A 'STEALTH CME' APPROACHES: When
the sun blasts a coronal mass ejection (CME) into space, the event is
usually announced by the bright flash of a solar flare or the
collapse of a towering magnetic filament. But not always. Sometimes
CMEs slowly materialize on their own without an instigating explosion.
These are called "stealth CMEs,"
and one of them is heading for Earth now. A relatively gentle blow
from the slow-moving storm cloud could unsettle Earth's polar magnetic
field on May 10th. Free: Aurora Alerts
THE SUN IS BLANK: Today
the sun is blank--no sunspots. The disk of our star is completely
featureless, as shown in this white light image taken by NASA's Solar
Dynamics Observatory on May 10th:
Solar Minimum is yin to the yang of Solar Maximum, a natural part of the sun's ~11 year sunspot cycle. Contrary to popular belief, Solar Minimum is not boring ...only different. It brings a time of enhanced cosmic rays, pink auroras, a collapsing ionosphere and accumulating space junk. With action like that, who needs sunspots? Stay tuned for more blank suns.
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