EARTH IS EXITING THE SOLAR WIND STREAM: After three days blowing faster than 700 km/s, the solar wind is slowing down. Intermittent G1-class geomagnetic storms registered on Nov. 25-27 will now subside, setting the stage for a quiet weekend. No auroras are in the forecast. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.
A BONFIRE OF HYDROGEN: There is no combustion on the sun. Even so, on Nov. 25th, amateur astronomer Dave Wilson of Inverness, Scotland, saw a tremendous bonfire:
"I only had time to record 22 minutes of this prominence, but it still looked pretty awesome to me," says Wilson.
Although this looks like fire, it is not. The towering 'flame' is actually made of hydrogen and magnetism, heated by fusion deep inside the body of the sun. No match is large enough to start it, and there's not enough water on Earth to put it out. Indeed, the apex is 5 times taller than our entire planet.
Correction: It *was* 5 times taller. It's gone now. The twisting motion Wilson captured in his movie caused magnetic fields within the 'bonfire' to wind up, reconnect, and explode:
Coronagraphs onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) recorded the jet-like eruption on Nov. 27th. This dense plume would cause a strong geomagnetic storm if it hit Earth. However, it sailed harmlessly above the ecliptic plane (the plane of the planets). No storms will result.
more images: from Chris Schur of Payson, Arizona; from Valerie Liard of Epernay, France; from James Roger Samworth of Nailstone, Leicestershire UK;
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