Astronomy Picture of the Day

Posted By admin On October 4, 2011 @ 9:13 pm In Photo Essays | Comments Disabled

^[1]Violent Sunspot Group AR 1302 Unleashes a Flare 
Image Credit: jp-Brahic ^[2]Explanation: One of the most active sunspot groups in years is currently crossing the Sun. AR 1302 ^[3] first came around ^[4] the Sun’s edge last week ^[5] and is so large it can be seen without ^[6] a telescope. Coronal Mass Ejection ^[7]s from AR 1302 have already caused strong geomagnetic storms including notable aurora activity around both of Earth’s poles ^[8]. Pictured above, plasma was left magnetically hanging above the Sun’s surface after AR 1302 emitted an X-class ^[9] solar flare last Thursday. Earth is illustrated in the inset for a size comparison. Although anotherX-class flare ^[10] was emitted on Saturday, no flares from AR 1302 have been aimed directly at the Earth, as yet. The AR 1302 ^[11] sunspot group will continue to evolve but likely remain visible on the Sun for the next week.

 

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URLs in this post:

[1] Image: http://www.berthoudrecorder.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/ar1302flare_brahic_900.jpg

[2] jp-Brahic: mailto: jp-brahic at infonie.fr

[3] AR 1302: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/News092511-ar1302.html

[4] came around: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap101018.html

[5] last week: http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=23&month=09&year=2011

[6] seen without: http://spaceweather.com/swpod2011/27sep11/sunset.jpg

[7] Coronal Mass Ejection: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap070206.html

[8] both of Earth’s poles: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap011114.html

[9] X-class: http://spaceweather.com/glossary/flareclasses.html

[10] X-class flare: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYF62s4rOyA

[11] AR 1302: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/09/27/for-your-viewing-pleasure-active-region-1302/

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