There was a huge solar eruption recently which caused a geomagnetic storm that lasted for 12 hours. Some spectacular sights of Aurora were seen in the Earth’s northern regions. Here is the HD video of the sun belching, caught by NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory Ahead telescope.
The Sun goes through a regular activity cycle that lasts about 11 years, cycling between activity (solar maximum) and quiet (solar minimum). The last solar maximum was in 2001 followed by a long period of very little activity. The eruptions are among the first signs that the Sun is waking up and beginning to move towards another solar maximum, expected to occur in about 2013.
C’mon, can’t we push back the 2012 apocalypse at least a year or two, just so we can see the solar maximum with all these crazy new telescopes?
Source: Gizmodo.
