QUIET SUN: Another day, another .... moment of silence? For the 5th day in a row, solar activity is low. None of the sunspots on the Earthside of the sun is actively flaring, and the sun's X-ray output has nearly flatlined.
THE SCALE OF THINGS: For the past few days, amateur astronomers have been monitoring a big cloud of plasma hovering above the sun's eastern horizon. How big is it? Göran Strand of Frösön, Sweden, superposed the Earth and moon on a picture he took to show the scale of things:
"It was an amazing view through my binoviewer," says Strand. "I placed the Earth and moon at their correct separation: 384,400 km apart. This is one big prominence."
The cloud is held aloft by solar magnetic fields. If those fields become unstable then the cloud could collapse, hitting the stellar surface and producing a Hyder flare. Amateur astronomers with backyard solar telescopes are encouraged to monitor developments.
www.spaceweather.com
The cloud is held aloft by solar magnetic fields. If those fields become unstable then the cloud could collapse, hitting the stellar surface and producing a Hyder flare. Amateur astronomers with backyard solar telescopes are encouraged to monitor developments.
www.spaceweather.com
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