Problem with the sun?

[Keatah]

If this is happening at a low point in the supposedly 11-year cycle, what will happen in a few years from now? I'm wondering if the sun isn't showing some signs of instability, and if there are really 5 billion years left? What if the calculations are wrong?

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/huge-solar-eruption-photo-filament-101206.html
A massive solar storm erupted from the sun today, creating a huge tendril of plasma that stretched across the face of the star.
The giant solar eruption created a long filament of magnetic plasma, which extended an astounding 435,000 miles (700,000 kilometers) – nearly twice the distance between the Earth and the moon – across the sun's southeastern region, according to the website Spaceweather.com, which monitors solar storms and sky events.


and from spaceweather.com
EPIC BLAST: As predicted, the a "mega-filament" of solar magnetism erupted on Dec. 6th, producing a blast of epic proportions. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the action as the 700,000-km long structure lifted off the stellar surface and--snap!!--hurled itself into space.



http://spaceweather.com/images2010/06dec10/epicblast2.gif?PHPSESSID=hb483mq20h4nvki41t2f5vq2e1

http://spaceweather.com/images2010/06dec10/epicblast.jpg?PHPSESSID=hb483mq20h4nvki41t2f5vq2e1

Anybody see the face here??

 

[orb]

Anybody see the face here??

Like I already said on the ChatBox:

When I saw that eruption pictured first I was thinking: "Firefox!".

 

[T.Neo]

Uh... calculations wrong?

Sol is so main sequence, even I can tell you that. Do you seriously expect a G2V star to suddenly pop up into a red giant? I seriously doubt that is possible.

It is a flare. Maybe it's an anomaly, like an off-season rainstorm... our next solar maximum (around may 2013) is expected to be the weakest since 1928, so...

Those predictions are also unreliable though. Previously NASA predicted it to be 2010/2011, and be the strongest on record since 1958...

 

[Izack]

What if the calculations are wrong?

The calculations probably are wrong. Just...not by that much.

Also, an unusually large solar storm is totally different from the beginnings of a red giant. The Sun isn't running out of hydrogen any time soon.

Now, if NASA tells us that solar maximum will occur in 2012 and be the strongest since its formation, then we can start worrying... :lol:

 

[jinglesassy]

Now, if NASA tells us that solar maximum will occur in 2012 and be the strongest since its formation, then we can start worrying... :lol:

I wouldn't believe it unless roscosmos and esa also say that.

 

[Keatah]

I wouldn't believe it unless roscosmos and esa also say that.

So then we're pretty much safe. right?

 

[Urwumpe]

So then we're pretty much safe. right?

At least not at a higher threat than during the past 2.1 million years of human evolution.

The latest eruption on the sun looks extreme, but actually, it is not much bigger than other events in observed history. Since the sun is a ball of plasma with its own extremely chaotic magnetic field, you have to expect to see spectacular arcs, flames and filaments. if they wouldn't be there, I would be more concerned.

http://history.nasa.gov/EP-177/ch3.html

The size of such features does not relate to the size of the star - smaller stars can have even bigger flares than the sun can have.