Professor Nordheim
10-02-2008, 06:42 PM
http://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/pickoftheweek/304spot_med.jpg
Sept. 23, 2008: SOHO observed an active region with the first new cycle sunspot since May 10, 2008. After weeks of a spotless Sun and very few sunspots this entire year, a small new sunspot emerged briefly, but then the visible spot broke up in a day or so.
It had both the magnetic orientation and the position at a high latitude of a sunspot belonging to the new solar cycle, Cycle 24. Will this be the harbinger of more solar changes to come and mark the beginnings of a rise in solar activity in the near future? For that answer, only time will tell. If the pattern from the record of the past 400 years holds, we can expect that solar activity will begin to show an increase in the next few months.
http://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/pickoftheweek/
Sept. 23, 2008: SOHO observed an active region with the first new cycle sunspot since May 10, 2008. After weeks of a spotless Sun and very few sunspots this entire year, a small new sunspot emerged briefly, but then the visible spot broke up in a day or so.
It had both the magnetic orientation and the position at a high latitude of a sunspot belonging to the new solar cycle, Cycle 24. Will this be the harbinger of more solar changes to come and mark the beginnings of a rise in solar activity in the near future? For that answer, only time will tell. If the pattern from the record of the past 400 years holds, we can expect that solar activity will begin to show an increase in the next few months.
http://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/pickoftheweek/