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NASA / SDO
An "intensitygram" from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager on NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the double-barreled sunspot active region 1416 pointing toward Earth.
As solar activity builds toward an expected peak in 2013, a double-barreled sunspot has been doubling in size over the past couple of days and now has the potential to shoot significant eruptions in our direction.
It's not certain that active region 1416 will erupt with coronal mass ejections as violent as the blasts that were thrown off by the sun late last month. But it has developed a mixed "beta-gamma" magnetic field that packs enough energy to throw off medium-scale solar flares, SpaceWeather.com reports.
"Any such eruptions this weekend would be Earth-directed as the sunspot turns to face our planet," SpaceWeather's Tony Phillips wrote.
Medium-size M-class flares are generally associated with the kinds of solar storms that produce enhanced auroral lights, but not huge inconveniences on Earth. It's the X-class flares you really have to watch out for: That level of solar storming could affect radio communications as well as satellites and electrical grids if the operators of those systems aren't careful.
NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have a wide array of space assets monitoring the sun, and for now all's quiet on the solar front. NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center reported some problems tracking the Advanced Composition Explorer, a satellite that plays a key role in tracking solar storms, but those problems are expected to go away as ACE's orientation with respect to the sun improves.
NASA / ESA / SOHO / NOAA
The heart-shaped coronal mass ejection can be seen at about the 10 o'clock position on this image from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory.
The prediction center's Facebook page reports that on Friday, the sun threw off a slow-moving coronal mass ejection, or CME — in the shape of a heart, no less. "A preliminary model run predicts this CME will arrive, appropriately enough, on Valentine's Day," NOAA reports. So if you're out with your Valentine that night, particularly in Scandinavia or Canada, watch the skies. Even if the earth doesn't move, the aurora might glow.
Meanwhile, the sunspot region that caused all the auroral fireworks last month, known as AR1402, has moved around the far side of the sun. Solar scientists will be interested to see how that region has changed when it comes back into view. We're still a year out from the anticipated peak in the sun's 11-year activity cycle, so there'll be lots of sun-watching ahead. The best ways to keep track on a daily basis is to check in with NOAA's space weather center and SpaceWeather.com.
In the meantime, catch up on your oohing and ahhing over the northern lights by clicking on these links:
Update for 4:45 p.m. ET Feb. 11: Speak of the devil ... SolarHam.com reports that AR1402 has indeed made its reappearance on the edge of the sun's disk and was observed firing off C-class solar flares.
Old active region 1402 is currently producing C-class flares as it approaches the northeast limb. Movies by SDO/HMI and GOES SXI.
Update for 2:30 p.m. ET Feb. 12: The double-barreled active region is moving off its direct-fire orientation as the sun continues to rotate, and although the sunspots have continued to grow, it's becoming less likely that any CME from that region would score a direct hit on Earth and its magnetic field. So for now, the most significant effect we can look forward to is a round of colorful northern lights around Valentine's Day.
Tip o' the log to Jason Major at Universe Today.
Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or adding Cosmic Log's Google+ page to your circle. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for other worlds.
Leave a Comment:
I guess we're going to have to find a way to destroy our sun before it destroys us if it's so dangerous... Oh, wait...
Just launch a chunk of iron at it.
was i the only one who tried to find a shape of a gun in the sunspot?.. somtimes i wonder who writes this stuff...
yes you were. The rest of us knew it was referring to the nasty end of a shotgun
yeah really, the article heading is sun points a loaded gun at us. so if one was to use ones head, the circle of the barrel would be what would be seen.
If you could see the shape of a gun how can it be pointed at you? *sighs* A round shape can look like many things so who is the idiot that wrote this crap?????
I am sure obama will find a way to blame the republicans for this.
Those do look like Haliburton drilling holes !
say what you want but... wonder in awww at the works of GOD, and thank him for his grace and mercy to you
ok ok... im not waiting for Project X to come out in theaters, PROJECT X is gonna happen at my house tonight!! everyones invited.
Jehovah God, the INDISPUTABLE Creator of the Heavens and the Universe, CONTINUES to try and WAKE up the world with EVERY natural means He Has. Yet the world continues to sleep. If you dont find and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior NOW, you will wake up one day IMMINENTELY and discover MILLIONS of ONLY DEVOUT christians, as well as EVERY BABY and YOUNG CHILD on the planet has VANISHED.!!! This is NOT a game, it is VERY REAL...I will be praying...
You know... There are easier ways to send a message.
Just don't take the strippers.
Haha I am doing homework right now. Maybe the sun will shoot something at my computer and make it burst into flames, so I won't have to do homework. Lol.
good luck getting that excuse by your professor. "yeah there was this giant laser beam that shot from the sun..."
The Sun ate my homework.
star lite star bright shine on my enemies and my friends tonight. give them peace and give them love. you big ball of fire we call the sun.
Just being polite, but sun spots are known to cause an acute loss of IQ and the oppositely charged Ignorance Quotient.
Alan B, dumbing down science, is part of the territory you are in, I think, and therefore if the brains that made these comments, were all fried together they would not have enough grease to cover the pan.
If the loaded sunspot were fired at 62.6 degrees of rotation ahead of pointing directly at the earth, the shot from the solar equator would be aimed at the earth. The shot would consist of breaking a magnetic loop, and eject 10^12– 10^13 Kg grams of material. (This figure has been around for 30 years, and is in the 1.6 million ton range, for comparison, see the total mass of the sun loses annually (2.1^27 tons annually).
CME Rates:
Page 1, Just after INTRODUCTION sights 10^12kg
http://csem.engin.umich.edu/CSEM/Publications/Groth-ASR-2000.pdf
Page 1, Introduction, ....masses typically of the order of 10^12 - 10^13 kg.
http://www.boulder.swri.edu/~howard/Papers/2_Events_Final.pdf
Um, the sun is that big bright thing in the sky, right?
Star Date Supplemental, Class M star observed to be losing mass from three areas:
1,616,000,000 Tons Loss/ solar fare average flare lasting many minutes
4,687,222 Fusion Tons / second energy production very constant
690,515 Solar Wind Loss tons/sec steady loss rate, no flare required.
Downdown in 15 tons Buses. (30,000 Lb Bus)
53,867 Buses Loss/ solar fare
156 Buses Fusion Tons/second
23 Buses Solar Wind Loss tons/sec
I'm glad it's not Uranus that's pointing at us!
=)
LOL,
Yea, A Coronal Mass Ejection from Uranus. That would be interesting.....
.... and messy!!!!
lolol
you totally need a high five for that one
j-.... a low five might be more appropriate, totally. ;0)
I'm getting this headache....
"...about a year away from the peak of the activity"...hmm...2012 anyone? The sun is gonna be shooting at us...the Mayan calendar ticks down to it's end....earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes...Oh MY!
It gives to take or it takes to give... Sun knows how to riddle in high powers...
A heart shaped CME that should arrive here on Valentine`s day; just goes to show you God has sense of humor. I know he has a mean side; how else can you explain obama?
I thought that was very nice that it was shaped like a heart and due on Valentine's day. I love that you can see God in everything if you set your heart to love and obey him. His doesn't have a mean side, it might look that way but in the end it always works out for the better.
Shaped like a heart and due for Valentines Day? Hey well run naked in the fields and expect a good case of malignant melanoma in 5 to 15 years. Sounds like a gift that keeps on giving
That must be planet X it is not a planet after all. I would say it is cosmic dust from the sun. The Myans mentioned it could only be seen during the day . Then whamo it will bury us alive. Head for the caves ! The earths crust is a time line that tells us that the climate changes due to something.
Yeah it is starting to make sense now Hell fire and civilization gone worshipping sun Gods. Maybe all that dust has gold in it to make us all rich. It may get bigger and bigger as it approaches it may resemble a planet in the sky so this is why the Myans wrote about it. Once every X amount of years planet X comes out of the western sky. 12 01 20 12.
We rarely see the sun, fall, winter, spring or fall, so guess we don't have to worry. OUR clouds will protect us:)
It rained for forty days and forty nights. 40 feet of dust. I wonder if a pyramid would save you , how did past generations get buried so deep ?
And for those of us that have no idea what your talking about, where do we freakin hide. better watch out for those X-class flares? What if we see one duck? Quit freaking people out with crap you or I can't do anything about. Why tell people the end of the freakin world is here and theres nothing you can do about it. Why open your mouths.
I wonder if the sun has anything to do with global warming? Hmmm..
No, because it doesn't
in response to moneyos1
I'm darn sure it does!
This is the end.........................................
Maybe the Creator of it knows what it will do and not do.
I just noticed.. creator is reactor, spelled sideways!
i don't see where you get the ''loaded barrels of a shotgun theme'' from the picture provided.
Really? it's pretty obvious to me
Try to imagine someone pointing a double barrel shotgun at your face. Look at the picture again.
But don't try that at home.
That expression used to get me into a lot of trouble when I was a kid. Whenever someone said that, I'd go to a friends house and do whatever it was they said to not try at home. Ya know, just to be safe. Ouch.
i'd like to shoot a significant eruption in the t-mobile girl.
You think she's something, check out her twin sister Ebonii !!(# 8 on page 1)
What actually has the strongest probability of happening is the appearance of beta-beta borolacsciums appearing in our atmosphere. Some scientist say that this would be the initial stage of a planet's decay (e.g. Mercury,etc). Ironically, research has been highly funded by many politicians who have been informed of the likelihood of such an event; however much of this information is often still born in the press. Yes, our Sun has a definite time that its flucscapicitor will cease. We can only hope that we wont be around to see such an event.