Sun spits out coronal mass ejection to hit Earth within one to three days

On March 15, 2013, at 2:54 a.m. EDT, the sun erupted with an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection (CME), a solar phenomenon that can send billions of tons of solar particles into space and can reach Earth one to three days later and affect electronic systems in satellites and on the ground, such as computers, TVs, and electronic devices, according to today's NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD news release, "Earth-directed coronal mass ejection from the sun." Not to be confused with a solar flare, a CME is a solar phenomenon that can send solar particles into space and reach Earth one to three days later.

Earth-directed CMEs can cause a space weather phenomenon called a geomagnetic storm, which occurs when they connect with the outside of the Earth's magnetic envelope, the magnetosphere, for an extended period of time. In the past, geomagnetic storms caused by CMEs such as this one have usually been of mild to medium strength.

Sun spits out coronal mass ejection

The ESA and NASA Solar Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) captured images of the sun spitting out a coronal mass ejection (CME) on March 15, 2013, from 3:24 to 4:00 a.m. EDT. This type of image is known as a coronagraph, since a disk is placed over the sun to better see the dimmer atmosphere around it, called the corona.

Experimental NASA research models, based on observations from the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) and ESA/NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, show that the CME left the sun at speeds of around 900 miles per second, which is a fairly fast speed for CMEs. Historically, CMEs at this speed have caused mild to moderate effects at Earth.

Will there be a mild or moderate effect on Earth in one to three days?

The NASA research models also show that the CME may pass by the Spitzer and Messenger spacecraft. NASA has notified their mission operators. There is, however, only minor particle radiation associated with this event, which is what would normally concern operators of interplanetary spacecraft since the particles can trip on board computer electronics.

NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center is the United States Government official source for space weather forecasts, alerts, watches and warnings. Check out the Space Weather Prediction Center for any updates that will be provided if needed. For answers to this and other space weather questions, please visit the Spaceweather Frequently Asked Questions page. For more information, also check out the site, View Past Solar Activity.

Scientists confirmed Higgs-Boson particle discovery

As soon as headlines announced the Higgs Boson was confirmed, other news headlines added a few days later, "but was that Higgs Boson particle the specific Higgs Boson particle that scientists were seeking? Also check out the article, "CERN scientists confirmed Higgs Boson discovery." Or see the Businessweek article, "Five Smart Things to Say About the Higgs Boson" and the CBC article, "Why the Higgs boson 'God particle' matters."

The Higgs boson is said to be the last elusive piece of the puzzle in the Standard Model of physics, confirming our understanding of how particles acquire mass and experiences forces. The only question now is whether the Higgs boson the CERN scientists have seen is the one that fits in the Standard Model, and not a different model, which seems likely.

The Higgs boson may be the first elementary particle with zero spin. Physicists want to prove mathematically that the existence of the Higgs boson supports the existence of the Higgs field. And the Higgs field is the explanation for why certain particles have mass and others are energy and don't have mass.

Something can come from nothing: Neutrinos pop in and out of existence say some scientists

Some scientists report that something can come from nothing, such as neutrinos that pop in and out of existence. For further information on how something can come from nothing in the universe, check out the article, "Stephen Hawking Says Universe Created from Nothing." It also has been said that fiction writing can be a story or drama that can come from nothing but a fleeting thought in a brain, a thought that pops in and out of existence.

It's as if something can come from nothing because neutrinos pop into existence and then pop out, just like anything else in this universe. The elusive Higgs boson is a particle that is needed at this time at least to explain why the universe exists and why it's made up of planets, stars, life, and any type of matter or energy at the same time and also at different times.

The question now is whether in reality and mathematically can scientists prove that the Higgs boson is such an elusive particle that it pops in and then almost as quickly pops out of existence? And is that particle within or beyond time? Can a thought written down test the entropy of time? And is the universe perhaps a thought that pops in and out of existence like a neutrino--unless that thought is neither energy nor matter?

In any case, if the physicists can write it down as mathematics and prove it, what happens to it when the universe finally pops out of existence due to entropy? Where does information go when it goes down that black hole to get recycled?