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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:
What if there was a Coronal Mass Ejection from Uranus?
sheeeshhhhh!
That would be messy!!!
What a glorious display! Fortunately w/this flare eruption there seems not to be
any distuption of power or any other type of weird things going on down here
from this activity. Glad science is able to safely show us the sun's activity!
Actually it looks like the sun has a nose, Alan. Beware the M-Class boogies!
Snort! :-)
NASA did say their going to have to ' PICK " and choose future research ! I hope that wasn't " CHEWS ".
Alan, thank you for providing Ebonii and the T-Mobile girl for comic relief. Just goes to show that the US is definitely not full of science enthusiasts. :-)
Depends on he flow of our molten core.
Hey, I heard all of this a few months ago on "The Big Band Theory"!! I love a good Nerd Fest!! Calling a all Nerds !! As soon as NASA gets their stuff together they will send a team of Solarnauts up to the Sun....and do the necessary repairs...of course they must work fast as it's pretty darn hot up there!
Mr. Boyle:
The problem is not your use of "poetic license". It's that we've become so used to the anti-gun groups using "Clinton-Is" tactics that we tend to see things in that light.
Now, I have seen the light at the end of a double-barreled shotgun a time or two. And quite frankly, the picture looks nothing like one.
Even for the sun, 'it just ain't big enough'.
Magnetic pole shift does happen as well as axial shift or change in wobble.
Nothing can be done to alter this. Nothing can be done to prepare us for the disastrous outcome. Only a few very healthy and well equipped people will survive.
A couple of sun spots are enough to keep us pre-occupied for a while.
IF the magnetic pole does shift will the T..Moble girl be dancing on it?
The T-Mobile girl will be the cause of the shift, mate.
I thought the title was clear and the article was well written. I think most people with an interest in science understood the reference perfectly.
@okie joe-3728210 and 1NewDay:
Hey, guys. Edumacate me.
Aren't photons particles? Are we talking quarks and wavicles here? If photons travel at the speed of light, then by the time you first saw this "occurrence", it has already happened. So, a la the Hubble Space Telescope looking back in time, isn't it a bit late to be worrying about all this?
Of course, "coronal mass ejection" is what actually happened, not so?
Do photons have mass?
CMEs travel much slower than the speed of light so if there was one it would be 2-3 days off. Light travels from the sun and makes it here in about 8 minutes (93 million miles for the guy who asked).
As for photons, I am sure they have mass, even light does, but I defer to Mr. Boyle for further explaination.
And here I thought light was photonic energy.
FYI - Does the photon have mass? After all, it has energy and energy is equivalent to
mass. See the article at "".
Hmmm - since MSNBC doesn't seem to like competition via URL, google What Is The Mass Of A Photon at the physics department of UC Riverside.
Interesting reading.
The article wasn't clear if life on the planet was ending. Should I start murdering, raping and pillaging?
The Sun has nothing to do with global warming right Al Gore?
B.S. journalism!
(NASA now says no Carrington Event, because if it does happen, no one will be able to complain anyway)
" 'If our prediction is correct, Solar Cycle 24 will have a peak sunspot number of 90, the lowest of any cycle since 1928 when Solar Cycle 16 peaked at 78,' says panel chairman Doug Biesecker of the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center"
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2009/29may_noaaprediction/
Hey Guys,
Check out my website. It has much more information on the threat of beta-beta borolasciums that scientists have been predicting to enter our atmosphere during solar events like this one. There you will see information regarding the intense funding that congress has been alloting to Nasa and other prominent scientists to do more study. I cant believe that no one has brought it up.
Dude we've got space boogers coming at us, there's no time for that
we are all gonna dieeeeeeeeee!!! lol
The sun is warming up for Dec 21, 2012.
The Mayan Doomsday approaches...
All the people above me a smart.. except Ebonii
O.K. so from what I am gathering. . . . if these flares come cose to us and if I am real quick for a brief moment I can jump into the yard and get a quick tan, maybe a little on the cripy side, but not too much. Man, if it can play havoc with radio waves what are all those spin doctors going to do in the afternoons?
ahh gives us good enuf reason to invade iran...thats what the neocons told mehhh...
Oh no the Mayans were right. Duck and cover people. I have huge rolls of lead available for purchase. Cover your house and save your electronics. Check out my website for more details - suckerborneveryminute.com
A microwave oven will protect your electrical equipment from an EMP.
I have my sheet plastic and duct tape ready to go.
Sun spots actually do have the potential to be very dangerous to modern society. At their worst a sunspot could wipe out communication for a duration of time, though I believe such severity is extremely rare. This is more about throwing out the line for the incredibly fantastic amazing education of the average U.S. citizen. Gods bless America, because we sure the hell aren't going to get help from our MSM education.
Just to get it off my chest, I'm a Satan worshiper.
hunka burning love
.
Sharon, you could have made your very first comments ever on a political forum you know. You would have made more sense, then. But, I agree ,we do love the sun.