Coronal Rain, Solar Storm by 2013

A massive explosion was observed by scientists all the world which has sent a massive shock wave towards Earth, reports the Telegraph.

In this picture, the Sun's surface is quite dark. A frame from a movie recorded on November 9th by the orbiting TRACE telescope, it shows coronal loops lofted over a solar active region. Glowing brightly in extreme ultraviolet light, the hot plasma entrained above the Sun along arching magnetic fields is cooling and raining back down on the solar surface. Hours earlier, on November 8th, astronomers had watched this particular active region produce a not so spectacular solar flare. Still, the M-class flare spewed forth an intense storm of particles, suddenly showering satellites near the Earth with high energy protons. The flare event was also associated with a large coronal mass ejection, a massive cloud of material which impacted our fair planet's magnetic field about 31 hours later. The result ... a strong geomagnetic storm.

The wave of supercharged gas which will likely reach Earth on Tuesday was caused by a huge flare over gigantic sunspot equal to the size of our planet. It will hammer the Earth’s protective natural magnetic field and will give rise to more northern or southern lights even at low latitudes.

The danger brought on by these massive solar tsunami’, says scientists, is the potential to cause widespread communications disruption and power losses. NASA has warned that it could affect Britain and the some parts of Europe.

Dr Lucie Green, of the Mullard Space Science laboratory, Surrey, used the Japanese orbiting spac telescopeHinode to follow the developments:

What wonderful fireworks the Sun has been producing.

This was a very rare event – not one, but two almost simultaneous eruptions from different locations on the sun were launched toward the Earth.

These eruptions occur when immense magnetic structures in the solar atmosphere lose their stability and can no longer be held down by the Sun’s huge gravitational pull. Just like a coiled spring suddenly being released, they erupt into space.

Just last June, senior scientists have warned that the Earth could be hit with more magnetic energy from the Sun as it awakens from “a deep slumber” sometime in 2013.

TRACE

The objective of the Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) satellite is to explore the three-dimensional magnetic structures which emerge through the visible surface of the Sun -- the Photosphere -- and define both the geometry and dynamics of the upper solar atmosphere - the Transition Region and Corona. The magnetic field geometry can be seen in images of solar plasma taken in wavelengths emitted or absorbed by atoms and ions formed in different temperature ranges. The transition from the 6000 degree K Photosphere, where magnetic fields and plasma are in rough equipartition (low beta), to the multi-million degree Corona, where the magnetic fields dominate (high beta), is extremely difficult to model. Many of the physical process that occur here -- plasma confinement, reconnection, wave propagation, plasma heating -- arise throughout space physics and astrophysics. And to date, no images have ever been collected that show the required temperature range nearly simultaneously with both high spatial and temporal resolution.

This colorized picture is a mosaic of ultraviolet images from the orbiting TRACE satellite sensitive to light emitted by highly charged iron atoms. Growing in number, the intricate structures visible are the Sun's hot active regions with temperatures over a million degrees Fahrenheit and their associated magnetic loops.

Image credit: TRACE Team, NASA

The TRACE data will provide quantitative observational constraints on the models and thus stimulate real advances in our understanding of the transition from low to high beta plasma. The solar atmosphere is constantly evolving because the magnetic fields which dominate the Corona are continuously being displaced by the convective motions in the outer layers of the Sun just below the Photosphere.

A major objective of the TRACE investigation is to explore the relation between diffusion of the surface magnetic fields and the changes in heating and structure throughout the Transition Region and Corona. The simultaneous movies of the 6000 to 10,000,000 degree K volume of the solar atmosphere will allow us to determine the rate of change of the magnetic topology and the nature of the local restructuring and reconnection processes.

Occasionally new magnetic flux emerges through the solar surface and organizes into local concentrations the largest of which are sunspots. The emergence of new flux has profound effects on the overlying atmosphere and often triggers a variety of phenomena which release significant amounts of energy and which can result in major restructuring of the Corona, the interplanetary medium, and the Earth's magnetosphere. Therefore, TRACE will observe nearly continuously for an extended period to study not only the "quiet" solar atmosphere but also the more episodic active Sun.

via seeku1.co.cc