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Sunspot 1302 continues to turn toward Earth

09.26.11 | NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
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Active Region 1302 unleashes an X1.9-category solar flare at 5:40 am EDT on Sept. 24, 2011. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) recorded the extreme ultraviolet flash in composite wavelengths (211, 193, 171 angstrom). Note: The sun has been rotated 90 degrees clock-wise for better video presentation. Credit: NASA/SDO/GOES

Behemoth sunspot 1302 unleashed another strong flare on Saturday morning--an X1.9-category blast at 5:40 am EDT. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) recorded the extreme ultraviolet flash.

A NASA SDO movie shows a shadowy shock wave racing away from the blast site. This is a sign that the blast produced a coronal mass ejection (CME) that could deliver a glancing blow to Earth's magnetic field on Sept. 26.

Since the X1.9-flare, active region (AR) 1302 has unleashed M8.6 and M7.4 flares on Sept. 24 and an M8.8 flare early on Sept. 25. None of the blasts have been squarely Earth-directed, but this could change as the sunspot turns toward our planet in the days ahead. AR1302 is growing and shows no immediate signs of quieting down.

Additional Media

Sunspot 1302
Sunspot 1302 has already produced two X-flares (X1.4 on Sept. 22 and X1.9 on Sept. 24th). Each of the dark cores in this image from SDO is larger than Earth, and the entire active region stretches more than 100,000 km from end to end. The sunspot's magnetic field is currently crackling with sub-X-class flares that could grow into larger eruptions as the sunspot continues to turn toward Earth. Credit: NASA/SDO/HMI

Keywords

Observatories Planet Earth Sunspot Regions

Contact Information

Susan Hendrix
Susan.m.hendrix@nasa.gov

Source

This article is based on a news release from NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center. BrightSurf curates and republishes science news from research institutions worldwide; the original release is linked below.

Original Source
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/News092511-ar1302.html

How to Cite This Article

APA:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center. (2011, September 26). Sunspot 1302 continues to turn toward Earth. Brightsurf News. https://www.brightsurf.com/news/1EKZQ931/sunspot-1302-continues-to-turn-toward-earth.html
MLA:
"Sunspot 1302 continues to turn toward Earth." Brightsurf News, Sep. 26 2011, https://www.brightsurf.com/news/1EKZQ931/sunspot-1302-continues-to-turn-toward-earth.html.