ACTIVE SUNSPOT: New sunspot 1272 on the sun's southeastern limb is crackling with C-class solar flares. Click here to view a specimen recorded by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory around 0200 UT on Aug. 17th. So far none of the blasts has been Earth-directed, although this could change in the days ahead as the active region turns to face our planet. Stay tuned.
VENUS AND THE SOLAR STORM: (Note: No planets were harmed in the production of this movie.) Yesterday, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory witnessed a spectacular explosion on the sun that seemed to pass perilously close to Venus. Did the cloudy planet survive? Play the movie for answers:
http://spaceweather.com/images2011/17aug11/venuscme.gif?PHPSESSID=ie15sb1q4p1dqqkff7uerv8iu5
Credit: Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, C2 coronagraph
As the movie shows, the CME passed harmlessly. There was no collision, and it wasn't even close. Although Venus seems to be near the sun, the planet is actually more than 100 million kilometers away. The two bodies are "in conjunction" this week as Venus moves almost directly behind the sun. Because of this arrangement, more CME-Venus conjunctions are possible in the days ahead. Check SOHO for the latest images.
