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By Cary Oler - Asteroalert News
The
huge naked eye sunspot group that produced one of the largest
solar x-ray flares in recorded history on 02 April reappeared
around the east limb of the Sun on 18/19 April as a less
complex, but still respectable sunspot group capable of
producing additional major solar flares. In addition, an
observation made by Michal Svenda of the Czech Republic
(http://apo.astronomy.cz) indicates that the sunspot group
is once again visible to the naked eye.
Michal
made his observation on 23 April and could discern both
the leader and trailer spots with the protected naked eye.
This
sunspot group (now known as NOAA sunspot region 9433) is
beginning to cross the central meridian of the Sun and is
very well placed for observing with the protected naked
eye. Please make certain you do not look at the Sun directly.
Doing so can permanently damage your eyes. Use an appropriate
certified filter or a safe projection technique. Alternatively,
users wishing to see activity on the Sun in real-time may
access http://www.spacew.com/sunnow.
Images provided there are automatically updated every minute
(when new imagery from observatories are available) and
regularly processed into MPEG movies several times a day.
Analysis
of this sunspot complex shows that there is potential for
this region to produce major solar flares. Renewed growth
has been observed over the last 24 hours. It still retains
sufficient magnetic complexity to spawn potential major
x-ray flares. There is also a notable chance of a proton
flare from this region.
At
the time of this writing, there are no known Earthward directed
coronal mass ejections. However, this could change at any
time should a major solar flare erupt from sunspot Region
9433. Aurora observers are encouraged to keep a close eye
on conditions over the next week. Region 9433 is in an ideal
location for producing Earthward-directed coronal mass ejections.
As
a side-note and of potential interest to fellow aurora photographers,
a series of outstanding images of the auroral storm of 11
April were captured on film by Ulrich Rieth (http://www.ulrich-rieth.de).
Click on the "Aurora 2001" link and select the
bottom link below the bar graph at the bottom for the 11
April images.
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