| Returning Sunspots |
 15 Nov 2003 @ 07:21, by Letecia LaysonSpace Weather News for Nov. 14, 2003 Using a technique called helioseismic holography, astronomers can do something amazing: look through the sun to find sunspots on the far side of our star. On Nov. 11th and 12th their holographic maps revealed giant sunspots 486 and 488--the same active regions that caused so much intense space weather a few weeks ago. These spots are still active. Explosions from their vicinity have been hurling clouds of gas over the sun's limb in recent days. The sun's 27-day rotation will soon carry the pair around to the Earth-facing side of the sun. More solar storms are possible when they reappear on or about Nov. 19th. Meanwhile, another one of last month's giant sunspots has already reappeared. Active region 484 is peeking over the sun's eastern limb. The sunspot looks smaller than it did in late October, but it too remains active--hurling a bright coronal mass ejection into space on Nov. 13th. |