Posted on 07/07/2009 2:29:50 PM PDT by Squidpup
ASTRONOMERS are claiming that Earth is witnessing the biggest and most powerful Sunspot ever seen and the sunspot is yet to peak in intensity.
A sunspot is a magnetic storm on the surface of the sun and the area of the spot is colder than the normal surface.
The normal surface is about 5000 degrees, the temperature of a sunspot is about 3000 degrees.
The size of a sunspot varies, ranging from the size of the moon to 65 times larger than the size of earth and lasts for about a month then fades away.
This newest sunspot is thought to be 60 to 80 times the size of Earth and has occurred on the side of the sun, which is in view of Australia.
Wappa Falls Observatory head astronomer Owen Bennedick describes the sunspot shape like the letter S and thinks it to be approximately 150,000 km long and 30,000 km wide.
“It's flares have not yet been measured,” Owen Bennedick said, “but it is like hundreds of thousands of hydrogen bombs.”
The flares have been so bright that NASA has had trouble taking accurate pictures of the sunspot.
Mr Bennedick said the sunspot is still growing in intensity but predicts it could climax by today.
The sunspot will cause the Earth's atmosphere to heat up, potentially creating problems to powerlines, radio transmitters and delicate equipment such as mobile phones and computers.
Mr Bennedick suggests powerline filters be installed on computers and people should put on extra sunscreen.
Sunspots appear on the sun in cycles, occurring every 11 years, the current cycle has four years until it reaches it peak.
The last sunspot happened two years ago and was the most powerful flare yet measuring x28.
Most sunspot flares measure around x12 which is still considered powerful.
The Sunspot two years ago was 45 times larger than the earth and lasted for 45 days.
Since that sunspot, no more had been seen until Sunday, this latest one considered the most powerful yet.
The Wappa Falls Observatory is in the process of installing a new 12 inch telescope which will allow a greater view of the sky.
The new telescope was bought in honour of Kerry Mounter who recently passed away.
Mr Mounter was an inspiration to all who worked at the Wappa Falls Observatory. The telescope will be dedicated to his memory.
They don't seem to be too panicked at solarcycle24.com.
The Wappa Falls Observatory is in the process of installing a new 12 inch telescope which will allow a greater view of the sky.
Ooooo! A 12 incher! None of my astro-buddies has one that small.
“”I don’t know who wrote this hogwash but it is absolute BS on a Solar magnitude.””
___________________________________________________________
Prolonged Sunspot Drought Ends as New Spots Appear
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
After one of the longest sunspot droughts in modern times, solar activity picked up quickly over the weekend.
A new group of sunspots developed, and while not dramatic by historic standards, the spots were the most significant in many months.
“This is the best sunspot I’ve seen in two years,” observer Michael Buxton of Ocean Beach, Calif., said on Spaceweather.com.
Solar activity goes in a roughly 11-year cycle. Sunspots are the visible signs of that activity, and they are the sites from which massive solar storms lift off.
The past two years have marked the lowest low in the cycle since 1913, and for a while scientists were wondering if activity would ever pick back up.
The new set of spots, named 1024, is kicking up modest solar flares.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,530275,00.html
Is there really enough parallax between N.A. and Australia that a spot is only viewable from the Southern Hemi? Seems like a hoax.
That was my hunch - trying to mess with those of us who have some clue about the sunspot-solar wind-cosmic ray-cloud formation-climate dynamic...
The sun is dead, long live the sun!
Their imagination is intensifying, is that what they mean?
see #’s 10 & 23
3-day Solar-Geophysical Forecast issued Jul 06 22:00 UTC
Solar Activity Forecast: Solar activity is expected to be very low with a chance for an isolated C-class flare.
Geophysical Activity Forecast: Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at quiet levels during days 1 - 2 (07 - 08 July). Activity is expected to increase to quiet to unsettled levels on day 3 (09 July) due to an increase in solar wind velocities associated with a favorably positioned coronal hole.
Not even close to enough.
Most ‘journalist’s’ science education consists of watching “Back to the Future”.
This is such a strange story. Why all the hyperventilating about a sunspot?
So “modest” has become the new mega?
/johnny
The sun is such an attention hog. Always up there in the sky shining garishly with its spots and flares, crying out, “oh look at me, I’m sooo much better than you.” What an ego...
Sunspot groups 1024 developed over the 4th of July weekend, and while it did not create any historically spectacular fireworks, it has been kicking up modest solar flares. Credit: SOHO/MDI http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/090706-sunspot-activity.html
So it’s either misreported (shouldn’t science beat reporters at least know something about science?) or this is B.S.
I think their excitement over receiving the 12 inch telescope might provide some answers...
hh
You’ll have to check with the author for that question.
So, as this article seems to indicate, this is not the baddest of the sunspots ever?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.