11:15 AM | Growing sunspot region captured on cool video
Paul Dorian
Discussion
The sun has been somewhat more active in recent weeks with several sunspot regions and NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory has just recently captured an interesting expansion of the region officially called AR1619 over a 24-hour period (see video). AR1619 was barely visible at the beginning of the weekend, but it has now blossomed into a large region that is more than three times as wide as the Earth. So far the growing sunspot region has been rather quiet, but sometimes expansion and fast-changing magnetic fields indicate that an eruption may soon take place. AR1619 is now in a position that faces the Earth directly so any near-term eruption could have an impact on the Earth’s upper atmosphere. Additionally, another large sunspot region known as AR1618 is also rotating into a position that faces the Earth directly so this area will also be monitored over the next couple of days here at thesiweather.com.
Video
httpv://youtu.be/Bq61Oh8rNIA