Photos: Massive Solar Flare Races Toward Earth

Photos: Massive Solar Flare Races Toward Earth
2012/03/09 11:55 에 퍼 옴
NASA / SDO / AIA Solar Storm The sun gives off a solar flare on March 6, 2012. The increased solar activity is part of an upswing during the sun's normal 11-year cycle. The storm that included this solar flare (categorized as an X5.4) is the largest in five years. The flares, which could produce auroras at lower latitudes than usual, have the potential to disrupt earth's magnetic field and the satellite networks, GPS devices and utility grids that rely upon it. SDO / NASA Lunar Transit The dark moon passes between the sun and imaging equipment aboard NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) spacecraft, creating a partial eclipse. Launched on Feb. 11, 2010, the orbiter will observe the sun for the next five years, providing scientists with a better understanding of how the sun affects Earth's atmospheric chemistry and climate. NASA / Reuters Ring of Fire A dense cloud of loop-shaped gas erupts from the sun's surface. A solar prominence, as this occurrence is called, can loop thousands of miles into space and can persist in the sun's corona for several months. The largest known prominence, an extension more than 430,000 miles (about 700,000 km) — roughly equivalent to the star's radius — was observed in 2010.   SST / Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Sunspots The dark areas are caused by intense magnetic activity that creates regions of reduced surface temperature. Sunspots expand and contract as they travel at a few hundred miles per second across the surface of the sun. They can be as large as 50,000 miles (80,000 km) in diameter, making them at times visible to the naked eye from Earth. NASA / Reuters Sunrise The sun emerges in the distant horizon as it rises above Earth. Thierry Legault / NASA / Reuters Silhouette The space shuttle Atlantis transits the sun during its 30th mission. This photo was taken from the Kennedy Space Center before the last servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. NASA Shining Star Former NASA astronaut Joseph Tanner is photographed during a space walk outside the space shuttle Discovery in low Earth orbit during the second servicing mission of the Hubble Space Telescope. The sun is visible behind him. Even when the sun is shining, the sky appears dark in low Earth orbit, because there isn't enough atmosphere to diffuse sunlight. NASA / LMSAL Loops of Plasma Anchored in the photosphere, these coronal loops measure up to 60,000 miles (almost 97,000 km) and can be observed between the lower corona and the transition region of the sun. Flowing along the magnetic field, the arches begin to rise when the plasma heats up and crash down when it cools at more than 60 miles per second (about 97 km/sec). Scientists have recently suggested that they heat the corona to temperatures about 300 times the sun's surface. K. Reardon / Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri / INAF / IBIS / DST / NSO Jet Streams Spicules, above, rise from the sun's interior to its chromosphere at a supersonic jet speed of more than 30,000 m.p.h. (48,000 km/h). At any given time, there are more than 60,000 spicules active on the sun. They have a life span of about 5 min. NASA / Reuters 360-Degree View Based on high-resolution data collected by NASA's twin Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) probes, this photo shows two halves of the sun taken from opposite sides. The photos are part of a NASA program that provides a 360-degree view of solar activity.