Post by Sowelu on Aug 4, 2010 0:27:20 GMT -5
COMPLEX ERUPTION ON THE SUN:
On August 1st, the entire Earth-facing side of the sun erupted in a tumult of activity. There was a C3-class solar flare, a solar tsunami, multiple filaments of magnetism lifting off the stellar surface, large-scale shaking of the solar corona, radio bursts, a coronal mass ejection and more. Click on the image to view just a fraction of the action:
The movie recorded by extreme UV cameras onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory shows an enormous magnetic filament breaking away from the sun. Some of the breakaway material is now en route to Earth in the form of a coronal mass ejection (CME).
Seeing the sun erupt on such a global scale has galvanized the international community of solar physicists. Researchers are still sorting out the complex sequence of events and trying to understand why they all happened at once. Stay tuned for more movies and analyses in the days ahead.
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GEOMAGNETIC STORM UPDATE: A geomagnetic storm that sparked auroras over Europe earlier this evening is subsiding--but it could flare up again if another CME arrives. High-latitude sky watchers should remain alert for auroras.
The action began on August 3rd around 1740 UT when a CME hit Earth's magnetic field. The impact caused a moderate geomagnetic storm (Kp=6) and auroras over northern Europe. At the height of the display, Jesper Grønne of Denmark took this picture:
"It's not every day we see auroras at +56 degrees latitude," says Grønne.
While the sky pulsed with color, electrical currents ran through the ground. In Lofoten, Norway, aurora researcher Rob Stammes detected strong currents in the earth outside his laboratory: data. "A current surge at 17.40 UT indicated the arrival of the CME," he says. "The geomagnetic storm began shortly thereafter."
All this activity was prompted by the complex solar eruption of August 1st. Analysts believe that multiple explosions may have propelled not just one but two CMEs in our direction. If so, a second cloud could arrive soon and re-energize the storm. Stay tuned!
Found here
