APOD: Flare Well AR2673 (2017 Sep 14)

[APOD Robot]

Flare Well AR2673

Explanation: Almost out of view from our fair planet, rotating around the Sun's western edge giant active region AR2673 lashed out with another intense solar flare followed by a large coronal mass ejection on September 10. The flare itself is seen here at the right in an extreme ultraviolet image from the sun-staring Solar Dynamics Observatory. This intense flare was the fourth X-class flare from AR2673 this month. The active region's most recent associated coronal mass ejection collided with Earth's magnetosphere 2 days later. Say farewell to the mighty AR2673, for now. For the next two weeks, the powerful sunspot group will be on the Sun's far side.

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[Boomer12k]

Gee....nothing like a FLAMING HURRICANE to get you moving....

WOW...

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[De58te]

Why should we say farewell to mighty AR2673 since it will be on the far side of the Sun? Since Mars is also on the far side of the Sun, couldn't they get one of the Mars Orbiters to keep watch over the flare? Although I assume the image will be a lot smaller from Mars.

[neufer]

Why should we say farewell to mighty AR2673 since it will be on the far side of the Sun? Since Mars is also on the far side of the Sun, couldn't they get one of the Mars Orbiters to keep watch over the flare? Although I assume the image will be a lot smaller from Mars.

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<<STEREO (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory) is a solar observation mission. Two nearly identical spacecraft were launched in 2006 into orbits around the Sun that cause them to respectively pull farther ahead of and fall gradually behind the Earth. This enables stereoscopic imaging of the Sun and solar phenomena, such as coronal mass ejections. On October 1, 2014, contact was lost with STEREO-B during a planned reset to test the craft's automation, in anticipation of the aforementioned solar "conjunction" period.

This movie shows a spherical map of the Sun as it currently appears, formed from a combination of the latest STEREO Ahead and Behind beacon images, along with an SDO/AIA image in between. The movie starts with the view of the Sun as seen from Earth, with the 0 degree meridian line in the middle. The map then rotates through 360 degrees to show the part of the Sun not visible from Earth.>>

[Catalina]

So is all of this recent sunspot activity with flares, etc., typical of periods of solar minimum?

[ta152h0]

Cat's Paw on the Sun ?