I pretty much eat up any cool Space related news. I just find it so very interesting. This article is no exception, but the animated GIF that goes along with the article is really interesting.
If you like the article, make sure to click the link and read it from the site. They link lots of interesting topics in the article.
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/0 ... unami.html
Canadians and Mrukk should be on the look out for Northern Lights this weekend. Theres a 40% chance there will be more flares.
Quote:
Scientists Spot 'Tsunami' on the Sun
By Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer
posted: 08 December 2006
02:05 pm ET
A major flare on the Sun earlier this week generated what scientists are calling a solar tsunami.
The tsunami-like shock wave, formally called a Moreton wave, rolled across the hot surface, destroying two visible filaments of cool gas on opposite sides of the visible face of the Sun.
Astronomers using a prototype of a new solar telescope in New Mexico recorded the action.
"These large scale 'blast' waves occur infrequently, however, are very powerful," said K. S. Balasubramaniam of the National Solar Observatory (NSO) in Sunspot, NM, "They quickly propagate in a matter of minutes covering the whole Sun, sweeping away filamentary material."
It is unusual to see such an event from a ground-based observatory, Balasubramaniam said. And it was also unusual that it occurred near solar minimum, when the Sun is at its least active during an 11-year cycle.
But solar activity can come at any time. Flares like this one are spawned by sunspots, which are dark, cool regions that cap magnetic activity below. When the caps pop, colossal doses of superheated matter and radiation are unleashed.
Sunspot 929 began kicking up flares Tuesday, when a major X-9 event was detected by a space-based observatory.
When another flare erupted Wednesday, the NSO's Optical Solar Patrol Network (OSPAN) was watching.
A shock wave propagated like the splash from a rock thrown into a pond. This was seen as a brightening from compressed and heated hydrogen gas. Astronomers enhanced the contrast of the images to bring out the detail, and they created an animation of the event.
Later, the shock wave swept across two dark filaments widely seprated on the solar surface, and they disappeared for a few minutes. Scientists are unsure whether the filaments were blown off or were compressed so they were temporarily invisible, according to an NSO statement.
Forecasters say there is a 40 percent chance of more major flares through this weekend. Skywatchers in Alaska, Canada and the very northernmost United States should be on the lookout for colorful Northern Lights generated by the space storminess.
Login
