From the “Oh noes it’s Radiation” department, Dr. Leif Svalgaard points out we all got a gamma ray bath on that recent big solar flare. I wonder how many Banana Equivalent Doses we all got?
Solar Flare in the Gamma-ray Sky
Credit: NASA, DOE, International Fermi LAT Collaboration Explanation: What shines in the gamma-ray sky? The answer is usually the most exotic and energetic of astrophysical environments, like active galaxies powered by supermassive black holes, or incredibly dense pulsars, the spinning remnants of exploded stars. But on March 7, a powerful solar flare, one of a series of recent solar eruptions, dominated the gamma-ray sky at energies up to 1 billion times the energy of visible light photons. These two panels illustrate the intensity of that solar flare in all-sky images recorded by the orbiting Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. On March 6, as on most days, the Sun was almost invisible to Fermi’s imaging detectors. But during the energetic X-class flare, it became nearly 100 times brighter than even the Vela Pulsar at gamma-ray energies. Now faded in Fermi’s view, the Sun will likely shine again in the gamma-ray sky as the solar activity cycle approaches its maximum.
Source: Astronomy picture of the day
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AT&T said they had a lot of trouble with the internet that same time…….
Cool. It it safe to assume our infrastructure is safe from all but the most catastrophic of situations?
I love watching shows like “The Universe” but feel they get a little over dramatic with some of their radiation scare stories with Gamma Ray Pulses, Magnetars, even relatively close super nova not just frying ever electrical transfomer on earth, but stripping away the atmosphere and all of creation being asphyxiated in 30 seconds time. How big was this burst from the sun? Was it one of the largest we’ve recorded?
Looks like some other little red dot popped up in the top middle section. Wonder what that was?
Actually were hit my a magnetar in 2005.
http://www.space.com/806-brightest-galactic-flash-detected-hits-earth.html
I know a couple scientists have noted that the mass die offs of Earth have roughly coincided with our little spur of the galaxy moving through heavy heavy traffic areas where the chances of getting fried with a GRB increase dramatically.
Or I should add, getting hit with comets and meteors.
And evidently there is a 1% chance of the earth being smashed by Mercury getting pulled out of its orbit by Jupiter. At least we probably see that one coming a LONG way off. 🙂
Well, I’m toast, then. My most recent date with radioiodine put me close to my lifetime limit, so I’m sure this has put me over the edge and I’m gonna die.
Hopefully it will take several more decades.
As concerns radiation safety see:
http://lowdose.energy.gov/
It seems that contrary to the expectations from the “radiation is scary” community, low doses of radiation – slightly above background is the usual statement – appear to be good for you. The low dose appears to stimulate repair mechanisms in the cell protecting it from genetic damage. For decades the assumption was that there was a linear decline in health effects with reduced exposure. This is true to a point. Below that, apparently the correlation between health and radiation exposure may reverse. One simple example is the relation between ultraviolet (an ionizing radiation) exposure and Vitamin D synthesis. Too little is actually very bad for your health and even worse for developing children, who, without sufficient exposure, will not synthesize adequate Vitamin D for skeletal development among other problems. The last few years have seen an increase in rickets in children. I can’t find the link anymore, but one researcher suggested that the increased use of sunscreen triggered by the ozone-hole alarm might be the cause. Search terms including low dose radiation and hormesis may be interesting.
Should dosage be measured in Chiquitas?
Jenn;
Google “hormesis” and have hope. You may have added some years!
Another hit by approaching solar storm
http://www.n3kl.org/sun/images/noaa_kp_3d.gif
Duster says:
March 15, 2012 at 10:56 am
As concerns radiation safety see:
http://lowdose.energy.gov/
It seems that contrary to the expectations from the “radiation is scary” community, low doses of radiation – slightly above background is the usual statement ……….
Video games have reduced my children to jellyfish like creatures. Nintenditis, I have to use compressed air to inflate their bodies in order to keep them from sliding out of chairs.
Maybe it’s not just sunscreen?
Gamma Ray Burst. Hmmm…. we are all the Hulk now!
Do any of these gamma rays make it to the Earth’s surface?
God, Ipod Touch syndrome makes Nintendoitis look like the common cold. My son had a passing interest in video games, mostly Guitar Hero, maybe an hour here and there. I think his Ipod Touch is permanently attached to his hand. Thank god the thing needs recharged pretty regularly or I’d never see him.
So can we measure cloud cover differences between the days before during and after the event?
The highest-energy gamma rays are similar to galactic cosmic rays in being able to cause low-altitude ionization, for extra condensation nuclei.
Has world-wide cloudiness increased in response to this gamma barrage?
OK, it was 100 times brighter than Vela for a few hours. We are exposed to the gamma radiation from Vela for about 12 hours a day, 365 days a year, every year. And everyting else in the sky added up is far stronger than Vela alone.
Perspective people.
pwl says:
March 15, 2012 at 11:31 am
We certainly don’t need more greenies around.
I suspect the real relevance here is that of a sustained increase in solar wind. Such an increase would suggest based on the cosmic radiation theory of cloud formation this could have the potential to reduce formation of clouds and thus cause global warming.
It not clear if this radiation was just a burst (no big deal), or a sustained change in solar wind.
The only news and event worthy of consideration here would be any sustained changed in solar radiation which in turn would be a sustained change in cloud formation which in turn would suggest something that can contribute to resumption in warming trends.
This cosmic radiation link is explained here:
Size of flare was, I think I heard, ‘the biggest since 2005’. So no big deal really… a lot also depends on the magnetic polarity of the flare.
That is why we do not last longer than approximately One Gleissberg cycle… 🙂
Dust we are..
Gamma rays, x-rays, no real difference except notational, gamma radiation comes from atomic nuclei while x-radiation comes from excited shell electrons. There are portable “x-ray” devices that use gamma from radioactive isotopes.
If we had known about this, someone could have done some experiments during the daytime with covered photographic film, seen if the radiation was strong enough to leave some images.
But then, photographic film is very hard to come by now that virtually all cameras are digital. Drat, the exploration of science has been thwarted by the advancement of technology!
I have a fairly sensitive geiger counter in the attic and I’ve noticed a 5% increase in radiation since 9th March. I wonder if that is related, or was the peak earlier and we should be back to normal now?
The snow on the roof melted in the past week, which should give an increase in detected radiation, but not by that much. It puzzled me this morning, and then I read this post.
Pull My Finger says:
March 15, 2012 at 10:13 am
Looks like some other little red dot popped up in the top middle section. Wonder what that was?
That is the suns doppleganger on the opposite side of the galaxy.