Wowee, is that a serious flare. NASA describes
it thus:
An X 17.2 flare, the second largest flare observed by
SOHO, was setting off a strong high energy proton event and a fast-moving
Coronal Mass Ejection, hitting Earth early on Wednesday 29 October. The
one-two punch was a done deal on Wednesday afternoon, when an X 10.0 flare
set off another round of particles and another fast-moving CME.
Also interesting is this note:
A number of people have noticed that a comet was
approaching the Sun shortly before the flare and CME (see the beginning of
the LASCO C2 movie above, lower right corner). However, we have no reason to
believe there is any connection. Such a comet would evaporate completely
before getting anywhere near the surface, and its mass would be like a speck
of dust compared to the almost 10 billion tons of matter involved in the CME
alone. And the orbit of sungrazing comets (theoretically speaking, should
they have survived the encounter) does not touch the Sun itself.
For more info on these flares, see the SOHO page:
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/hotshots/2003_10_28/
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