• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Giant Sunspot Facing Earth Has Doubled In Size In Last 24 Hours

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Giant Sunspot Facing Earth Has Doubled In Size In Last 24 Hours


As if the scorching hot weather wasn't already a cause for concern, a giant sunspot facing Earth has apparently doubled in size.

That's right, in the past 24 hours, Active Region 3038 on the sun has been pretty, well, active.

The news comes as areas around the world are experiencing unprecedented heat, with Iran recording one of the highest-ever temperatures this week.

A sun spot facing earth has doubled in size. Credit: Alamy


A sun spot facing earth has doubled in size. Credit: Alamy

While the news seems pretty unsettling, there's no need to full-on panic as according to the lead for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Forecast Office, Robert Steenburgh, the sunspot's growth is pretty standard. "This is what sunspots do," he explained. "Over time, generally, they'll grow. They go through stages, and then they decay."

While that's reassuring, some were concerned about solar flares. For anyone not sure of what a solar flare is, Steenburgh explains to USA Today: "I guess the easiest way to put it is that sunspots are regions of magnetic activity.




"You can think of it like the twisting of rubber bands. If you have a couple of rubber bands twisting around on your finger, they eventually get twisted too much, and they break. The difference with magnetic fields is that they reconnect. And when they reconnect, it's in that process that a flare is generated."

So, can Active Region 3038 cause flares?

Well, yes and no, as according to Steenburgh the spot 'does not have the complexity for the largest flares' but can produce smaller flares.

This means that even if the sunspot produces flares, it likely won't reach earth, which sounds like pretty good news if you ask us.




Still, even if the flares aren't reaching the earth, our planet is experiencing unprecedented heat.

Just this week Iran recorded one of the hottest temperatures ever. In Abadan, a staggering 126 F (52.2 C) was recorded by a weather reporting station, while other parts of Iran recorded highs of 122 F (50 C), as seen on AccuWeather.

To make matters worse, according to the UN, soaring temperatures aren't being taken seriously enough.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in April: "Some government and business leaders are saying one thing, but doing another. Simply put: They are lying. And the results will be catastrophic."

 
Last edited:

IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
the lead for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Forecast Office, Robert Steenburgh, the sunspot's growth is pretty standard. "This is what sunspots do," he explained. "Over time, generally, they'll grow. They go through stages, and then they decay."
 

GHG

Gold Member
But I was told the current heatwave in some places is due to global warming.

Damn, we even managed to fuck the sun up such is our recklessness.
 
Last edited:

ClosBSAS

Member
Good, i hope a giant sun flare comes bursting out and burns us all alive or a supernova. Maybe Jupiter hitting earth would be a cool way to die. I want some catastrophic interstellar shit to kill us. Not some shitty ass forest fires.
 
Last edited:

Outlier

Member
Good, i hope a giant sun flare comes bursting out and burns us all alive or a supernova. Maybe Jupiter hitting earth would be a cool way to die. I want some catastrophic interstellar shit to kill us. Not some shitty ass forest fires.
We'd be dead long before we get to see the cool stuff happen, though. :(
 

Melon Husk

Member
Good, i hope a giant sun flare comes bursting out and burns us all alive or a supernova. Maybe Jupiter hitting earth would be a cool way to die. I want some catastrophic interstellar shit to kill us. Not some shitty ass forest fires.
🎸🎶 Come on little gamma ray 🌠

 
Last edited:

Kilau

Gold Member
What does a sun spot do that you all are claiming gloom and doom for? Honest question btw.


The magnetic field lines near sunspots often tangle, cross, and reorganize. This can cause a sudden explosion of energy called a solar flare. Solar flares release a lot of radiation into space. If a solar flare is very intense, the radiation it releases can interfere with our radio communications here on Earth.

solar-activity3.en.gif
 

Sakura

Member
What does a sun spot do that you all are claiming gloom and doom for? Honest question btw.
Nothing really.
Sunspots are very common.
There are solar flares, but again, it's very common. There are hundreds of solar flares a year.
If there is an extremely powerful solar flare, and it manages to hit Earth, then it will cause a lot of problems, but the chances of that are very low, and there is nothing unusual about this sunspot.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom