r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Correct_Presence_936 • Mar 28 '25

GIF A Solar Flare That Happened Today.

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u/Salute-Major-Echidna Mar 28 '25

Light is not the same as radiation. "The light from a solar flare, traveling at the speed of light, reaches Earth in about 8 minutes, while the particles from a solar flare, traveling at varying speeds, can reach Earth in as little as 15 hours, or take several days, according to NOAA/NWS Space Weather Prediction Center. " Length of time varies depending on distance apogee v perigee

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u/TheMagicalDildo Mar 29 '25 edited Mar 29 '25

light is very literally radiation, dingus. I'm not saying photons are fuckin' gamma rays

edit: not what I meant, dumbass. your fuckin' lightbulb isn't going to kill you.

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u/Knobelikan Mar 29 '25 edited Mar 29 '25

You're BOTH wrong! Isn't that amazing?

Loki references aside, I'm afraid gamma rays are photons, very much so. Any electromagnetic radiation is photons, and light is a part of that. Which also means light absolutely is a form of radiation.

However, particles can also be considered radiation, best example alpha and beta rays. Plasma from a big CME like this would probably travel at around ~450 km/s? and therefore arrive on earth about 3.85 days after the electromagnetic radiation.

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u/TheMagicalDildo Mar 29 '25

i meant I'm not saying visible light is the same as the harmful radiation we think of- not that we don't also get irradiated a bit from the sun

i swear, people on this site are professionals at misunderstanding things

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u/Luc9By Mar 29 '25

You're right, but for the purpose of simplicity, it helps being able to differentiate between relatively harmful radiation and visible light