A Closer Look At Sunspot 1476

   Sunspot 1476 has now rotated into view so that were able to get a better look at how complex this new sunspot region is, so we thought now would be a good time to take a closer look. 1476 is a Beta-Gama-Delta sunspot structure that is capable of producing major flares and has a FKC classification.

F: An elongated bipolar sunspot group with penumbra on both ends. Longitudinal extent of penumbra exceeds 15 deg.

K: large, assymetric. Same structure as type 'a', but north-south diameter of penumbra is more than 2.5 degrees. Area, therefore, must be larger or equal than 250 millionths solar hemisphere.

C: compact. The area between the leading and the following ends of the spot group is populated with many strong spots, with at least one interior spot possessing mature peanumbra. The extreme case of

compact distribution has the entire spot group enveloped in one continuous prenumbral area.
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The crew here at My Solar Alerts will be keeping a close eye on sunspot 1476 and will be reporting on any major events this new complex sunspot produces. Stay tuned :)


On a side note, SOHO LASCO C2 and C3 are not updating and we have the answer as to why.

From ESA/SOHO: SOHO went into Emergency Sun Reacquisition (ESR) mode last night (ESR-27). The cause was the same as for ESA-26 in August 2010: false trigger of the Coarse Sun Pointing Attitude Anomaly Detector (CSPAAD). SOHO is now back in Coarse Roll Pointing mode (CRP) and will stay there over the weekend. Early next week we will roll the spacecraft back to normal roll attitude.