Active Sunspot Approaching the North-East Limb

 

  
   There is an active sunspot region approaching the north-east limb that we have been keeping an eye on.

 This  is the return of old Sunspot 1665 that will be rotating into a Earth facing position sometime during this coming weekend.

This sunspot is an active region that has been producing solar flares on the far side of the solar disk over the last couple of days..

We should know by the end of this weekend if this new region will remain active once it rotates into a Earth facing Position or fizzle out.

 

 

Sunspot regions 1677 and 1679 decayed and disappeared yesterday. Both were small and magnetically simple. Region 1678 showed slight growth during the last 24 hours and is a DKC Beta-Gamma-Delta type group at 470 millionths in size. This region is now approaching the north-west limb. All other regions are small and quiet and showed little change by yesterday.

 Three C class solar flares took place yesterday. The largest was a C2 peaking at 05:05 UTC.

Region 1678 was responsible for all three of the Solar flares. Further occasional C class flares are expected today.

There is still a chance for a M class flare but this will disappear if region 1678  rotated off the solar disc.

Curiosity Self-Portrait Panorama 

  Explanation: This remarkable self-portrait of NASA's Mars Curiosity Rover includes a sweeping panoramic view of its current location in the Yellowknife Bay region of the Red Planet's Gale Crater. The rover's flat, rocky perch, known as "John Klein", served as the site for Curiosity's first rock drilling activity. At the foot of the proud looking rover, a shallow drill test hole and a sample collection hole are 1.6 centimeters in diameter. The impressive mosaic was constructed using frames from the rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) and Mastcam. Used to take in the panoramic landscape frames, the Mastcam is standing high above the rover's deck. But MAHLI, intended for close-up work, is mounted at the end of the rover's robotic arm. The MAHLI frames used to create Curiosity's self-portrait exclude sections that show the arm itself and so MAHLI and the robotic arm are not seen.
Image Credit: NASA,JPL-Caltech,MSSS - Panorama by Andrew Bodrov

 Check out this spectacular interactive version of Curiosity's self-portrait panorama.