space Weather, Space.com

Very unusual video...........
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=PSMG_xGOXsE

July 29, 2011 – CHANCE OF FLARES: Sunspot 1260 has developed a delta-class magnetic field that harbors energy for powerful X-class solar flares. Such an eruption today would be Earth-directed as the sunspot turns to face our planet. Sunspot 1260 is leading a parade of big sunspots across the solar disk–one of the finest displays of solar activity in years. Even the smallest dark cores in these sunspot groups are as wide as planets, and they are crackling with C-class flares. Readers with solar telescopes are encouraged to monitor developments. -Space Weather

Two blasts of energy from the sun hit the Earth's magnetic field Friday and could disrupt one or more electrical grids, global-positioning systems or other satellite-communications systems, scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Friday.

View Full Image

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
X-ray image of the sun, taken by spacecraft on Aug. 4.

The blasts touched Earth's magnetic field in the form of fast-moving "solar wind" and is blowing by the Earth, Joseph Kunches, a space weather scientist with NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center, said in an interview.

Mr. Kunches said it is too early to know what the effects of the blasts will be. "If it's a really big storm, it still could be active [Saturday] night, but this kind of disturbance level won't be sustained for long," he said.

But Mr. Kunches added, "It seems that the magnetic field is getting hit harder than we thought it would."

The storms are two of three large explosions from the sun's surface since Tuesday, according to NOAA.

The agency has notified U.S. electric-grid and satellite-communication operators of the events, which could interfere with some communications, particularly those that are closest to the South and North Poles, Mr. Kunches said.

"The magnetic poles in both hemispheres are most exposed to charged particles that come from solar wind," he said.

read more at link http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903454504576490641577134256.html?mod=WSJ_World_LEFTSecondNews

September 11, 2011 – GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY CONTINUES: Earth’s magnetic field is still reverberating from the impact of a CME on Sept. 9th with intermittent geomagnetic storms in progress around both poles. High-latitude sky watchers should remain alert for auroras mingling with the light of the waxing full Moon. A new sunspot (AR1289) is growing rapidly in the sun’s eastern hemisphere. Sunspot 1283 still has a “beta-gamma” magnetic field that harbors energy for strong M-class solar flares as it moves across the right limb of the Sun. –Space Weather

GEOMAGNETIC STORM: A strong-to-severe geomagnetic storm is in progress following the impact of a coronal mass ejection (CME) at approximately 12:15 UT on Sept. 26th. The Goddard Space Weather Lab reports a "strong compression of Earth's magnetosphere. Simulations indicate that solar wind plasma [has penetrated] close to geosynchronous orbit starting at 13:00UT." Geosynchronous satellites could therefore be directly exposed to solar wind plasma and magnetic fields. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for Northern and Southern Lights after nightfall. Aurora alerts: text, voice.

STRONG SOLAR ACTIVITY: Having already unleashed two X-flares since Sept. 22nd, sunspot AR1302 appears ready for more. The active region has a complex "beta-gamma-delta" magnetic field that harbors energy for strong M- and X-class eruptions. Flares from AR1302 will become increasingly geoeffective as the sunspot turns toward Earth in the days ahead.

On Sunday, Sept. 25th, Dutch astrophotographer Emil Kraaikamp took a magnificent picture of the active region, which is so big only half of it fits on the screen.




"This is how the sunspot looked through my solar-filtered 10-inch Newtonian telescope," says Kraaikamp. "Due to the always-variable daytime seeing here in the Netherlands, it took a couple of hours to finally capture one good set of images, but it was well worth the effort to get this view of the huge sunspot formation."


SOLAR STATIC: Active sunspot 1302 has turned the sun into a shortwave radio transmitter. Shock waves rippling from the sunspot's exploding magnetic canopy are exciting plasma oscillations in the sun's atmosphere. The result: Bursts of static are issuing from the loudspeakers of shortwave radios on Earth. Amateur radio astronomer Thomas Ashcraft recorded this sample from his backyard observatory in New Mexico on Sept. 24th:

http://spaceweather.com/

"Saturday was a super-strong solar day with near continuous flaring and radio sweeps," says Ashcraft. "The sound file (above) corresponds to an M3 flare at 1918 UTC. It was the strongest radio sweep of the observing day."

"Try listening to the radio bursts in stereo," he advises. "I was recording on two separate radios at 21.1 MHz and 21.9 MHz, and I put each one into its own channel of the audio file. This gives a spatial dimension as the bursts sweep down in frequency."

Love Always
mudra

Saturday was a super-strong solar day with near continuous flaring and radio sweeps

Yep. This would explain the major A.S.S.(Ascension Symptoms Syndrome) I have been feeling the past few
days - Saturday in particular.

Thanks for the confirmation, Mudra.

10/2/2011 -- Massive unnamed comet hits the Sun

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeKwEYieMGw


Love Always
mudra

Arrowwind wrote:lots of flairs coming out of the sun before the comet strikes. How are we to be sure that the flair that comes out upon comet impact is not just a coincidence?

The comet and the coronal mass ejection

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwPo_BF2VSY


http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/

Love Always
mudra

Arrowwind wrote:Thanks for that Mudra. This video of the comet and the coronal mass ejection is being promoted as a hit and a resulting flare on a number of forums. I agree with this guy in the video you posted. We don't know for sure and most likely they are not related.

I think we shoud'nt take anything for granted but rather as a window of opportunity for deeper questioning and greater understanding.
Your signature contains a lot of wisdom and is something one should keep in mind when coming in contact with any information.

Love from me
mudra

Solar Flares-Blackouts-Volcanos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztnJMtzz_jI


Love Always
mudra

Hello. This is my first post. I appreciate what I have learned here so far and hope to make some positive contributions myself.

What do you make of this phone pic I snapped last April of a sun-halo?

Oh Wow!

That looks like the Moon halo I saw tonight...

Nice picture Emme.

The image is way better on my computer, but you can still see something that
looks like a spinning top towards the bottom of it.

Warm welcome in the Mists Emme.
Very nice picture you took
Have a great journey amongst us.

Love from me
mudra