NASA: Massive sunspot is large enough to consume six Earths whole
This should create some wicked Northern Lights.
Two massive black spots on the sun, known as sunspots, appeared rapidly over the course of Feb. 19-20, 2013, according to NASA. Karen C. Fox, describing the image for interested viewers, noted that the two sunspots are part of the same system and are large enough to consume six Earths whole.
The image above combines images from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) and the Advanced Imaging Assembly (AIA), which are both instruments on NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. The HMI shoots pictures in visible light that reveal sunspots and the AIA takes pictures in the 304 Angstrom wavelength that reveal the lower atmosphere of the sun.
Sunspots are formed as the magnetic fields on the sun rearrange and realign. NASA scientists observed a giant sunspot form in less than 48 hours over the course of Feb. 19-20, 2013. Since forming, this sunspot has grown to more than six Earth diameters across. However, NASA pointed out that the full size of the sunspot is difficult to measure since the spot lies on a sphere not a flat disk.
NASA also noted that the sunspot could produce a solar flare. For example, the giant sunspot has turned into what’s referred to as a delta region, in which the lighter areas around the sunspot, reveal magnetic fields that point in the opposite direction of those fields in the center. “This is a fairly unstable configuration,” wrote Fox.
A solar flare erupts when magnetic energy that has built up in the solar atmosphere is suddenly released, according to NASA. Radiation is emitted across “virtually” the entire electromagnetic spectrum. The amount of energy released in a solar flare is the equivalent of millions of 100-megaton hydrogen bombs exploding simultaneously.