According to experts, the giant, fast-growing sunspots that can emit solar flares have recently more than doubled in size and are now facing the Earth.
Sunspots are dark areas of the strong magnetic field on the surface of the sun. They are much cooler than the rest of the surface of the Sun and appear dark because they are formed in areas where the magnetic field is particularly strong. According to NASA..
Due to the strong magnetic field, the magnetic force is high, the atmospheric pressure around it is low, and the temperature drops.
Sunspots are also associated with eruption hazards such as solar flares, which are eruptions of fast-moving radiation, and coronal mass ejections (CMEs), where large amounts of plasma and highly magnetized particles are violently ejected from the Sun. Flares travel at the speed of light and take about 8 minutes to reach Earth, while CME can take 3-4 days to reach Earth.
The fast-growing sunspot that is drawing attention from experts is known as AR3038.
“Yesterday, the sunspot AR3038 was big. Today it’s amazing,” says SpaceWeather.com author Tony Phillips. I have written on wednesday. “The fast-growing sunspot has doubled in size in just 24 hours,” Phillips added.
Experts pointed out that the magnetic field surrounding the AR3038 could explode M-class solar flares or medium-sized flares toward the Earth.
A photo of NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory taken on June 22 shows the sun with numerous sunspots. The AR3038 looks particularly large after it has evolved over the past few days.
The size of sunspots has doubled every day in the last three days, about 2.5 times the size of the Earth. C. Alex Young, Deputy Director of Science in the Department of Heliophysics at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, said: Said By email to USA Today.
“Don’t worry”
But Rob Stenberg, chief deputy for the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Bureau, pointed out that the size of sunspots naturally grows, and said there is no need to panic.
“This is what Sunspot does,” he told USA Today. “Over time, they generally grow. They go through stages and then collapse.”
Young also said that while sunspots are producing flares, “there is no maximum flare complexity” and there is only a 30 percent chance of producing medium flares. According to experts, the chances of a large flare are even lower, 10%.
W. Dean Pesnell, a project scientist at Solar Dynamics Observatory, also reassured him that he didn’t have to worry, and the AR3038 “has not grown abnormally rapidly and is still growing somewhat.” Announced that it is an activity area of size. The area is small. “
As of June 22, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), which monitors solar flares, has not issued any warnings to them.
However, when solar flares, such as the X1 class solar flare, are emitted from the sun, they can disrupt communications satellites and long-range cables on Earth, causing havoc on the world’s Internet.
Another expert, Andrés Muñoz-Jaramillo, chief scientist at the Southwest Institute in San Antonio, also emphasized that he didn’t have to worry, “I want to emphasize that I don’t have to panic,” and the sunspot “has happened.” I explained. everytime. “
“We’re ready and we’re doing everything we can to anticipate and mitigate its effects. For the vast majority of us, we don’t have to lose sleep with it,” Muñoz- Jaramillo said.
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Katabella Roberts is a reporter currently based in Turkey. She focuses primarily on the United States and covers the news and business of The Epoch Times.