Wednesday, September 3, 2014

The Sun came out last night and sang to me...

The Sun is sending messages again, expect earthquakes and extreme weather in various places! SpaceWeather.com has this to say...

FILAMENT ERUPTION, POSSIBLY EARTH-DIRECTED: For days, amateur astronomers around the world have been monitoring an enormous filament of dark plasma snaking across the face of the sun. Yesterday it erupted. A movie from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory seems to show debris from the blast hurtling in the general direction of Earth. Stay tuned for coronagraph data, which could confirm or refute an Earth-directed CME.

SIGNIFICANT FARSIDE FLARE: A sunspot located just behind the sun's north-eastern limb exploded on Sept. 1st, producing "a significant solar flare," according to NOAA analysts. NASA's STEREO-B spacecraft, stationed over the far side of the sun, recorded the extreme ultraviolet flash.

A fast CME emerged from the blast site travelling approximately 2000 km/s (4.5 million mph): movie. The flare also produced strong radio bursts and a far side solar proton storm. Only the intervening limb of the sun prevented potentially-strong Earth effects.

When flares occur on the Earth side of the sun, we classify them according to their X-ray intensity: C (weak), M (medium), or X (strong). Far side explosions, however, cannot be precisely classified because none of the spacecraft stationed over the far side of the sun are equipped with X-ray sensors. The appearance of the flare at UV wavelengths, plus other factors such as the CME and radiation storm, suggests that this was an X-class event.

Soon, the source of the explosion will reveal itself as solar rotation carries it up and over the sun's NE limb. Earth-directed solar activity could be just a few days away.

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