since the sun rotates about once every 27-31 days depending on latitude I doubt that it’s still pointing at us. If it ever did.
“since the sun rotates about once every 27-31 days depending on latitude I doubt that it’s still pointing at us. If it ever did.” [Seruzawa, post 44]
Great to see someone else picked up on this.
Because the sun is a big ball of hot gas, not every bit of it rotates at the same exact rate. Polar regions go slower; at its equator, the sun turns at the rate of a bit less than 12 degrees of arc per day.
Our earth completes one orbit about the sun in 365 days. Every day, it moves through a little less than one degree of arc. (Earth’s orbit is elliptical, no circular, but assuming circularity is good enough for this approximation)
Therefore, even if the sunspot were to point at earth, it would only do so for a couple hours.
Doesn’t mean the earth will avoid being hit by solar particle storms, as any ejected material can spread out over many thousands of miles in width. The particles move much slower than the speed of light and can take days to arrive.
Electromagnetic radiation (including visible light) will reach earth in a bit over eight minutes.
Will it cause chaos? Not sure yet.