I've heard a rumour about a solar flare in 2012...?

Question

Apparently it's going to be big enough to wipe us out. The hole in the ozone layer is supposed to ensure this. Is this true?

livingluv: i posted another question concerning the ozone layer, i would appreciate it if you answered it :)

No, Surveyor, a friend did. He likes to make statements like this, so I thought I'd check it out this time.

Answer 1

Solar flares can't be predicted. Yet. If you've seen the most recent pictures of the sun on the news (last week) they're from a Japanese/NASA satellite studying solar surface activity in the hopes of one day understanding its patterns and eventually being able to make solar 'weather' forecasts.

Answer 2

God, why do we get all these crap fairy tales. There's a solar flare about once a month. Around 2012, the sunspot cycle will peak like it does every 11 years and we'll have a few more solar flares. Since the sun is 93 million miles away, the worst they can do is wipe out shorwave communications for a day or two and make the auroras brighter.

Answer 3

not true, in fact the hole in the in the ozone layer has been fixed, oddly that is part of the reason for global warming, to long to explain now but i could. anyway in 2012 the precessional equinox will completely pass and a bunch of funky things are supposed to happen. none of them global threatening but the increased solar flare activity, which we are in now will have more of an effect on us b/c it is said that there will be either a polar shift, or the magnetic field around the earth will weaken for a short time. at most a few will be exposed to fatal levels of cosmic/solar radiation but not all of us. i've actually heard this should coincide w/ us attaining a higher level of conciousness, but not sure how that will work. if your curious the day is gonna be 12.21.2012 at around 11:21 when the equinox fully passes. and some say this will be the dawn of the aquarian age and either the dawn or sunset of humanity.

Answer 4

Not true. We do not know how to predict solar flares. And no such flare has ever occurred in all the millions of years past, so I don't see why one should occur in 5 years.

The whole 2012 thing comes from the Mayan calendar, which ends a major cycle on that date. But it has nothing to do with astronomy, only the way the Mayans counted days.

Answer 5

I am sorry, solar flare cannot be predicted. The closest prediction is by observing the activity at the surface of the sun. Magnetic flare of the sun will get stronger and stronger if solar flare is going to happen. solar flare is splitted into 2 groups - positive flare and negative flare. Positive flare consist of positive ions but it would not affect the magnetic field of the Earth much. But negative flare fluctuates the magnetic field of the Earth, penetrating harmful radiation to Earth, destroying the radio frequency and disrupting the navigational characteristics of animals.

Answer 6

Sorry, but solar flares can't be predicted that far in advance. Not only that, but there are huge solar flares all the time. Did a psychic tell you this? Rumors and science are two separate things.

Answer 7

It's impossible to predict solar flares with any accuracy only the CYCLES of activity. Stop worrying about it. One thought on the Mayans: If they were so smart how come they are all dead with the exception of some left scratching around the ruins?

Answer 8

It is because the Mayan calendar shows we will be changing the angle of precession the earths tilt,, with respect to the north star

Solar flares happen every year, no one can predict them yet

Answer 9

Solar flares happen all the time, and are what cause the phenomenon known as the Aurora Borealis.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_flare
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora_(astronomy)