PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

NASA's SDO sees giant January sunspots

2014-01-08
(Press-News.org) Contact information: Susan Hendrix
Susan.m.hendrix@nasa.gov
301-286-7745
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
NASA's SDO sees giant January sunspots

An enormous sunspot, labeled AR1944, slipped into view over the sun's left horizon late on Jan. 1, 2014. The sunspot steadily moved toward the right, along with the rotation of the sun, and now sits almost dead center, as seen in the image above from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory.

Sunspots are dark areas on the sun's surface that contain complex arrangements of strong magnetic fields that are constantly shifting. The largest dark spot in this configuration is approximately two Earths wide, and the entire sunspot group is some seven Earths across. For comparison, another giant sunspot, five to six Earths across, is shown below from 2005. The image was captured by the European Space Agency and NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory.

Sunspots are part of what's known as active regions, which also include regions of the sun's atmosphere, the corona, hovering above the sunspots. Active regions can be the source of some of the sun's great explosions: solar flares that send out giant bursts of light and radiation due to the release of magnetic energy, or coronal mass ejections that send huge clouds of solar material out into space. As the sunspot group continues its journey across the face of the sun, scientists will watch how it changes and evolves to learn more about how these convoluted magnetic fields can cause space weather events that can affect space-borne systems and technological infrastructure on Earth.



INFORMATION:

For more information on sunspots and space weather, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/spaceweather/index.html



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

AAS meeting highlights several new Hubble science findings

2014-01-08
AAS meeting highlights several new Hubble science findings NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is providing a new perspective on the remote universe, including new views of young and distant galaxies bursting with stars. Scientists described the findings ...

Nano-capsules show potential for more potent chemoprevention

2014-01-08
Nano-capsules show potential for more potent chemoprevention Researchers at the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University have discovered a more effective drug delivery system using nanotechnology that could one day significantly affect cancer prevention. The ...

Nutrition guidelines needed for full-service restaurant chains

2014-01-08
Nutrition guidelines needed for full-service restaurant chains According to a new study in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior Philadelphia, PA, January 8, 2014 – Food prepared away from home is typically higher in calories and lower in nutrition than ...

Reactivation of the AKT survival pathway by ERK1/2

2014-01-07
Reactivation of the AKT survival pathway by ERK1/2 Why inhibition of both pathways is important In the study by Toulany et al., it was demonstrated for the first time that long term treatment with inhibitors of PI3K (as it is performed clinically) results in a reactivation ...

Inverse design: New route to design a practical invisibility cloak

2014-01-07
Inverse design: New route to design a practical invisibility cloak With the emergence of metamaterials and transformation optics in the past few years, invisibility has become a scientific possibility that has attracted sustainable research interest. Recently, a review ...

Jumping snails left grounded in future oceans

2014-01-07
Jumping snails left grounded in future oceans Sea snails that leap to escape their predators may soon lose their extraordinary jumping ability because of rising human carbon dioxide emissions, a team of international scientists ...

Nanoplasmonics: Towards efficient light harvesting

2014-01-07
Nanoplasmonics: Towards efficient light harvesting The control of light is vital to many applications, including imaging, communications, sensing, cancer treatment, and even welding processes for automobile parts. Transformation optics is an emerging field that has revolutionized ...

Cancer Statistics 2014: Death rates continue to drop

2014-01-07
Cancer Statistics 2014: Death rates continue to drop Progress most rapid for middle-aged African American men ATLANTA – Jan. 7, 2014–The annual cancer statistics report from the American Cancer Society finds steady declines in cancer death rates for the past two decades ...

Researchers discover molecule behind the benefits of exercise

2014-01-07
Researchers discover molecule behind the benefits of exercise While it's clear that exercise can improve health and longevity, the changes that occur in the body to facilitate these benefits are less clear. Now researchers publishing in the January issue of Cell Press journal ...

How fat might be controlled through the body clock

2014-01-07
How fat might be controlled through the body clock Australian researchers have shed more light on an underexplored aspect of the important brain-signaling system that controls appetite, body composition and energy use. Their findings suggest ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

"Scrumping" windfallen fruits and the origin of feasting

How ‘scrumping’ apes may have given us a taste for alcohol

Scrumped fruit key to chimpanzee life and a major force of human evolution

Scientists discover new quantum state at the intersection of exotic materials

Healthy food systems: Microbial map reveals countless hidden connections between our food, health, and planet

Microbiome breakthrough: Gut bacterium may hold key to future treatments for widespread chronic diseases

Turning biodiversity upside down: Conservation maps miss fungal hotspots by focusing on plants

AI at the core: philanthropy fuels EMBL’s strategy

Synthetic torpor has potential to redefine medicine

Are you eligible for a clinical trial? ChatGPT can find out

New treatment could reduce brain damage from stroke, study in mice shows

4,000-year-old teeth record the earliest traces of people chewing psychoactive betel nuts

Efficient solar harvesting even in high humidity

Heavy drinking raises the risk of undesired pregnancy; cannabis use does not

New study shows young adults who use high strength cannabis do not ‘titrate’ to less risky levels of use

Black hole vibes

Actual distance travelled by migrating whales drastically underestimated

The eagles resistant to poisonous toads

Cyberstalking growing at faster rate than other forms of stalking

CPADS: a web tool for comprehensive pancancer analysis of drug sensitivity

Several healthy diet patterns are associated with reduced risk of type 2 diabetes regardless of ethnicity – shows meta-analysis of more than 800,000 people

Liver fibrosis to cancer: scientists map path to block deadly transition

Microbiota boost immunotherapy? A meta-analysis dives into fecal microbiota transplantation and immune checkpoint inhibitors

Cancer's double agents: Fibroblasts both help and hinder immunotherapy

Unveiling large multimodal models in pulmonary CT: A comparative assessment of generative AI performance in lung cancer diagnostics

AI can fake peer reviews and escape detection, study finds

T cell senescence in the tumor microenvironment

Simple solution to save lives globally: Low-cost ‘SimpleSilo’ offers hope for babies with gastroschisis

Curbing roadway fatalities hinges on shared responsibility and rethinking safety

Beta-HPV can directly cause skin cancer in immunocompromised people

[Press-News.org] NASA's SDO sees giant January sunspots