SOLAR TSUNAMI...What
has been and is going on with our Sun????
SOLAR TSUNAMI: When sunspot 930 exploded
on Dec. 6th, producing an X6-category
flare, it also created a tsunami-like shock wave that rolled across the
face of the sun, wiping out filaments and other structures in its path.
An H-alpha
telescope in New Mexico operated by the National Solar Observatory
(NSO) recorded the action:
http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2006/08dec06/ospan.gif
Credit: NSO/Optical Solar
Patrol Network telescope
"These
large scale blast waves occur infrequently, however, are very
powerful," says Dr. K. S. Balasubramaniam of the National Solar
Observatory. "They quickly propagate in a matter of minutes covering
the whole sun and apparently sweeping away filamentary material."
Researchers are unsure whether the filaments were blown off or were
compressed so they were temporarily invisible. Get the full story from
the NSO.
Solar Flare Up!
Gary Palmer of
Solar Minimum shares his animation (
hi-res
version/5mb) of recent solar flares, using 10 frames captured
over a four-hour period. "If you look closely you'll notice the sunspot
is moving; this is due to the subtle rotation of the Sun," he writes.
"The recent activity on our sun has been very exciting. Just in the
past few days there have been 2X, 4M, and 27 C Class flares which have
predominately come from active region 930," he added. For more on solar
news, visit
spaceweather.com.
bravenet.com
