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A new sunspot - Cycle 24

We have a potential for the second sunspot of Solar Cycle 24. From today's Space Weather:

NEW CYCLE SPOT?
A new sunspot is trying to emerge in the sun's northern hemisphere. It's not a big one, but it may be significant as only the second sunspot of new Solar Cycle 24. Follow the arrow in this ultraviolet image taken earlier today by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory:



The first sunspot of Solar Cycle 24 was observed on Jan. 4, 2008. More than three months have gone by without a second, but this could be it. The emerging active region is located at high solar latitude and has the correct magnetic polarity for a new cycle spot.

All that remains is for it to coalesce into a genuine sunspot. At the moment the active region lacks a sunspot's dark core. Readers, if you have a solar telescope, monitoring is encouraged.

Very quiet and cool... And the enviros think that CO2 is the big driver on global warming. Posted by DaveH at April 12, 2008 6:16 PM