Anyone who observed Thursday ’s solar eclipse with the assistance of orchestration or cyberspace would have noticed an enormous chemical group of sunposts confining to the centre of the Lord’s Day . It now turns out these fleck are the largest in 24 twelvemonth and are create some pretty stormy space atmospheric condition .
Astronomers first sight the sunspot area designated AR 2192 on October 18 . It had been building on the far side of the sun and that day , rotated into position already huge .
NASA / SDO . The progress of AR12192 as seen from the Helioseismic Magnetic Imager on NASA ’s SDO
As the sun ’s gyration brought it front and centre , it has continued to grow , direct to some dramatic comparisons .
Alex Young . Feeling small yet ?
Sunspots have cycles that are commonly eleven age long , but this one is temporary . After a tip in former 2012 , macula numbers dropped for a while , before surging againtowards the remnant of last year . Despite this convalescence , sun spot number for this cycle aredown from the last one , but AR 2192 is make up in size what is lacking in frequency . We ca n’t spy the top until a bonny manner after it has sink , but in the meanwhile , we are getting spectacular images such as these .
NASA
macula represent nerveless area of the sun , but they are frequentlyassociated with electromagnetic tempest . AR 2192 one has been no exception . So far there have been five solar flare , four of them of the substantial X class . A flair as declamatory as the X3.1 that come about on Friday could do a lot of damage to the Earth ’s communication system if target our way , but so far the blow has been tangential enough that the core has been limited to atemporary radio memory loss .
NASA / SDO . Ultraviolet image of the largest of the solar flare .
If you ’re wondering about the obscure line just above the center of the sun … we’re curious too .
H / Tio9
