A powerful sun storm could reach Earth by July 4

A solar flare is an explosion on the Sun that happens when energy stored in twisted magnetic fields (usually above sunspots) is suddenly released. Flares produce a burst of radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum, from radio waves to x-rays and gamma-rays. Scientists classify solar flares according to their x-ray brightness in the wavelength range 1 to 8 Angstroms. The amount of energy released is the equivalent of millions of 100-megaton hydrogen bombs exploding at the same time! The first solar flare recorded in astronomical literature was on September 1, 1859. Two scientists, Richard C. Carrington and Richard Hodgson, were independently observing sunspots at the time, when they viewed a large flare in white light.
There are 3 categories: X-class flares are big; they are major events that can trigger planet-wide radio blackouts and long-lasting radiation storms. M-class flares are medium-sized; they can cause brief radio blackouts that affect Earth's polar regions. Minor radiation storms sometimes follow an M-class flare. Compared to X- and M-class events, C-class flares are small with few noticeable consequences here on Earth. The sun has sent out a powerful giant solar flare on July 2 and is expected to sweep past Earth’s magnetic field on Wednesday, July 4. The start of a solar explosion on the Sun’s surface was for the first time viewed by the scientists at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), in collaboration with University of Cambridge and Rice University, USA. A sun storm was noticed rising from a large sunspot called AR1515 that is now facing the Earth side of the sun. It released an extremely forceful solar flare at 6:43 a.m. EDT (1043 GMT) on July 2. The flare registered as a class M5.6 solar storm on the scale used by astronomers to measure the sun’s weather.
Astronomer Tony Phillips said the solar flare released a wave of charged plasma called a coronal mass ejection (CME), but the particles were not aimed directly at Earth.
According to Spaceweather.com Tony Phillips stated, “The eruption also hurled a CME into space, but not directly toward Earth. The south-traveling cloud could deliver a glancing blow to our planet’s magnetosphere on July 4th or 5th.”
The strength of the solar flare is classified by three primary classes – C-class flares, M-class flares and X-class flares. The weakest storms are the C-class flares, which cause little effect that can be felt on Earth. M-class flares are moderate solar storms that can supercharge the Earth’s northern lights display.
The most powerful X-class solar flares can threaten spacecraft and astronauts in orbit; affect satellite signals, as well as harm power lines and other infrastructure on the ground, when targeted towards earth.
Scientist Durgesh Tripathi said hot gases evolved during large solar explosions would travel towards the earth which could affect power grids and satellites.
Helen Mason of the University of Cambridge said active regions are now arising frequently across the Sun. The opportunity to study them is facilitated with solar spacecraft, such as Hinode and the Solar Dynamics Observatory.
The study about solar flares would help in forecasting such explosions and in taking needed precautions to avoid damage to power grids and satellites.

RFERENCES:

1. Truthdrive ; http://truthdive.com/2012/07/04/solar-flare-2012-sun-storm-could-reach-earth-by-july-4.html
2. Spaceweather.com ;  http://www.spaceweather.com/

Sarvodaya ; http://romneymanassa.wordpress.com/2012/01/28/sol-invictus/

Hidden Portals in Earth's Magnetic Field

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/29jun_hiddenportals/

June 29, 2012: A favorite theme of science fiction is "the portal"--an extraordinary opening in space or time that connects travelers to distant realms.  A good portal is a shortcut, a guide, a door into the unknown. If only they actually existed....

It turns out that they do, sort of, and a NASA-funded researcher at the University of Iowa has figured out how to find them.

"We call them X-points or electron diffusion regions," explains plasma physicist Jack Scudder of the University of Iowa.  "They're places where the magnetic field of Earth connects to the magnetic field of the Sun, creating an uninterrupted path leading from our own planet to the sun's atmosphere 93 million miles away."

Observations by NASA's THEMIS spacecraft and Europe's Cluster probes suggest that these magnetic portals open and close dozens of times each day.  They're typically located a few tens of thousands of kilometers from Earth where the geomagnetic field meets the onrushing solar wind.  Most portals are small and short-lived; others are yawning, vast, and sustained.  Tons of energetic particles can flow through the openings, heating Earth's upper atmosphere, sparking geomagnetic storms, and igniting bright polar auroras.

NASA is planning a mission called "MMS," short for Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission, due to launch in 2014, to study the phenomenon. Bristling with energetic particle detectors and magnetic sensors, the four spacecraft of MMS will spread out in Earth's magnetosphere and surround the portals to observe how they work.

Just one problem:  Finding them.  Magnetic portals are invisible, unstable, and elusive.  They open and close without warning "and there are no signposts to guide us in," notes Scudder. 
 

Data from NASA's Polar spacecraft, circa 1998, provided crucial clues to finding magnetic X-points.

Actually, there are signposts, and Scudder has found them.

Portals form via the process of magnetic reconnection.  Mingling lines of magnetic force from the sun and Earth criss-cross and join to create the openings. "X-points" are where the criss-cross takes place.  The sudden joining of magnetic fields can propel jets of charged particles from the X-point, creating an "electron diffusion region."
To learn how to pinpoint these events, Scudder looked at data from a space probe that orbited Earth more than 10 years ago.

"In the late 1990s, NASA's Polar spacecraft spent years in Earth's magnetosphere," explains Scudder, "and it encountered many X-points during its mission."

Because Polar carried sensors similar to those of MMS, Scudder decided to see how an X-point looked to Polar. "Using Polar data, we have found five simple combinations of magnetic field and energetic particle measurements that tell us when we've come across an X-point or an electron diffusion region. A single spacecraft, properly instrumented, can make these measurements."

This means that single member of the MMS constellation using the diagnostics can find a portal and alert other members of the constellation. Mission planners long thought that MMS might have to spend a year or so learning to find portals before it could study them.  Scudder's work short cuts the process, allowing MMS to get to work without delay.

It's a shortcut worthy of the best portals of fiction, only this time the portals are real. And with the new "signposts" we know how to find them.

The work of Scudder and colleagues is described in complete detail in the June 1 issue of the Physical Review Letters.

Author: Dr. Tony Phillips| Production editor: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA