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A STRANGELY-QUIET GIANT SUNSPOT: Around the world, amateur astronomers are monitoring a giant sunspot emerging over the sun's southeastern limb. This morning, Pepe Manteca photographed newly-numbered AR4478 from Begues, Spain:
The sunspot group is ~10 times wider than Earth and, thus, easy to observe. You can see it using ordinary eclipse glasses, or, better yet, try casting an image of the sunspot onto a screen or wall. You can use binoculars and a mirror or a telescope and cardboard.
Although this sunspot rotated onto the Earthside of the sun only yesterday, we've been aware of it for a week. Seven days ago, Europe's Solar Orbiter watched the sunspot burst through the surface of the sun's farside and alerted us that it was coming.
Interestingly, Solar Orbiter's X-ray detector detected no strong flares from the growing sunspot complex, and it has remained quiet since then--unusual for such a large sunspot. NOAA estimates a 10% chance that AR4788 will break the spell with an X-flare on June 25th. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text.
more images: from Stefan Korth of Meerbusch, Germany; from David Wilson of Inverness, Scotland; from Maximilian-Vlad Teodorescu of Magurele, Romania; from Sylvain Weiller of Jerusalem, Israel; from Philippe Tosi of Nîmes, France.
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18K GOLD SUNFLOWER PENDANT: Are you looking for a far-out gift? Consider the 18K Gold Sunflower Pendant. On June 3rd, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched it to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon:
You can have it for $169.95. This 18k gold-plated pendant is inscribed with the words: "You are my sunshine." The sunflower's "eye" is a genuine citrine crystal, which sparkles in sunlight even at sea level.
The students are selling space pendants to pay the helium bill for their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each one comes with a greeting card showing the jewelry in flight and telling the story of its trip to the stratosphere and back again.
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All sales support hands-on STEM education
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