[SFDXA] BIG SUNSPOT FACES EARTH

[WILLIAM MARX]

APRIL 1ST COMET FLYBY: No kidding. This weekend, green comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak is flying over Earth's northern hemisphere where sky watchers can find it all night long not far from the bowl of the Big Dipper. At closest approach on April 1st it will be just 21 million km from Earth--an easy target for sfbackyard telescopes and almost visible to the naked eye. [photo gallery] [sky map] [ephemeris]BIG SUNSPOT FACES EARTH: In a year of few sunspots, AR2645 is remarkable.  In only  few days, the young spot has grown from an almost invisible speck into a sprawling behemoth more than 120,000 km wide. And, it is directly facing Earth:AR2645 has a 'beta-gamma' magnetic field that harbors energy for M-class(moderately strong) solar flares.  Any such explosions while the sunspot faces Earth could ionize the top of our planet's atmosphere and alter the normal propagation of radio transmissions around the globe.  Shortwave radio blackouts and other effects are possible. Stay tuned.
http://www.spaceweather.com/