+ 거대한 태양흑점이 지구행성을 향해 있다 - 무슨일?

 

거대한 태양흑점이 지구행성을 향해 있다 - ??

Huge Sunspot Aimed at Earth - Eruption Imminent?: Big Pi

 

Posted by Ametrine on May 14, 2012 at 11:31pm in Earth Alerts and Action.

 

May 11, 2012 -- Ever wondered what the view would be like when looking down the barrel of a stellar gun? Look no further, this is it.

As captured in breathtaking high-definition by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), an erupting active region has rotated into view and is currently facing us, dead-on.

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The active region in question, called AR1476, is huge. In fact, as cheerfully pointed out by the SDO's little yellow chicken mascot Camilla, the sunspot complex underlying the active region is about the size of Jupiter! In the image shown above, we are looking at light generated by plasma (heated to approximately 6,000 Celsius/Kelvin) in the sun's photosphere. The sunspots appear dark as the sun's intense magnetic field is thrusting through the photosphere from the interior, pushing the hotter surface layers aside, exposing the cooler plasma below.

To make this active region even more dramatic, it has been crackling with intense magnetic activity, triggering a powerful M-class flare early on Thursday. As seen through the SDO's Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) instrument's 131A filter (basically highlighting solar plasma heated to an astonishing 11 million Celsius/Kelvin), the M5 flare pumped out extreme-ultraviolet radiation, saturating the pixels in the AIA's CCD. The event is shown below:

And today, if we look at the environment just above AR1476, we can see intense magnetic activity creating complex magnetic arcs -- called coronal loops -- filled with multi-million degree plasma. As these magnetic fieldlines are forced together, flare activity increases. The photograph below, taken through the AIA's 171A filter (plasma heated to around 1 million degrees Celsius/Kelvin), shows the intricate display of coronal loops knitted through the solar corona:

And now, according to Spaceweather.com, NOAA space weather forecasters estimate a 75 percent chance of AR1476 producing more M-class flares and a 20 percent chance that it will erupt with a more powerful X-class flare in the next 24 hours. Should a coronal mass ejection (CME) also be launched in our direction, we could be in for a rough ride.

Due to the active region's location on the solar disk, any CME emitted from this point will likely be "geo-effective," meaning that once a CME hits Earth, it could interact with our magnetosphere in such a way that a powerful geomagnetic storm could erupt. These storms generate powerful electrical currents through our atmosphere and produce fantastic auroral displays.

As the sun continues to pick up pace toward "solar maximum" expected in 2013, we can expect more events like this reminding us that far from being just an "average" star, our sun is an amazingly complex and immense magnetic dynamo with far-reaching consequences for the rest of the solar system.

-- by Ian O'Neill

Credit: NASA/SDO

출처: http://news.discovery.com/space/big-pic-sun-space-weather-sunspot-e...

태양 거대 흑점 활동, 대규모 플레어 징조인가?

입력: 2012.05.12

▲ 태양 거대흑점 활동

태양에서 거대한 흑점이 발견된 가운데 지구에 대규모 태양폭풍(플레어)가 몰아칠 것으로 예측돼 이목이 집중되고 있다.

지난 5일(이하 현지시간) 미국항공우주국(NASA)이 발견한 거대 흑점군 ‘AR1476’은 폭이 약 17만km에 달하는 것으로 측정됐다. 이는 지구 지름의 10배가 넘는다고 한다.

흑점은 일반 태양 표면보다 약간 온도가 낮아 일시적인 어둡게 보이는 부분으로, 지구의 약 4,000배나 되는 강력한 자기장의 활동으로 생성되기 때문에 태양폭풍을 일으키기도 한다.

태양에서 에너지를 방출하는 플레어가 일어나면 우주선이나 우주에서 활동 중인 인류에 방사선 피해를 입히며, 지구에 도달할 시 모든 무선통신에 영향을 미쳐 심각한 전파 장애를 일으킬 수도 있다.

태양물리학자들은 플레어를 C, M, X라는 3가지 등급으로 분류하고 있는데, 미국 해양대기청(NOAA)은 이번 플레어가 중간급인 M 이상이 될 확률이 75%이며 제일 강한 X급은 20% 정도될 것으로 예측하고 있다.

한편 이번 거대 흑점은 육안으로도 확인 가능해 NASA는 그 크기를 ‘몬스터급’이라고 칭했다. 전문가들은 천체망원경 등을 사용해 관측할 경우 “절대로 직접 눈으로 보아선 안 된다.”고 주의를 당부했다.

▲ 태양 대규모플레어 예측

사진=미국항공우주국

나우뉴스 윤태희기자 th20022@seoul.co.kr

http://nownews.seoul.co.kr/news/newsView.php?id=20120512601004