Visitors Now:
Total Visits:
Total Stories:
Profile image
By Universe Today (Reporter)
Contributor profile | More stories
Story Views

Now:
Last Hour:
Last 24 Hours:
Total:

AR1654 is a Monster Sunspot. (And It’s Aiming Our Way.)

Friday, January 11, 2013 17:22
% of readers think this story is Fact. Add your two cents.

(Before It's News)

AR1654

Active Region 1654 on the Sun’s western limb, seen by SDO on Jan. 11 (NASA/SDO/HMI team. Diagram by J. Major.)

Like an enormous cannon that is slowly turning its barrel toward us, the latest giant sunspot region AR1654 is steadily moving into position to face Earth, loaded with plenty of magnetic energy to create M-class flares — moderate-sized outbursts of solar energy that have the potential to cause brief radio blackouts on Earth and, at the very least, spark bright aurorae around the upper latitudes.

The image above, captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory earlier today, shows the structure of AR1654 upon the Sun’s photosphere — its light-emitting “surface” layer. Stretching many tens of thousands of miles, this magnetic solar blemish easily dwarfs our entire planet.

And it’s not just a prediction that this sunspot will unleash a flare — it already has.

(…)
Read the rest of AR1654 is a Monster Sunspot. (And It’s Aiming Our Way.) (181 words)


© Jason Major for Universe Today, 2013. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: AR1654, flare, magnetic, SDO, size of a sunspot, solar, sun, sunspot

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh



Source:

Report abuse

Comments

Your Comments
Question   Razz  Sad   Evil  Exclaim  Smile  Redface  Biggrin  Surprised  Eek   Confused   Cool  LOL   Mad   Twisted  Rolleyes   Wink  Idea  Arrow  Neutral  Cry   Mr. Green

Total 1 comment
  • Nice, Maybe it will blow ATT and Comcast up and we can have a choice of internet providers.

Top Stories
Recent Stories

Register

Newsletter

Email this story
Email this story

If you really want to ban this commenter, please write down the reason:

If you really want to disable all recommended stories, click on OK button. After that, you will be redirect to your options page.