MASSIVE new sunspot rotating into view! (Number 1654?)

Originally posted by csuldm
When you zoom in on the image in the OP, it appears that there is another one on the "horizon" immediately to the left of the one originally brought up in this post, and it is just as big as the first one.

I am no Sun expert, so is that just a trick of the eye, or could there really be 2 massive spots right next to each other?

edit on 8-1-2013 by csuldm because: Added arrows to image showing the 2 spots I am talking about.

I was just coming back to post that! Wow!

This is going to be a monster group.

Wow.

Those are some huge spots.

Okay, for the paranoid on here, que JAWS music as they rotate into view:

I predict by the time this particular spot faces our direction, the activity will have basically all bit fizzled out. It's when activity starts at the point we see the sun spot, that's we should keep our eyes open.

This is happening just as it was prophesied back in 1983!

"There's a little black spot on the sun today. It's the same old thing as yesterday"

-Prophet Gordon Sumner

Something should be pointed out. The images being posted are HMI Intensitygrams. They are a representation of the strength and extent of magnetic fields. In other words, we are not actually seeing sunspots.

To see actual sunspots you should be looking at something like this. If you were using a telescope in your backyard with a solar filter, this is what you would be seeing.

HMI continuum

(2013-01-07 21:52:54 - 2013-01-08 19:56:39 UTC)

HMI Colorized Magnetogram

HMI Intensitygram - colored

As I said although big I really start to worry when I see something like this on the horizon as the sun goes down. Right now yes the one cresting is large but as Phage said lacks the magnetics to really put on a show yet. Who can say now weather its going to decay or develop, lately they have looked menacing only to start to decay as soon as earth facing. But as I said if I see one the size of the pic below then you'll have me a lil worried.




Sanethinking

For everyones info I just google largest sun spots ever and found that pic as a representation of what "Huge" or "Massive" would look like. I myself have only been really following the sun now for 4 or 5 yrs and just know that I have seen many in that time equally comparable to what could be 1654, but in terms of massive the one in my above post would truly be that.

SaneThinking

reply to post by csuldm

I was waiting for the second one. They usually appear together. Heres why:

Why do sun spots come in pairs?

That is one hella big twisted rubber band there. Odds that it will snap directly at us are very low.

Can't wait to see the "magnetic rainbow" pics from this.

Originally posted by intrptr
reply to post by csuldm

 

I was waiting for the second one. They usually appear together. Heres why:

Why do sun spots come in pairs?

That is one hella big twisted rubber band there. Odds that it will snap directly at us are very low.

Can't wait to see the "magnetic rainbow" pics from this.

Ah that's very interesting, I did not know that.

Thanks for hitting me with some knowledge!

reply to post by intrptr


From reading your link I don't think they are saying that "sunspots come in pairs" like another spot behind but I think the article is actually alluding to the fact each sunspot has a north and south polarity, a blue and red positive and negative polarity thus have a pair in a sense not so much the fact that where there is one another will form behind it. I could be wrong but thats what I got from your link.

For an illustration of this check out this HMI Colorized Magnetogram on the SDO which shows the "pair" within a sunspot ie. the blue and the red polar opposites. As I said could be wrong no expert but thats what I am grasping

SaneThinking

Originally posted by rockymcgilicutty

Originally posted by Bluesma

www.spaceweather.com...That is Jupiter, Phage?? Seriously? I admit I am rather uneducated about these things. Is the way it looks flattened out an optical illusion ?

Do you really think that post was from Phage?

I have no idea, I dp not know Phage......I see no reason the name is important, I was responding to something that poster said, and I used the name he/she called him/her self.
It doesn't matter what they call themself.

But anyway, that was this morning and I guess this has been officially recognized.

Of greater interest, perhaps, is the large sunspot emerging just south of AR1652. Denoted by an arrow, the unnumbered region is crackling with C-class solar flares and, based on its size, could be capable of even stronger eruptions. We will know more in the days ahead as the sunspot turns toward Earth; a more direct view will reveal what kind of magnetic field the sunspot posseses.

www.spaceweather.com...

Latest SRS shows 1654 as a moderately sized group (260) with 2 sunspots and an Alpha configuration.
www.swpc.noaa.gov...

It's got a few days before it becomes geoeffective but at this point there doesn't seem to be much reason for concern

reply to post by Phage


Is there anywhere I could go to find a breakdown of what the info means on the llink you have provided. such as a legend to the table that is found through the link to better understand all that is being said there??

SaneThinking

reply to post by SaneThinking

SRS format:
www.swpc.noaa.gov...

Magnetic classification:
www.spaceweatherlive.com...

reply to post by Phage


How does this one or two rate in terms of potential for disaster compared to others you have seen before? I ask because it almost feels like you are holding out reservations on this one compared to others int he past. I know you like to diffuse panic, and fear but this time just seems different.

reply to post by antar

It's no big thing (as far as solar regions go).

As it is it really doesn't have much potential to produce much of anything. But that said, like storms on Earth, things can change.

OOh great, well then I will just keep an eye on this thread for the next few days, Thanks!

reply to post by SaneThinking

Sun spots don't always come in pairs. Its more complex than that. Phage's link above describes the different types. Heres another one that talks a little more about it too.

solar.bnsc.rl.ac.uk...

And a bit of video that shows the magnetic field lines that emanate from the sun spots.


You can see the lay lines because they draw plasma from the sun up into them. Works kind of like a conductor, or a horeshoe magnet arranging iron filings into a "loop". One "end" of the loop is positive and the other negative. So a group, groups or pairs of spots appear on the sun at the base of the magnetic "rainbow". The earth has but two magnetic poles, the sun is filled with roiling and twisting masses like big magnetos that produce these fields and lay lines. The earths poles are constant, the sun's come and go.