Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




SOLAR SCIENCE
Sunspots: Coming and Going
by Holly Zell for Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Nov 22, 2013


This image was captured on Nov. 13, 2013, by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory's Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager, or HMI, instrument, designed to study the magnetic field at the solar surface, or photosphere. Image Credit: NASA/SDO/HMI.

Two large, complex sunspots are moving across the face of the sun. One, which produced considerable solar activity in the past weeks, has almost rotated off completely. A new sunspot rounded into view on Nov. 11, 2013 and is now making its way across the Earth-side of the sun. An active region can contain one or more sunspots. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration numbers active regions consecutively as they are observed on the sun.

Going
Active region 1890 first appeared on Nov. 2, 2013, and is now almost out of view over the sun's right-hand horizon. It was the source for several mid-sized and significant flares while facing Earth. Its last significant flare, which occurred on Nov. 10, 2013, was classified as an X1.1-class flare. Coming

Active region 1897 rounded the sun's southeastern limb on Nov. 11, 2013, and like AR1890, is approximately the size of Jupiter.

What is a Solar Flare?
Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however -- when intense enough -- they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel.

Why This Uptick in Flares Now?
Increased numbers of flares are quite common at the moment, since the sun's normal 11-year activity cycle is ramping up toward solar maximum conditions. Humans have tracked this solar cycle continuously since it was discovered in 1843, and it is normal for there to be many flares a day during the sun's peak activity, called solar maximum.

.


Related Links
Sun-Earth at NASA
Solar Science News at SpaceDaily






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








SOLAR SCIENCE
Image of sun shows two areas of sunspots, one arriving and one leaving
Greenbelt, Md. (UPI) Nov 15, 2013
NASA has released an image of the sun showing two sunspots - one "coming" and one "going" - both the size of Jupiter, astronomers say. One, dubbed active region 1890, produced considerable solar activity in the past weeks including several mid-sized and significant flares, but has almost rotated off completely and will soon be out of sight from Earth, they said. The newer activ ... read more


SOLAR SCIENCE
NASA Spacecraft Begins Collecting Lunar Atmosphere Data

Big Boost for China's Moon Lander

Rediscovered Apollo data gives first measure of how fast Moon dust piles up

NASA's GRAIL Mission Puts a New Face on the Moon

SOLAR SCIENCE
Winter Means Less Power for Solar Panels

Unusual greenhouse gases may have raised ancient Martian temperature

How Habitable Is Mars? A New View of the Viking Experiments

Rover Team Working to Diagnose Electrical Issue

SOLAR SCIENCE
NASA Advances Effort to Launch Astronauts Again from US Soil to Space Station

Israeli experts launches space studies course for teachers

Success of 'New Space' era hinges on public's interest

NASA Issues 2014 Call for Advanced Technology Concepts

SOLAR SCIENCE
China shows off moon rover model before space launch

China providing space training

China launches experimental satellite Shijian-16

China Moon Rover A New Opportunity To Explore Our Nearest Neighbor

SOLAR SCIENCE
Russians take Olympic torch on historic spacewalk

Russia launches Sochi Olympic torch into space

Spaceflight Joins with NanoRacks to Deploy Satellites from the ISS

Crew Completes Preparations for Soyuz Move

SOLAR SCIENCE
Spaceflight Deploys Planet Labs' Dove 3 Spacecraft from the Dnepr

Arianespace orders ten new Vega launchers from ELV

NASA Commercial Crew Partner SpaceX Achieves Milestone in Safety Review

ASTRA 5B lands in French Guiana for its upcoming Ariane 5 flight

SOLAR SCIENCE
NASA Kepler Results Usher in a New Era of Astronomy

Astronomers answer key question: How common are habitable planets?

One in five Sun-like stars may have Earth-like planets

Mystery World Baffles Astronomers

SOLAR SCIENCE
Overcoming Brittleness: New Insights into Bulk Metallic Glass

SlipChip Counts Molecules with Chemistry and a Cell Phone

NASA Instrument Determines Hazards of Deep-Space Radiation

$3.3 billion Canadian mining project scrapped




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement