Saturday 12 January 2013

Our Insignificant Earth - Putting AR11654 Into Perspective: 12th January


Our Earth really is insignificant in size when it comes to monster active region AR11654.  One of the largest spot groups for sometime this active region just keeps on getting larger and is crackling with M-class flare activity with its complex beta-gamma magnetic configuration, the possibility of maybe even an X-class flare.  As the behemoth nears the centre of our stars disk it becomes more geo-effective as time passes by, northern sky watchers should be altert to the possibilty of increased auroral activity in the coming days as a result of this and also a high speed flow of solar wind associated with a coronal hole.  This image was derived from SDO data from the 12th January.