Posted on 10/29/2003 1:04:03 PM PST by petuniasevan
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
Explanation: Yesterday, our Sun produced one of the most powerful solar flares in recorded history. Seen across the electromagnetic spectrum, the Sun briefly became over 100 times brighter in X-rays than normal. Over the next few days, as energetic particles emitted from these regions strike the Earth, satellite communications might be affected and auroras might develop. The flare and resulting CME, emitted from giant sunspot group 10486, was captured above as it happened by the by the LASCO instrument aboard the Sun-orbiting SOHO satellite. The disk of the Sun is covered to accentuate surrounding areas. The time-lapse movie shows the tremendous explosion in frames separated in real time by about 30 minutes each. The frames appear progressively noisier as protons from the CME begin to strike the detector. The SOHO satellite has been put in a temporary safe mode to avoid damage from the solar particle storm.
Sorry the APOD is late. I was completely preoccupied with SoCal fire coverage this AM before work.
It's cloudy here, so no chance at seeing auroras. Grrr...
According to various sites, the auroras were very active last night and visible well into the southern half of the USA.
The prospects for more auroras tonight are good, mainly because the interplanetary magnetic field near Earth has just tilted sharply south--a condition that promotes geomagnetic activity. Where might these auroras appear? High latitudes--e.g., Alaska, Canada and US northern border states from Maine to Washington--are favored, as usual, but auroras could descend to lower latitudes, too. Sky watchers everywhere should be alert.
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