More 'settled' science...

Or not...

The active sun is kicking into overdrive and we could be in for yet more dazzling auroras.

In the early morning hours today (Aug. 14), the sun unleashed the most powerful class of solar flare, in a potent X-class eruption. The solar flare peaked at 2:40 a.m. EDT (0640 GMT) and caused shortwave radio blackouts over the sunlit portion of Earth at the time of the eruption, Asia and the Indian Ocean. 

What makes this X-class solar flare particularly interesting is that it erupted from 'rule-breaking' sunspot AR3784 which had already garnered the attention of solar scientists and aurora chasers due to its strange polarity. 

Full article, HERE from Space.com

X-class are the most powerful eruptions, but I noted there is no 1-10 assigned to it yet. 1 is the lowest, with 10 being the highest. Other classes in descending order are M, C, B, and A-class with a magnitude decrease of 10 at each class.

Among other things, in addition to a coronal mass ejection (CME), it did a number on 'radio' frequencies over Asia which happened to be in sunlight (e.g. direct path).

I also pity anybody trying to do MAD trapping or any magnetometer work in that region or pretty much anywhere for a couple of days.

Oh yeah, and if your GPS loses lock, that's the reason...

You DO still carry real maps, don't you?