What's up in space

BIG SUNSPOT KEEPS GROWING: Sunspot AR1620 doubled in size again yesterday. It is now a behemoth almost 10 times as wide as Earth. A movie from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the sunspot materializing over the past 48 hours:
[go to:  www.spaceweather.com for video]

So far the sunspot has been relatively quiet, producing no strong flares. However, the sunspot's magnetic field is rapidly changing as the sunspot grows, and rapidly-changing magnetic fields have a tendency to reconnect and erupt. NOAA forecasters estimate a 35% chance of M-class eruptions in the next 24 hours.

Daily Sun: 27 Nov 12
Fast growing sunspot AR1620 has a beta-gamma magnetic field that harbors energy for M-class solar flares. Credit: SDO/HMI

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: M1 1557 UT Nov27
24-hr: M1 1557 UT Nov27
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 1600 UT

MORNING CONJUNCTION: As dawn begins on Wednesday morning, look southeast to find Venus and Saturn less than 2° apart in the constellation Virgo. Venus is very bright, Saturn much less so. A small telescope will reveal the rings of Saturn and the gibbous phase of Venus. Sky maps: Nov. 27, Nov. 28

Cole Clark of Big Lake, MN, photographed Venus passing by Saturn on the morning of Nov. 27th.

Says Cole:

"Venus and Saturn were less than 1 degree apart.
The morning was so beautiful with the nearly full
Moon setting, the ISS gliding overhead, and Venus
and Saturn in conjunction. 

It was a moment to live for...." 

       www.spaceweather.com