Sun's storms set to intensify

The Gympie Times ^ | 7th July 2009 | Rebekah Polley

[Squidpup]

ASTRONOMERS are claiming that Earth is witnessing the biggest and most powerful Sunspot ever seen and the sunspot is yet to peak in intensity.

A sunspot is a magnetic storm on the surface of the sun and the area of the spot is colder than the normal surface.

The normal surface is about 5000 degrees, the temperature of a sunspot is about 3000 degrees.

The size of a sunspot varies, ranging from the size of the moon to 65 times larger than the size of earth and lasts for about a month then fades away.

This newest sunspot is thought to be 60 to 80 times the size of Earth and has occurred on the side of the sun, which is in view of Australia.

Wappa Falls Observatory head astronomer Owen Bennedick describes the sunspot shape like the letter S and thinks it to be approximately 150,000 km long and 30,000 km wide.

“It's flares have not yet been measured,” Owen Bennedick said, “but it is like hundreds of thousands of hydrogen bombs.”

The flares have been so bright that NASA has had trouble taking accurate pictures of the sunspot.

Mr Bennedick said the sunspot is still growing in intensity but predicts it could climax by today.

The sunspot will cause the Earth's atmosphere to heat up, potentially creating problems to powerlines, radio transmitters and delicate equipment such as mobile phones and computers.

Mr Bennedick suggests powerline filters be installed on computers and people should put on extra sunscreen.

Sunspots appear on the sun in cycles, occurring every 11 years, the current cycle has four years until it reaches it peak.

The last sunspot happened two years ago and was the most powerful flare yet measuring x28.

Most sunspot flares measure around x12 which is still considered powerful.

The Sunspot two years ago was 45 times larger than the earth and lasted for 45 days.

Since that sunspot, no more had been seen until Sunday, this latest one considered the most powerful yet.

The Wappa Falls Observatory is in the process of installing a new 12 inch telescope which will allow a greater view of the sky.

The new telescope was bought in honour of Kerry Mounter who recently passed away.

Mr Mounter was an inspiration to all who worked at the Wappa Falls Observatory. The telescope will be dedicated to his memory.

[jongaltsr]

The sun is such an attention hog. Always up there in the sky shining garishly with its spots and flares, crying out, “oh look at me, I’m sooo much better than you.” What an ego...

Like cool daddy-0. You show me yours and I'll like show you mine! (sunspot that is....)

[daniel1212]

Second cloudiest and fourth coldest June on record (and continuing). No Global Warming in MA.

[Mr. Lucky]

Facts? They don’t need no stinkin’ facts. This is global warming they’re talking about.

[expatpat]

Is that the frequency, Kenneth?

[Squidpup]

Current SOHO images show nothing but the current 1024 -(I don’t know the current relative locations of the SOHO and the observational location from the story, and whether they would show something different)

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime-images.html

[muawiyah]

http://www.solarcycle24.com/

[jongaltsr]

Second cloudiest and fourth coldest June on record (and continuing). No Global Warming in MA.

Arizona has had the past couple of months the coolest since 1959. It actually snowed in Phoenix in 1965. It probably snowed earlier but I was to young to pay attention to such tripe. I lived in Prescott and it snowed all the time (1955 - 1964 and beyond).

[dragnet2]

Ooooo! A 12 incher! None of my astro-buddies has one that small.

Wished I had a 12" aperture scope.

This is the best I could do with my 10" SCT.

[GOPJ]

This newest sunspot is thought to be 60 to 80 times the size of Earth and has occurred on the side of the sun, which is in view of Australia.

What?

[justa-hairyape]

I don’t know who wrote this hogwash but it is absolute BS on a Solar magnitude. Must be one of Al Gore’s operatives.

So now the Al Gore Cultists are hoping for Strong Solar Activity ? I thought they were worried about Global Warming ?

[muawiyah]

NASA has been reporting plenty of little tiny sunspots so small that you can't see them by traditional means ~ in fact, they were detectible if and only if you consulted with NASA.

Based on those otherwise invisible sunspots NASA has been predicting the beginning of Solarcycle 24 for the LAST FOUR YEARS.

It's gonna' be huge, stupendous, biggest one in history, yadda, yadda, yadda ~ and then nothing.

Well, here it is ~ the big one ~ visible only from Australia (hidden from the rest of the world by thousands of miles of dirt I suppose.

Next a discussion of the double secret sunspot conveyor belts hidden behind the Sun's clouds.

[rsobin]

Is there a connection of sunspots to cow farts?

[Squidpup]

background on the head astronomer chap:
http://www.thedaily.com.au/news/2009/jan/02/new-year-bright-start/
"Bright lights might have been too much for some bloodshot and bleary eyes yesterday but others made the most of an opportunity to look at the brightest of them all. Four telescopes from Wappa Falls Observatory were set up at Coolum’s Point Perry and trained on the sun for passers-by to use to mark the first day of the International Year of Astronomy. The observatory’s Owen Bennedick organised the promotion “to start off the year with a big bang”. “And so that people can be fully reassured about why they’re so hot,” he said. Mr Bennedick said the four telescopes allowed people to look at the sun in different ways. His broad spectrum white light telescope offered a similar view to that seen by the human eye, but closer, and a hydrogen alpha light ‘scope allowed viewers to see prominences and “bubbles” on the sun’s surface. He said a CAK or Calcium K telescope allowed views up to 200km below the sun’s surface to where sun spots were forming, and an orange filter ‘scope also provided views of sun spots and other gas effects. “We’ve had quite a few people have a look,” he said. Mr Bennedick said the International Year of Astronomy would hopefully encourage people to investigate what Galileo Galilei started when he became the first person to use a telescope for astronomy 400 years ago. Mr Bennedick said 2009 would be a big year at the observatory, which had already taken possession of new telescopes. Various upgrades planned to areas, including the barbecues and planet walk, and a series of monthly concert evenings would raise money for charities."

[3niner]

Currently, sunspot activity is near a minimum. There would normally be dozens of sunspots visible in this picture.

[GreenHornet]

The normal surface is about 5000 degrees

Well, it's not the heat, it's the humidity.....

[Wissa]

Ooooo! A 12 incher! None of my astro-buddies has one that small.

I've got a couple smaller than that. They work good for the moon and the brighter planets. A lot easier to set up than my 20" telescope, too.

[Old Professer]

Don’t think so.

[flash2368]

Oh I am sure Al and his global warming investors are worried sick the Sun is going to ruin their plans to make billions on his “inconvenient hoax”.

Truth is we are headed for global cooling. If the sun keeps doing what its doing now we’re going to need lots of overcoats.

[dragnet2]

So, as this article seems to indicate, this is not the baddest of the sunspots ever?

You'd need to take that up with the author of the article.

Oh, and I don't think anyone would know the answer to your question, since the sun is about 4.5 billion years old give or take a few years.

[Izzy Dunne]

has occurred on the side of the sun, which is in view of Australia.

It's a good thing it didn't occur on the side that's in view of the US !