[MIham] Strong Solar Activity

[Frank]

Space Weather News for Dec. 7, 2006
http://spaceweather.com

SOLAR ACTIVITY:  Big sunspot 930 continues to be a source of strong solar
activity.  The active region has produced two X-class flares and several
lesser flares since it appeared only two days ago. Forecasters estimate a
50% chance of another X-flare during the next 24 hours.

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) hurled into space by the blasts of Dec. 5th
and 6th  will not hit Earth head-on.  Why not?  Because the sunspot was near
the sun's eastern limb and thus not facing Earth at the time of the
explosions.  However, we could experience glancing blows from the CMEs,
producing high-latitude geomagnetic storms in the nights ahead. Northern sky
watchers should remain alert for auroras.

Visit http://spaceweather.com to view photographs of the recent explosions
and to listen to radio sounds from the X6-flare of Dec. 6th.

REMINDER:  Don't forget to set your alarm. Jupiter, Mercury and Mars are
converging to make a pretty triangle in the dawn sky.  The action begins on
December 8th and climaxes on Dec. 10th when the two brightest vertices of
the celestial triangle, Jupiter and Mercury, will be less than a quarter of
a degree apart.  Visit http://spaceweather.com for observing tips and sky
maps.

CORRECTION: In a space weather alert sent Tuesday, Dec. 5th, sunspot 930 was
misidentified as sunspot 929.  I apologize for the error. --Tony Phillips

SPACE WEATHER ALERTS:  Would you like a phone call alerting you the next
time sunspot 930 explodes? Sign up for SpaceWeather PHONE:
http://spaceweatherphone.com


Space Weather News for Dec. 8, 2006
http://spaceweather.com

SOLAR TSUNAMI: When sunspot 930 exploded on Dec. 6th, producing an
X6-category flare, it also created a tsunami-like shock wave that rolled
across the face of the sun, wiping out filaments and other structures in its
path. A telescope in New Mexico operated by the National Solar Observatory
recorded a must-see movie of the wave, featured today on
http://spaceweather.com .
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