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NEW
MOVIE: Researchers working with data from
the Solar Dynamics Observatory have prepared a new movie of
yesterday's eruption. Click on the following links to watch
the filament lift off the sun in red-hot color: 21
Mb Quicktime, 2
MB iPad, 0.8
MB iPhone.
COMPLEX
ERUPTION ON THE SUN: On August 1st around
0855 UT, Earth orbiting satellites detected a C3-class
solar flare. The origin of the blast was sunspot 1092. At
about the same time, an enormous magnetic filament stretching
across the sun's northern hemisphere erupted. NASA's Solar
Dynamics Observatory recorded the action:
Click to launch a movie (EUV 304 Å)
The timing of these events suggest they are connected, and
a review of SDO movies strengthens that conclusion. Despite
the ~400,000 km distance between them, the sunspot and filament
seem to erupt together; they are probably connected by long-range
magnetic fields. In this
movie (171 Å), a shadowy shock wave (a "solar tsunami")
can be seen emerging from the flare site and rippling across
the northern hemisphere into the filament's eruption zone.
That may have helped propel the filament into space.
In short, we have just witnessed a complex global eruption
involving almost the entire Earth-facing side of the sun.
A coronal mass ejection (CME) produced by the event is heading
directly for Earth: SOHO
movie. High-latitude sky watchers should be
alert for auroras when it arrives on or about August 3rd.
more images: from
Francois Rouviere of Mougins, France; from
Rogerio Marcon of Campinas SP Brasil; from
Didier Favre of Brétigny-sur-Orge, France; from
Cai-Uso Wohler of Bispingen, Germany; from
Wouter Verhesen of Sittard, The Netherlands; from
Michael Buxton of Ocean Beach, California
SUNSPOT
SUNRISE: Sunspot 1092, a key player in yesterday's
Earth-directed eruptions, is big enough to see without the
aid of a solar
telescope. Oleg Toumilovitch "spotted" it on
July 31st rising over Blairgowrie, South Africa:
Photo details: Canon
EOS-350D, ISO-800, 1/1600s exposure
"During the first few minutes of sunrise only a fraction
of the sunlight makes it's way to the observer - mostly from
the red part of visible spectrum," notes Toumilovitch.
"During this time large sunspots can be seen without
a special solar filter." Be careful,
though! Even when dimmed by clouds and haze, direct sunlight
can hurt your eyes. "If you try to take a picture like
this," advises Toumilovitch, "look only at the screen
of your digital camera, not the optical viewfinder."
more sunspot shots: from
Roman Vanur of Nitra, Slovakia, EU; from
Alan Friedman of Buffalo, NY; from
Pavol Rapavy of Observatory Rimavska Sobota, Slovakia;
from
Rogerio Marcon of Campinas SP Brasil; from
Michael Boschat of Halifax, Nova Scotia; from
THEO BAKALEXIS of Peristeri, Attikh, Greece;
Solar
Eclipse Photo Gallery
[NASA: South
Pacific Eclipse] [animated
map]
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