An active sunspot-filled region on the sun, AR 1504, rotated into our view on June 10, 2012. So far, the sunspot region fired off two M-class flares, and two coronal mass ejections (CMEs) on June 13th and 14th. The final flare lasted a long time for a CME, nearly 3 hours. It peaked around
Active Region (AR) 1302 is slowly coming into position where it directly faces the Earth. The region contains a “behemoth” sunspot — several times larger than the Earth — named sunspot 1302.
The sunspot has already been the source of two ‘X-class’ solar flares (‘X’ signifying the most extreme known); the first, measuring an X1.4, on September 22, and the second, an X1.9, coming just three days later on Sept. 24. Are more X-class flares on the way, and on their way towards Earth?
NASA reported last year that “if anything,” the Sun contributed “a very slight overall cooling in the past 25 years.” Despite that many man-made global warming deniers will try tell you that it is because of sunspots that we are seeing so much global warming. Another major 2007 study on the Sun found that “over
The Earth’s upper atmosphere expands and contracts a bit naturally. But a recent record-breaking collapse has scientists confused.
Our Sun is experiencing the most prolonged period of minimal sunspot activity in nearly a century. The puzzling absence of these spots, whose build-up commonly signals the occurrence of large solar storms and flares, has space scientists and solar physicists searching for explanations.
ESA
