Solar Activity Watch 2013

reply to post by The Undertaker


That is concerning to me. what are those black spots I have seen on the sun recently? What do we know about them at this solar maximum with little activity? Also, seems like this solar maximum got off to a slow start, maybe winding down the same way?

reply to post by antar


One theory is that they are areas of increased magnetism, but I don't know. So out of my league here it's ridiculous.

reply to post by The Undertaker


sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov...

EIT 284 shows the most dramatic area of black. It seems that this would be a cooler area of the sun if bright equals hotter and higher. Other images show that it might be growing, and if so, that aint good. I'm not ready for our star to become a brown dwarf yet.

thats a lot off "black as sackcloth"

reply to post by The Undertaker

Other images show that it might be growing, and if so, that aint good. I'm not ready for our star to become a brown dwarf yet.

It won't. It's too massive.
The fate of the Sun is to become a red giant...in several billion years.

A coronal hole is a "hole" in the corona of the Sun. It doesn't have much to do with the nuclear furnace at the Sun's core.

Phage
reply to post by The Undertaker

 

Other images show that it might be growing, and if so, that aint good. I'm not ready for our star to become a brown dwarf yet.

It won't. It's too massive.
The fate of the Sun is to become a red giant...in several billion years.

ahhh Fate,, so Fickle ,she Is.
Sometimes just a tickle,
sometimes, a sneeze,
Fate, she'll do as she may,,
is told.

reply to post by Phage


Some theories on coronal holes are that they are (scars) from sunspots. Other theories are that they are areas of increased magnetism. Due to the upcoming polarity flip, gradual or not, I would tend to lean towards the increased magnetism idea. Do you have an opinion on either theory?

reply to post by Phage


Phage and everyone, the NASA SDO page has not been updated since October 1, 2013 due to the US Federal government shut-down: sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov...

News reports claim that many NASA staff members have been furloughed because of the government shutdown. My question is, will those employee furloughs leave NASA blindsided if severe solar max events start to unfold this month?

reply to post by Uphill


No. Space weather monitoring and forecasting is considered essential.

www.swpc.noaa.gov...
stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov...
sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov...

Heads up!

Right now, today, one of the largest sunspot groups of Cycle 24 – AR1890 – is pointing nearly strait at Earth.

The sun has been fairly quiet this cycle, but this particular group has already produced one large X-class flare. And today, it's pointed our way. No telling what it might do, but for a the next few days at least, let's all hope it stays quiet.

As predicted, sunspot AR1890 has unleashed another strong flare, an X1-class explosion on Nov. 10th at 05:14 UT. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded a bright flash of extreme ultraviolet radiation from the blast site:

The flare also produced a strong burst of ~300 MHz radio waves, recorded at the Mauritius Radio Telescope on the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean: data.

This is the third X-flare from AR1890 since Nov. 5th, and all three have something in common: brevity. AR1890 tends to produce impulsive flares, peaking sharply in a matter of minutes or less. Often, brief flares do not produce coronal mass ejections (CMEs), but this one is an exception. A movie of the flare shows a plume of material lifting off the sun shortly after the UV flash. Update: A faint CME associated with that plume could deliver a glancing blow to Earth's magnetic field on Nov. 12th or 13th. Stay tuned for further analysis

SpaceWeather

I don't believe the sun is what we have been led to believe it is.

Massive sunspot visible in magnetogram. It appears in middle. Black spots represent southward polarity, or inward polarity. White spots northward, or outward polarity.




All images are from
sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov...