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SOLAR CYCLE PREDICTION:
An international panel of experts says Solar
Cycle 24 will peak in May 2013 with a below-average number of sunspots.
Get the full
story from Science@NASA.
SUNSPOT 1019: New-cycle
sunspot 1019 burst through the surface of the sun on May 31st and
it has been growing rapidly ever since. This movie from the Solar
and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) shows the progress of the active
region over a two-day period:
The sunspot's two dark cores are each about the size of Earth,
and they are crackling with B-class
solar flares. During years of Solar Max (e.g., 2000-2002) we would
consider such activity minor, but now, during the deep solar minimum
of 2008-2009, it merits attention. The magnetic polarity and high
latitude of the sunspot identify it as a member of new Solar Cycle
24, expected to peak in 2013. This makes sunspot 1019 a sign of
things to come. Readers with solar
telescopes should take a look.
more images: from
Jérôme Grenier of Paris France; from
Marco Vidovic of Stojnci, Slovenia; from
Pavol Rapavy of Observatory Rimavska Sobota, Slovakia; from
Steve Wainwright of Swansea, S.Wales, UK; from
Gilles Frenette of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; ; from
Deirdre Kelleghan of Bray, Co Wicklow, Ireland; from
J. Maciaszek and J. Stetson of South Portland, Maine; from
Pete Lawrence of Selsey, West Sussex, UK; from
Etienne Lecoq of Mesnil-Panneville, Normandy, France; from
P-M Hedén of Vallentuna, Sweden;
BLINDING FLASH:
On May 31st, evening sky watchers in northern Poland were temporarily
blinded by a sudden flash of light brighter than the full Moon.
An automated camera in the town of Gniewowo captured this snapshot
of the "un-night" sky:
Credit: Krzysztof Polakowski, Polish Fireball Network
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What happened? A meteoroid of unknown origin hit Earth's atmosphere
and exploded.
"It was a huge fireball, probably brighter than magnitude -13,"
reports Gniewowo resident Przemyslaw Zoladek. "The explosion
occured at 20:48 UT and was observed by many casual witnesses and
at least two Polish Fireball Network video stations." No one
knows if fragments of the object reached the ground. Click
here for updates.
April
2009 Aurora Gallery
[previous Aprils: 2008,
2007, 2006,
2005, 2004,
2003, 2002]
Explore
the Sunspot Cycle
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