on the way into work today i was coming out of union station and i saw the front page of a local news paper with the headlines “we’re doomed!!!” it was in huge letters on top an x-ray image of the sun. the picture was referring to the recent solar flare that was ejected from the sun yesterday. it was the 3rd strongest flare in “recorded” history (which for solar astronomy isn’t that long).


my gripe isn’t with the fact that they were reporting on the story. hell i’d love it if the media reported on any astronomy news, but the fact is they never do and when they do, it’s usually badly written sensationalistic journalism. do we really need millions of hysterical people worrying about ejected plasma from our sun hitting the earth’s magnetic field? well yes we need people “thinking” about it and realizing that it’s happening but it does noone any good to over dramatize it. if they had just reported the story, presented the facts and printed the amazing imagery we’d have been well served. hell i bet people could have actually learned something about our local solar system. instead we’ve turned it into next summers bad action movie starring bruce willis.


come on people, wake up and smell the plasma (bad astronomy joke i know). is everything about exploiting something or someone for the almighty $$$? i really honestly hope not. if your really interested in learning about space weather alerts, warnings, and forecasts you should check out the space science center, a division of the national oceanic and atmospheric administration. if your interested in sensationalism in the media stop purporting to caring about your planet, go sit in the corner, and read your news paper.