Your boyfriend is right: The Sun really does erupt frequently. The unusual thing about the last few years is that these eruptions haven't been happening for a while.
You have nothing to worry about. Most of these eruptions are moving the wrong way to hit Earth. For the ones that are moving the right way, the Earth's magnetic field will keep out most of the nasty stuff, and most of what does get through will hit the polar regions. So you don't want to be in the ISS or on a transpolar flight when one of these things hits, and you might want to worry about any satellite hardware you're counting on, but you yourself are in no danger.
About time! The magnetotelluric community was beginning to worry. Some of us depend on this sort of solar activity, and the sun's been anomalously quiet.
Tell your BF to keep an eye on the solar weather sites. If you're far enough poleward, and there is a big enough mass of ejected material hits earth, you may get a chance to see auroras. In 2003 there was one so big aurora borealis were seen as far south as Texas (and I saw them in Utah, despite terrible seeing conditions).
He's seen them before, but I've never seen one. Unfortunately I'm not likely to see one here in well-lit Boston, and lacking a car to escape into the surrounding countryside. :( C'est la vie. I did see a very large shooting star the other day, so I guess I can't complain.
We're all gonna die!!!!!!!
What, and feed the monsters?
the only monsters under my bed are giant dustbunnies - they don't bite. :)
Your boyfriend is right: The Sun really does erupt frequently. The unusual thing about the last few years is that these eruptions haven't been happening for a while.
You have nothing to worry about. Most of these eruptions are moving the wrong way to hit Earth. For the ones that are moving the right way, the Earth's magnetic field will keep out most of the nasty stuff, and most of what does get through will hit the polar regions. So you don't want to be in the ISS or on a transpolar flight when one of these things hits, and you might want to worry about any satellite hardware you're counting on, but you yourself are in no danger.
About time! The magnetotelluric community was beginning to worry. Some of us depend on this sort of solar activity, and the sun's been anomalously quiet.
It's basically a great big fusion bomb, isn't it? It's just doing it's thing.
Tell your BF to keep an eye on the solar weather sites. If you're far enough poleward, and there is a big enough mass of ejected material hits earth, you may get a chance to see auroras. In 2003 there was one so big aurora borealis were seen as far south as Texas (and I saw them in Utah, despite terrible seeing conditions).
He's seen them before, but I've never seen one. Unfortunately I'm not likely to see one here in well-lit Boston, and lacking a car to escape into the surrounding countryside. :( C'est la vie. I did see a very large shooting star the other day, so I guess I can't complain.