Prof. Sam LawlerDec 2

"Even Carrington would be impressed" 😬

https://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=02&month=12&year=2025

Hopefully we just get "someone should check on our satellites" levels of auroras and not "A bunch of open questions in solar-terrestrial physics are about to be answered"

Show threadProf. Sam Lawler

This is blowing up a bit: not trying to scare you all! There is a *gigantic* set of sunspots coming around the limb of the sun, comparable in size to the sunspots sketched by Carrington. They may or may not send some plasma our way. There is also a minor aurora event predicted for 2 days from now due to interactions between an eruption from this sunspot group and previously emitted solar wind/magnetic fields.

ESA has some good info on big solar storms here: https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Space_weather/Flying_through_the_biggest_solar_storm_ever_recorded

Flying through the biggest solar storm ever recorded

No communication or navigation, faulty electronics and collision risk. At ESA’s mission control in Darmstadt, teams faced a scenario unlike any before: a solar storm of extreme magnitude. Fortunately, this nightmare unfolded not in reality, but as part of the simulation campaign for Sentinel-1D, pushing the boundaries of spacecraft operations and space weather preparedness.

Dec 2 at 8:50pmWeb
Show threadGreem (Graeme. Not Graham!)Dec 2

@sundogplanets If we had any way of ensuring that the resulting CMEs only affected LLM systems, eh?

Well, those and the thousands of very LEO objects. Pushing them out of orbit in a plane above or below the solar system plane, rapidly, forever.

Show threadKevin RussellDec 3

@greem @sundogplanets

Oh wouldnt it be grand if all data centres were solar flared into slag? Except for us and our loved ones.

Show threadeconadsDec 3
@kevinrns @greem @sundogplanets and the ones I need for banking, calling home, getting food from the supermarket etc.
Show threadKevin RussellDec 3

@econads @greem @sundogplanets

I guess devine intervention is not the way to go. No wonder democracy is so popular.

Show threadEva HarastaDec 2
@sundogplanets The Director General of ESA, Josef Aschbacher, is Austrian! (Ok, irrelevant, but we are a very small country...)
Show threadJDDec 2
@sundogplanets It's scary, but I made a meme to help me cope and giggle a bit.
Show threadSteve Foerster 🌐Dec 2
@sundogplanets Coincidentally, I'm reading a prepper novel about a Carrington-style event.
Show threadKevin FreitasDec 2
@sundogplanets @stevefoerster Mind sharing what novel?
Show threadSteve Foerster 🌐Dec 3

@KevinFreitas @sundogplanets Darkness Begins by Harley Tate. It's the first of a series of nine, and so far like most of these it's very pulpy so I doubt I'll read it all. But I tend to read to shut my brain off at night, and this sort of thing does the job.

I realize that doesn't sound like a ringing endorsement, but it's everything I thought it would be and I'm not complaining.

Show threadKevin FreitasDec 3
@stevefoerster @sundogplanets Thx! And totally get it. After reading the Mars trilogy, turning my brain off when reading sounds like sweet relief. Cheers!
Show threadEsslar2Dec 2
@sundogplanets Where are my paper maps?
Show threadVulcanTouristDec 2

@sundogplanets

We're all gonna DIE!

(Sorry, Dawn of War voice acting reference.)

Show threadDaniel FischerDec 2
@sundogplanets Activity Regions 4294 and 4296 are huge but quiet so far - the X flare came from AR 4299 (ex-4274) which is much smaller. Size doesn't count much when it comes to flare risk, 'delta' magnetic field configurations do.
Show threadEdwin G. Dec 2
@sundogplanets time to hide in my secret bunker?
Show threadMarsh RayDec 3
@sundogplanets Clickbait
Show threadProf. Sam LawlerDec 3
@marshray It's an exercise put on by scientists to explore what would really happen in this very possible scenario. Not clickbait.
Show threadMarsh RayDec 4

@sundogplanets The headline clearly implies the article is about an actual “recorded” solar storm, and this is not clarified until the end of the first paragraph.

Please forgive me for thinking you were talking about actual sunspots.

Show threadThorne LawlerDec 3
@sundogplanets @futzle uh. I am scared.
“coming around the limb of the sun”
Do I understand correctly that this is something which will be pointing directly at us in a bit less than a season?
Show threadProf. Sam LawlerDec 3
@thorne @futzle In a few days. The sun's equatorial rotation rate is like 25 days
Show threadjforDec 3

@sundogplanets

Add to that the full moon on Friday

Show threadTomKrajci 🇺🇦 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️Dec 3

@sundogplanets

"There is a *gigantic* set of sunspots coming around the limb of the sun...."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8Kyi0WNg40

Dramatic Look

YouTube