Thursday, May 10, 2012

Giant Sunspot faces Earth

Sunspot complex 1476 is all too apparent.

Although the Sun has been very quiet lately, there currently are some sunspots visible from Earth and one complex is enormous. Big enough to fit a dozen Earths side-by-side in its turbulent gap, sunspot complex AR1476 is now facing Earth as the Sun rotates. The massive energy feeding this magnetic storm emits fantastic radio noise, and you can hear it on Spaceweather.com's site at http://www.spaceweather.com/images2012/09may12/radioburst.mp3

According to Spaceweather.com, the complex has already today hurled a very large M-class solar flare that has missed the Earth, but things can still change. This sunspot is capable of emitting the very dangerous X-class Solar Flare, which can cause disruptions here on Earth. You can learn more about the X-class Flares here:
http://www.spaceweather.com/glossary/flareclasses.html?PHPSESSID=hthfbbj999df689fnmtq5onss4

We'll be keeping a close eye on this beauty of a magnetic storm on the surface of the Sun.

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