Sun-san

[kurohinge1]

Solar flare shuts down satellite

A Japanese communications satellite [Kodama] has malfunctioned and been switched into a shutdown mode after being hit by what is believed to be the biggest solar flare in 30 years

Kodama

Geomagnetic storm hits Earth

It whipped through the solar system at about eight million kph, taking just 19 hours to travel the 150 million km from the sun to envelop the planet. US scientists said it collided with Earth's magnetic field at 0613 GMT (1713 AEDT Wednesday) ...

Sun explosion a show-stopper

Keep your eyes skyward over the next few nights: the debris from a massive explosion on the sun is hurtling towards Earth, triggering a spectacular light show - and potentially sending communications haywire.

Maybe those inaka FG (away from the city lights) can see this tonight ...

[Caustic Saint]

For the really cool view, you've got to check out the video on the Earth Observatory site:

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/Images/flare_soh_2003301.mpg

[kotatsuneko]

still, great if you playing boktai huh? ^^

[Caustic Saint]

The first thing that came to mind when I read about this was Larry Niven's short story "Inconstant Moon." Anybody else have the same thoughts?

[Charles]

That's o-tenso-sama to you.

[kurohinge1]

Hisashiburi, Tenso-chan. Tsuki ga suki nano?

Rikubetsu Astronomical Observatory

Northern lights

The aurora lights up Japan's northern skies late on Wednesday in the aftermath of a spectacular eruption Tuesday on the surface of the Sun.

This photo was taken astronomers at the Rikubetsu Astronomical Observatory on Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido at around 8 P.M.

The observatory said the aurora began to appear over Japan's northern sky at around 6 P.M.

"It was short but very sweet" ... amateur astronomer David Finlay took this photo at Robertson of the aurora australis that was triggered this week by an apocalyptic flare on the sun.