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SOHO image of sun shows huge sunspot group

SOHO image of sun shows huge sunspot group

Image credit: SOHO

Space Weather News for Feb. 8, 2010 is reporting:

BIG SUNSPOT: The sudden emergence of big sunspot 1045 over the weekend has caused a sharp uptick in solar activity. The active region has produced three M-class and almost a dozen C-class solar flares since it appeared on Saturday. The strongest blast, an M6-class eruption on Feb. 7th, may have hurled a coronal mass ejection toward Earth. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras in the nights ahead as a result of this activity. Also, ham radio operators are picking up strong solar radio bursts using shortwave receivers. Sample sounds and images may be found at:

http://spaceweather.com

In the "for-what-it's-worth" department, this sunspot group was so large that I could easily pick it out on the Windows 7 desktop solar gadget, even though the solar disk displayed in the sidebar is tiny. Now we're getting somewhere with Cycle 24! I'll be listening for more HF radio openings, especially on 10 meters here at the WA0TDA ham shack!

Do you hear the bands opening above 14 MHz? Send me an email and I'll get your comments in the weekly e-letter.

Patrick Tice
wa0tda@arrl.net
Handiham Manager

Other resources:

Get the latest high-definition SOHO image directly from NASA's SOHO site:
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/mdi_igr/512/

Story credit: www.spaceweather.com