Comet Lovejoy plunges towards Sun

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Dec 152011
 

In what could become the most spectacular solar event of an already eventful year, Comet Lovejoy (C/2011 W3) is racing towards solar doom today. With a coma that appears to be larger than Jupiter and with a tail stretching for tens of millions of miles, Comet Lovejoy is the first sungrazing comet observed directly from earth in over forty years. Discovered using a CCD-equipped telescope by Terry Lovejoy on November 27, Comet Lovejoy appears to be a member of the Kreutz group of sungrazing comets that have put on some of the most magnificent shows in recorded history.

There is even a possibility that Comet Lovejoy will be visible for a short time in broad daylight.

Technically, Comet Lovejoy is projected to come about 0.1 solar diameters from the Sun’s plasma surface (photoshere) at about 6 PM Central, but in reality the comet will almost certainly perish, perhaps spectacularly. In any case, Comet Lovejoy will likely outdo October’s amazing cometary solar impact event.

As with the October event, look for a resulting coronal mass ejection (CME). Quoting our October blurb:

Conventional astronomical theories cannot account for the violent solar reactions to these two impacts because neither body had sufficient mass or speed to violently blast significant amounts of ejecta millions of miles away from the sun’s surface. However, proponents of the Electric Universe predicted such behavior. According to them, comets are like giant capacitors that become highly electrically charged due to their eccentric orbits around the sun. When they plunge through the inner solar system, the dense solar winds trigger plasma discharges resulting in the tail and coma of the comet. If there is any truth to this idea, it is easy to imagine how a comet impact could disrupt the local magnetic field of the sun and result in a CME.

And if the CME is big and earth directed, be on the lookout for earthly consequences like auroral displays and even earthquakes.

Comet Lovejoy

Comet Lovejoy

UPDATE: Wow!

Comet Lovejoy from LASCO C3

Comet Lovejoy from LASCO C3

Spectacular comet impact triggers coronal mass ejection

 Analysis, News, Science  1 Response »
Oct 042011
 

The largest cometary impact of the sun that I have ever witnessed occurred this weekend triggering a significant coronal mass ejection (CME).  The animated GIF below shows the event.

A significant comet impacts the sun triggering a CME.

A significant comet impacts the sun triggering a CME.

The coma of the comet was bigger than the earth (although the nucleus was certainly much less massive) and its tail stretched for several million miles. The comet streaked towards the sun at terrific speeds indicating a large, eccentric orbit. Further analysis of the comet’s motion shows an apparent slowdown as the comet neared the sun. In actuality, the comet continued to speed up as it swung around the sun, but did not quite clear the solar disk and smacked the sun on the far side, triggering the CME that erupted on the opposite side from the comet’s apparent approach in the animated GIF.

While some, like the bloggers at SpaceWeather, have expressed surprise in seeing the associated CME, this is not the first time that a comet has triggered a coronal mass ejection. A much smaller impact event occurred last May and can be seen in the YouTube video on our site here. Another similar collision that resulted in a more ambiguous CME can be seen on our site here.

Conventional astronomical theories cannot account for the violent solar reactions to these two impacts because neither body had sufficient mass or speed to violently blast significant amounts of ejecta millions of miles away from the sun’s surface. However, proponents of the Electric Universe predicted such behavior. According to them, comets are like giant capacitors that become highly electrically charged due to their eccentric orbits around the sun. When they plunge through the inner solar system, the dense solar winds trigger plasma discharges resulting in the tail and coma of the comet. If there is any truth to this idea, it is easy to imagine how a comet impact could disrupt the local magnetic field of the sun and result in a CME.

Earthbound CME to strike 4/10/2011: Earthquake alert?

 News, Science  1 Response »
Apr 072011
 

While not nearly as large as last weekend’s event, a coronal mass ejection (CME) occurred today and the ejecta appears to be earthbound. According to government simulations, a portion of the CME wavefront is expected to hit our planet on Sunday, April 10, 2011, around 10:40AM Central time.

According to data from the same site, the last time the earth was struck with CME ejecta was March 11, the date of the destructive, magnitude 9.0 Japanese earthquake. Additionally, the 8.8 Chilean earthquake that occurred about a year earlier was predicted based upon a CME that had preceded it

There are formal studies supporting the notion that the sun’s weather is linked to earthquakes. For instance, an investigation of 16 years of seismic and solar activity claims that all 682 earthquakes of magnitude 4 and greater that occurred during this time were preceded by solar flares. However, the study also admits that not all solar flares resulted in earthquakes. It is widely believed that solar flares and CMEs are closely linked, with the former triggering the latter.

We present the study of 682 earthquakes of ¡Ý4.0 magnitude observed during January 1991 to January 2007 in the light of solar flares observed by GOES and SOXS missions in order to explore the possibility of any association between solar flares and earthquakes. Our investigation preliminarily shows that each earthquake under study was preceded by a solar flare of GOES importance B to X class by 10-100 hrs. However, each flare was not found followed by earthquake of magnitude ¡Ý4.0. We classified the earthquake events with respect to their magnitude and further attempted to look for their correlation with GOES importance class and delay time. We found that with the increasing importance of flares the delay in the onset of earthquake reduces. The critical X-ray intensity of the flare to be associated with earthquake is found to be ~10-6 Watts/m2. On the other hand no clear evidence could be established that higher importance flares precede high magnitude earthquakes. Our detailed study of 50 earthquakes associated with solar flares observed by SOXS mission and other wavebands revealed many interesting results such as the location of the flare on the Sun and the delay time in the earthquake and its magnitude. We propose a model explaining the charged particles accelerated during the solar flare and released in the space that undergone further acceleration by interplanetary shocks and produce the ring current in the earth’s magnetosphere, which may enhance the process of tectonics plates motion abruptly at fault zones. It is further proposed that such sudden enhancement in the process of tectonic motion of plates in fault zones may increase abruptly the heat gradients on spatial (dT/dx) and temporal (dT/dt) scales responsible for earthquakes.

Large CME erupts from sun

 News, Science  2 Responses »
Apr 032011
 
CME of April 3, 2011

CME of April 3, 2011

An ongoing coronal mass ejection (CME) has been captured on the COR2 Ahead solar satellite. The CME appears to be even larger than the solar eruption occurring on March 8 that preceded by a few days the magnitude 9.0 Tōhoku, Japan, earthquake and resulting tsunami.

The relative size of the sun is shown as the circle on the occlusion disk at the center of the image.

8.9 magnitude earthquake strikes Japan; CME’s involved?

 Analysis, News, Science  3 Responses »
Mar 112011
 

One of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded struck 230 miles east off the coast of Tokyo earlier today. The most powerful quake to hit Japan in over 100 years, the massive shock has triggered tidal waves that are racing across the Pacific and that have already wrecked devastation onto many areas of Japan.

At least 32 people have been killed and destruction is widespread. The earthquake struck at 2:46 PM local time.

The earthquake’s timing so soon after the sun’s recent bought of volatility may suggest a connection between the two.

The catastrophic 8.8 earthquake that struck Chile around this same time last year was predicted based upon incoming solar coronal mass ejections (CME’s).

The sun’s recent activity triggered rampant speculation among sun watchers that a large earthquake was imminent. A direct prediction of a Japanese earthquake made about two weeks ago can be found here.

Billion-ton coronal mass ejection to strike Earth Thursday

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May 252010
 

The sun produced a magnetic filament that burst Monday, shooting a “billion-ton” coronal mass ejection (CME) racing towards our planet, according to a post on spaceweather.com.  NOAA projects a 35% chance of geomagnetic activity on May 27th when the CME is expected to hammer Earth’s magnetic field.

In the animated image below, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) captured the CME speeding away from the sun.  The Pleiades constellation, a star cluster with sinister occult meaning, can be seen drifting overhead.

May 24th, 2010, Coronal Mass Ejection

The May 24th, 2010, coronal mass ejection

It is unproven but probable that CMEs trigger earthquakes.  The fluctuations of Earth’s magnetosphere and ionosphere resulting from the impact of a coronal mass ejection induce magnetic and electrostatic forces and even produce massive electrical currents on the surface of our planet.  Doubtlessly, these forces are occasionally sufficient to catalyze fault zone slippage, causing earthquakes.

Earlier this year, we reported that the massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake in Chile was predicted several days before it occurred based upon a scheduled CME impact.