Credit & Copyright: Franco Fantasia &
Guiseppe Conzo
(Gruppo Astrofili Palidoro)
Explanation:
Right now, one of the largest sunspot groups in recent history is crossing the Sun.
Active
Region 3664
is not only big -- it's violent,
throwing off clouds of particles into the
Solar System.
Some of these
CMEs
are already impacting the Earth, and others might follow.
At the extreme, these solar storms could cause some
Earth-orbiting satellites to malfunction,
the
Earth's atmosphere
to slightly distort, and electrical
power grids to surge.
When impacting
Earth's
upper atmosphere,
these particles can produce beautiful auroras, with some
auroras already being reported
unusually far south.
Pictured here,
AR3664
and its dark
sunspots
were captured yesterday in visible light from
Rome,
Italy.
The AR3664 sunspot group is so large that it is
visible
just with glasses designed to
view
last month's
total solar eclipse.
This weekend, skygazing enthusiasts
will be keenly watching the night skies all over the globe for
bright and
unusual auroras.
Gallery:
Active Region 6443 on the Sun
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 |
Yanvar' Fevral' Mart Aprel' Mai Iyun' Iyul' Avgust Sentyabr' Oktyabr' Noyabr' Dekabr' |
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
|
Publikacii s klyuchevymi slovami:
sunspot - Solnechnye pyatna
Publikacii so slovami: sunspot - Solnechnye pyatna | |
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