What is Digg?47 Comments
- Toon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+24How do they not call this a Sun-ami? It's built right in there.
- MrWhistler, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17Just a side question..."generated a destructive shock wave."
Is there anything on the face of the Sun to destroy? I mean, it is the freakin sun... - Pentagonian, on 10/12/2007, -3/+19That's gotta be one hell of a wave to surf
- sockpuppets, on 10/12/2007, -4/+17I hope a solar flare eradicates that one surviving brain cell of yours.
- gameforge, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12Hello AllnightChemist, there are problems here on Earth... We can play with Digg later.
- interrogate, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I hear David Blaine is going to run across the surface of the sun in thirty seconds while completely submerged in water, so I wouldn't be so sure about that.
- Abno, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Seems one of the problems here on earth is people who don't realize studying the sun can benefit life on earth.
- angryredplanet, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3The sun is 1,391,000 km in diameter. That equals 1,391,000,000 m diameter.
Using Circumference = pi x d yields:
C = 3.1459 x 1,391,000,000 m
C = 4,369,955,381.14 m
Assuming the medium (sun) is uniformly spherical, we want to find 1/2 the circumference i.e. the length each part of the wave travels before crossing another part of itself.
1/2 x C = 4,369,955,381.14 m x 0.5
1/2 x C = 2,184,977,690.57 m
Assuming the wave took 10 minutes to propagate across the surface of the sun:
10 mins = 600 secs
Therefore average velocity of the wave = distance / time
Vel(w) = 2,184,977,690.57 m / 600 secs
Vel(w) = 3,641,629.48 m/s
I calculate that the velocity of the shockwave was 3,641,629.48 m/s. This is assuming that the wave propagated across the surface of the sun in 10 minutes and that the sun is truly spherical. That's moving extraordinarily fast - 1% of the speed of light. - Thex1138, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I think Robert Roy Britt is attempting to coin a phrase of calling the shock wave a tsunami for his own pleasure rather than identifying it as a Moreton Wave...
- gameforge, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I have compelling evidence that you did not RTFA! Forshame on you!
- AllnightChemist, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Okay, Okay. Uncle!
Lesson: Never dis' science on digg. - LLXerxes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1They were using a "the prototype of a new solar telescope"
- nofxjunkee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1disruptive might be a more fitting word.
- Nearoschyth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Certainly faster than a bird and a plane combined. A plird. Or a blane.
- SnakeO, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Across the entire sun in a matter of minutes? That's faster than a speeding bullet!
- Roger, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4Hope no one got hurt.
- illt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1glad i wasn't there when that happened.
- Logan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It's called a solar filter.
- livestradamus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1
http://www.space.com/images/061208_solar_tsunami_02.gif - JohnnyZito, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I'm sure FEMA did nothing...
- damonlab, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Northern lights.
- 0crabby0, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Increasing X&M class solar flares, at least 2 retrograde sunspots(first time ever witnessed this year), and the last Solar minimum was a solar maximum instead.
Mars is warming up maybe this the cause of global warming on earth?
One thing is certain, what we've known about the sun has changed dramatically in the last three years. - itistoday, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Hopefully this time we'll be able to avoid a tragedy by warning the suntopians in time.
*ducks* - p_o_b, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Actually this can cause problems on the Earth, ask anyone who has used precision GPS in the past few days. Solar activity plays a big part in signal degradation
- raindogmx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Enormously unimaginable yet there it is
Beautiful
We are minuscule nothings yet it seems we're the only ones who see it
Imagine how it would look like from the surface - rowlodge, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1do i need "sun sunami" life insurace?
- angryredplanet, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1bury
- p_o_b, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Don't worry I see that Jack Bauer is already on top of the situation.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1so what. most people don't know the sun even gets solar flares. they think it's a yellow light bulb. which is retarded, it's not even yellow. tell them it does solar flares and they'd go 'wow'.
- kabronkline, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Obviously, the sun's variation in output DOES have an very real affect on Earth's atmosphere; however, our understanding of the cycles through which the sun passes is very limited. Although we have recognized short-term sun output variations (50-60 years cycles), our current understanding of the sun is nowhere near vast enough to draw conclusions about the slight increase in global mean temperature throughout the past thousand years.
What is important to remember about the whole topic of global warming is that although we have a good idea of past climate conditions (drilling ice-cores, ect.) we really only about a hundred years, or less, of good climatological data - one hundred years in 5 billion years of existence, merely a spec in Earth's climate history. With this simple fact considered, it shouldn't be hard to agree that continued research and less frantic debate is needed in-order to better understand the nature of our planet... (no we are not going into another ice-age anytime soon, calm down). - maddonkey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0how fast was that thing really moving?
anybody with an educated guess - amnakaiser, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0hey, are you sure this is true??
press comes up with all sorts of stuff these days - archemedes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I can't get over that guy's name. K.S.Balasubramaniam. Put THAT on a name tag.
- Roger, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2lol
Dude, you having fun? - Nollie2, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Taking all bets that someone will blame this on Global Warming.
- SnakeO, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1and faster than a locomotion
- thcobbs, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3Damn you and your Keanu Reference!!!!!
At least say: "Whoa..." or "Dude!" or "Wylde Styllons!!" - funkydude101, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3Will this affect earth's weather in any way? I'd like to have a warmer winter.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3Funny. I like how the sun is at what would normally be minimum activity and yet something has disrupted this cycle and it is, instead, very active. In related news, Earth, which orbits the sun, and Mars are both experiencing unusual weather as well as slight increases in mean temperature.
Of course, it's humans driving SUVs that caused all this...
Yuppie whack-jobs. - patientXero, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2hehe. . .just got a flash of the last scene in Point Break. . .
- razei, on 10/12/2007, -6/+3that went down fast.
http://www.duggmirror.com - chungthomas, on 10/12/2007, -6/+3then global warming is your solution. just drive your suv more.
- da_bradler, on 10/12/2007, -6/+3Great now I guess i'm going to be getting a letter from unicef guilting me into donating money for the victims on the sun
- goffy59, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1That's proof that we are doomed lol. That looked VERY violent. If more ***** like that happens I'm sure it will start to effect us greatly.
- XedLos, on 10/12/2007, -6/+0I thought it was bad it look at the sun directly
can't you go blind - starexplorer, on 10/12/2007, -16/+3umm, until you can't play on the internets anymore
- AllnightChemist, on 10/12/2007, -42/+3Hello Scientists, there are problems here on Earth... We can play with the Sun later.
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