As the Sun Turns: Solar Minimums and Maximums

[Maria]

I tried to access http://www.spaceweather.com, but the server there is overloaded.

We need to pray. If one of these huge X Flares hits the earth directly, our transformers could blow, disrupt our power grids, and we might be without power for years as we wait for more transformers to be built and the grids to be re-engineered.

Here is another site about today's X3.2 solar flare:

This latest sun storm erupted Monday at 9:11 p.m. EDT and registered as an X3.2 solar flare, one of the strongest types of flares the sun can release, space weather officials said. It came on the heels of two other recent X-class solar flares on Sunday night and Monday, all of which were sparked by a highly active sunspot on the sun's far left side.

For the complete story, please visit: http://science.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/0 ... 1-day?lite

[Barbara]

Notice the hour the storm erupted as listed here : 9:11 - must be a REAL emergency this time.
Sounds AWFUL. I had no idea of this threat.
I was hearing just recently about how difficult it is to survey the soil to find the right place for transformers to
be installed ; people have to go out to the field and do extensive soil tests.
Then after the huge transformer is built and put in place, teams have to go check regularly to see if there
are any weaknesses in the structures. They have to go out to the middle of nowhere in freezing cold and any kind of weather
to check the condition of the line and especially transformers.
I had never known about that, either.
It is a very laborious process. So I can see that if they did get knocked out, that would truly take time to restore a system.
Maybe it is a punishment from God if it does ever happen.
I agree, let's pray against it - that is the point of knowing about all these dangerous situations, so we can take action spiritually.

[Maria]

We have just had double C Solar Flares. Looking at the history of solar flares, this may be a sign that an X-Flare is imminent.

http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/rt_plots/xray_5m.html

In addition, there is a NOAA warning:

• Sunspot AR1748 has already unleashed four X-class solar flares, but it might not be finished. The active region continues to grow beneath a delta-class magnetic field that harbors energy for powerful eruptions. NOAA puts the odds of another X-flare today at 60%.

  For more up-to-date information, see: http://spaceweather.com/

[jgress]

I'd be interested to see how conspiracy theorists attribute this one to the Illuminati.

[Maria]

I'd be interested to see how conspiracy theorists attribute this one to the Illuminati.

My husband and I both noticed that space weather.com listed that X-flare in EDT rather than providing the time in UT as usual.
If they had listed the time in UT, it would not have been 9:11.

I think that space weather.com was pushing buttons for sure. Someone must have thought that was funny.

[Maria]

We have a lot of active regions on the sun that might generate another M or C flare.
An X-flare cannot be ruled out.

Anyway, did anyone see the huge moon over the weekend?

Here is a fantastic picture of the super moon over Greece that should warm your hearts.

supermoon_strip.jpg (32.15 KiB) Viewed 25071 times

• The supermoon was as much as 14% bigger and 30% brighter than other full Moons of 2013. "Perigee moon" is the scientific term for the phenomenon. Full Moons vary in size because of the oval shape of the Moon's orbit. The Moon follows an elliptical path around Earth with one side ("perigee") about 50,000 km closer than the other ("apogee"). Full Moons that occur on the perigee side of the Moon's orbit seem extra big and bright.

  http://spaceweather.com/

[Maria]

We have several very active regions on the sun that could give us an X solar flare.

see: http://www.spaceweather.com

Currently, we have had a bunch of M-solar flares.

see this graph at http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/rt_plots/xray_1m.html