As the Sun Turns: Solar Minimums and Maximums

[Matthew]

all totally gorgeous

[Maria]

The sun is actively flaring again with C-class solar flares due to three active sunspots on the Eastern limb, 2486, 2487,and 2488. Sunspot #2487 has been quite active.

http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php ... &year=2016

[Matthew]

Looks like a big orange. Are you sure the telescope operator isn't still wondering where he set down his snack at break time?

[Maria]

Looks like a big orange. Are you sure the telescope operator isn't still wondering where he set down his snack at break time?

I think those are sprinkles of capsicum (powdered red chili peppers) on an orange plate.

[Matthew]

[Maria]

For the past three days, Sunspot 2488 has been crackling with C flares.
Yesterday around 2100 UTC, we had a hyder flare which resulted when a long filament on the sun ruptured.

A hyder flare can be distinguished by its slow rise and slow decline as compared with typical solar flares from sunspots.

See the graph below. The last slow riser, measuring C2 on January 29, 2016, was a hyder flare

CANYON OF FIRE: A magnetic filament in the sun's southern hemisphere erupted during the late hours of Jan. 29th. Debris ripped through the sun's lower atmosphere, creating a beautiful 'canyon of fire' more than 100,000 km long. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded a must-see movie of the canyon opening.

http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php ... &year=2016

Here is the must-see movie, and it is beautiful.
http://sdowww.lmsal.com/sdomedia/h264/2 ... S20W83.mov

[Maria]

GREEN REINDEER: Last night, Feb. 5th, not far from Skulsfjord, Norway, the snowy landscape turned green when a bright band of auroras stretched across the sky. "A small reindeer came to investigate me and my camera while I was photographing the beautiful scene," says Terence Murtagh. The reindeer looked a bit green, too:

http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php ... &year=2016