[RTTY] OT: XFlare arrival time

[Ekki]

As it has been an item here, maybe it's not too far offtopic...

hfradio.org sent out the following warning:

> Sunspot group AR9591 produced an X5-class solar
> flare at 1645 UT (1245 EDT) on August 25, 2001.
> An hour-long radio blackout over parts of Europe,
> Africa, and the Americas resulted within moments.
[rest deleted]

What i am confused about is the phrase "...resulted within moments".

Ok, let's see.

Light takes roughly 8 minutes from sun to earth.

What causes such effects in the ionosphere?
Ionized particles, i think, or am i wrong?

Ionized particles have mass, or am i wrong?

How can a mass-carrying particle arrive within moments (i assume hfradio.org
meant within 8 minutes, in any case with light speed)?

AFAIK mass carrying particles takes up to 2 days to reach earth after a CME
or so...
So what is wrong in my thinking?

73,
Ekki, DF4OR

P.S.: Phil, if you are interested in seeing an even lower Score in SCC I
will submit my 38 Qs :-)