Huge Solar Magnetic Explosion
Solar prominence on April 13, 2010
An animation of 18 images taken by SOHO's Large Angle Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO) shows a coronal mass ejection (CME) ballooning away from the Sun. LASCO blocks the light of the Sun to make features in its corona visible. The white circle shows the diameter of the Sun. Credit: NASA / ESA / SOHO
(via Planetary.org)
The sun has just exploded to life, blasting a huge CME into space. This is the largest such event for several years.
Our nearest star has been a little subdued of late, going through a solar minimum period with very low sunspot activity. But it would appear the sun is exhibiting an uptick in sunspot numbers, increased magnetic activity and more explosive events (flares and CMEs) as solar activity increases toward "solar maximum," predicted to reach its peak in 2013.
As the current solar cycle continues, we can expect more CMEs like this one, and it's likely a few may be directed at Earth.
(via Discovery.com) - hat tip to @tooma2
