AlaskaDenise
In Memoriam
GIANT SUN TWISTER: On Oct. 27th and 28th, a twisted filament of magnetism on the sun decided to untwist. The result was a spectacular eruption recorded in full-disk detail by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory:
At its peak, the twister--or rather, untwister--towered more than 350,000 km above the stellar surface. It appears to have hurled a fragment of itself into space, but not toward Earth; the blast was not geoeffective.
Now that the filament has relaxed, it is unlikely to erupt again. The next blast is more likely to come from big sunspot 1117, which NOAA forecasters say could produce an M-class solar flare. Readers with solar telescopes are encouraged to monitor developments.
http://spaceweather.com/
(movie at this location)
See large still photo at: http://spaceweather.com/swpod2010/28oct10/twister_2048.jpg?PHPSESSID=rt5dk1ig9lqhv673jm2hfujam6
.
At its peak, the twister--or rather, untwister--towered more than 350,000 km above the stellar surface. It appears to have hurled a fragment of itself into space, but not toward Earth; the blast was not geoeffective.
Now that the filament has relaxed, it is unlikely to erupt again. The next blast is more likely to come from big sunspot 1117, which NOAA forecasters say could produce an M-class solar flare. Readers with solar telescopes are encouraged to monitor developments.
http://spaceweather.com/
(movie at this location)
See large still photo at: http://spaceweather.com/swpod2010/28oct10/twister_2048.jpg?PHPSESSID=rt5dk1ig9lqhv673jm2hfujam6
.