oh cool, I'll have to look north on Thursday night. I haven't seen a good aurora in a while

I'd read the initial reports about the Sunday solar flare(s), a moderate-sized one that we've already passed through and a MUCH BIGGER one that went in a different direction and missed the planet Earth entirely and we're lucky it did. The current one on its way is apparently semi-OMFG, but we won't be in the middle of it... or so the experts think.

Of course, this is all happening just days after the publicized prediction that there is a 1-in-8 chance of a 'solar megastorm' hitting us in the next 8 years. The biggest solar storm on record was way back in 1859, (called the Carrington event), when, despite a LOT less technology to be effected, did have some serious effect.

So anybody wanna place bets on what's going to kill the Internet first... the hackers, the ACTA treaty or the sun?

hoping for some Aurora, and clear skies.

We're north enough to maybe get some Aurora but, bugger it, it's overcast.

We've got a beautiful clear night here and a gorgeous moon that I've been watching rise through the trees. I'm woefully uneducated where science is concerned so I have no idea what a solar flare is or why it affects things, so I'll have a torch ready for burning and a chicken to sacrifice to the gods.

update: atmosphere didn't burn off killing all life, but there was some disruption in radio and navigation.

There were a lot of news articles about the OMG!!! Solar Flare!!!!!! When there's no update, because the update isn't OMG! Sexy News!!! it just makes people distrust science. It was a large-ish flare that hit the Earth directly, and did what they actually said it could do. Silly news people are silly.