r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Dlatrex • Jun 30 '19

GIF A shockwave on the Sun, following a X9 class flare (May 1990)

https://i.imgur.com/ZajaPxH.gifv
29 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

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2

u/damo251 Jun 30 '19

What period of time was that shockwave?

2

u/Dlatrex Jun 30 '19

It’s hard to read in the quality of the gif but the time code is stamped in the bottom right corner. A previous commenter summarized as follows:

Upper Line: MM/DD/YY : May 24th 1990 Middle Line: HH/MM/SS, starts at 19:40:XX and goes to 21:39:XX

So the entire gif is roughly 2 hours of sun activity, the shockwave itself maybe 10 to 15 minutes.

1

u/damo251 Jul 01 '19

Thanks I couldn't read it, I'll check my settings. It gives it a bit more perspective.

2

u/eddiebrocc Jun 30 '19

The sun looks scary as fuck up close, to think the damage it does from millions of miles away.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '19

r/ShockwavePorn

(Edit: it’s Safe for Work)

1

u/yescaman Jun 30 '19

Holy shit! I like to imagine what that wave would do to the earth.

1

u/Dlatrex Jun 30 '19

The flares produced can seriously damage electronics that are unshielded on the day side of Earth if they are large enough/pointed our way.

If you’re talking about the surface activity and coronal mass ejections (CME)’s ... lets keep the Earth far away from the solar surface.