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FAST-GROWING SUNSPOT: Less than a day ago, sunspot AR1678 didn't exist. Now it is three times wider than our entire planet. NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the sunspot's rapid development:
Sunspots are islands of magnetism that float on the surface of the sun. This one is emerging from depth and changing at such a rapid pace that its magnetic field is likely unstable. A reconnection event in AR1678's magnetic canopy could lead to a significant solar flare. Stay tuned! Solar flare alerts: text, voice.
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COMET PAN-STARRS UPDATE: Comet Pan-STARRS (C/2011 L4), widely expected to become a naked-eye object in early March, is now closer to the sun than Venus. Solar heating is vaporizing the comet's icy core and creating a wide, fan-shaped tail visible through binoculars in the southern hemisphere. Ignacio Diaz Bobillo sends this picture from Buenos Aires, Argentina:
"I saw Comet Pan-STARRS just before daybreak in the constellation Grus," says Bobillo. "This is what it looked like through a small telescope, imaged with an exposure time of 8x2 minutes."
In early March, Comet Pan-STARRS will make its closest approach to the sun inside the orbit of Mercury; at that time it could brighten to easy naked-eye visibility. No one knows exactly what will happen, however, because it is a fresh comet being exposed to solar heating for the first time. Experts discuss the possibilities in this video from Science@NASA. More: 3D orbit, ephemeris, light curves, NASA story.
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M-CLASS SOLAR FLARE: Yesterday, Feb. 17th, new sunspot AR1675 unleashed the most intense flare of the year so far, an M1.9-class explosion. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured a double-flash of extreme UV radiation from the explosion:
Coronagraph images from SOHO and the twin STEREO probes show that this explosion did not produce a coronal mass ejection (CME). Nevertheless, there were some Earth-effects. UV radiation from the flare produced a wave of ionization in Earth's upper atmosphere. Radio listeners in Europe and North America detected the sudden ionospheric disturbance. Solar flare alerts: text, voice.
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