Sunspot
AR2443 is so big, it is attracting the attention of astrophotographers
around the world. Earlier today when Peter Rosén of Stockholm, Sweden,
photographed the sprawling complex, he found a spaceship hiding among
its dark cores. Seriously. Take a close look at the image below:
Can't find the spaceship? Click here and here. "It is the International Space Station," explains Rosén. "I caught it making a split-second transit of the giant sunspot."
Indeed,
AR244 is huge. From end to end it measures almost 200,000 km. Many of
the dark cores are as large as terrestrial continents--and a couple are
as large as Earth itself. These dimensions make it an easy target for
backyard solar telecopes.
Of
greater interest is the sunspot's potential for explosive activity. The
spotty complex has a 'beta-gamma' magnetic field that harbors energy
for strong M-class solar flares. Any such explosions will be geoeffective as the sunspot turns squarely toward Earth in the days ahead.
