There are lots of things OUT THERE that we know little or nothing about. And, there are a whole bunch of things here on this planet and with mankind that we’re clueless about as well. However, as we approach the infamous December 21, 2012, more and more things are coming into view. Thanks to NASA’s new Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) we’re getting educated about the sun which is a great threat to us in many ways.
So much for sun spots! Like, whatever happened to the solar cycle: you know, that eleven year minimum-maximum? We’ve seemingly flat-lined on sun spots. As of April 28th, we’re into ELEVEN days with NO sun spots; however, thanks to the SDO we’re learning about electromagnetic filaments and plasma rain
“SDO has just observed a massive eruption on the sun—one of the biggest in years,” says Lika Guhathakurta of NASA headquarters in Washington DC. “The footage is not only dramatic, but also could solve a longstanding mystery of solar physics.” Karel Schrijver of Lockheed Martin’s Solar and Astrophysics Lab is leading the analysis. “We can see a billion tons of magnetized plasma blasting into space while debris from the explosion falls back onto the sun surface. These may be our best data yet.”
Can anyone imagine the power and the size of what’s going on out there?
Billions of tons of material have been blasting into space, while debris from the explosion rains around the blast site. Moon-sized fragments of plasma splash brightly when they land back on the sun’s surface. Moon-sized! Can you image such? The entire planet Earth could fit between the plasma streamers with room to spare.
Astronomers have seen eruptions like this before, but rarely so large and never in such fluid detail. Coronal rain has long been a mystery. It’s not surprising that plasma should fall back to the sun. After all, the sun’s gravity is powerful. The puzzle of coronal rain is how slowly it seems to fall. The sun’s gravity should be pulling the material down much faster than it actually moves. What’s slowing the descent? No one knows.
What we do know though is that the sun is going through some strange changes and the earth will be (and is) impacted greatly. My take is that we’re about to see some massive earthquakes that will be record-setting, and that’s not a good thing.
This isn’t just pretty purple rain!
