DOUBLE ERUPTION:
Jan. 28th began with not one but two major eruptions on the sun. Separated by more than a million kilometers, the two blasts occurred almost simultaneously on opposite corners of the solar disk.
Click on the image to view a movie recorded by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory:
On the lower left, a magnetic filament became unstable and erupted, hurling a portion of itself into space. On the upper right, departing sunspot 1149 produced an M1-class solar flare and a bright coronal mass ejection (SOHO movie). Is this all a big coincidence? Maybe not. New research shows that eruptions on the sun can "go global" with widely separated blasts unfolding in concert.
These blasts are going to miss in concert, too. Plasma clouds ejected by the two eruptions will sail wide of our planet, one on the left and one on the right. No Earth-effects are expected; maybe next time.
More Images: from Peter Desypris of Athens,Greece; from T. Taker et al of South Portland, Maine; from Robert Arnold of Isle of Skye, Scotland; from James Kevin Ty of Manila , Philippines
Provided by Space Weather News
