En stor og spændende solplet – bestemt.
Det er ikke ukendt, at der sker store ting efter et solmaksimum. I 2003 skete der store ting: (NASA)
“Researchers rank solar flares according to their x-ray power output. C-flares are the weakest. M-flares are middling-strong. X-flares are the most powerful. Each category has subdivisions: e.g., X1, X2, X3 and so on. A typical X-flare registers X1 or X2. On Nov. 4th 2003, sunspot 486 unleashed an X28 flare–the most powerful ever recorded.”
“In 1989 a flare about half that strong caused a widespread power blackout in Quebec,” recalls Hathaway. Last week’s blast was aimed away from Earth, so its effects on our planet were slight–a bit of good luck.
All this happened two years after solar maximum, which raises a question: is something wrong with the solar cycle? Is the sun going haywire?
“Nothing’s wrong,” reassures Hathaway. The sun isn’t about to explode, nor is the sunspot cycle broken. “These latest sunspots were whoppers,” he allows, “but sunspot counts averaged over many weeks are still declining as predicted. We’re still on course for a solar minimum in 2006.”
Jeg fik skudt krabaten i 2003, 486 er nederst på solskiven:
Spændende hvad AR1944 har at byde på