Afterbirth...

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft captured this view of a sunspot rotating into view between July 5 and 11, 2017. (Source: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/SDO/Joy Ng, producer)

Topics: Astronomy, Astrophysics, Heliophysics, Magnetism

I figure after yesterday's "Debbie downer," something a little more uplifting and quite literally "sunny" was in order.

I guess I just can’t get enough of time-lapse animations.

Today it’s the one above, showing a sunspot group seeming to zip by as the Sun rotates on its axis. It’s actually from earlier in July, and since then, the active region on the Sun that this sunspot group is associated with has produced an explosive flare and massive of ejection of solar material out into space.

The active region — an area of intense magnetic field — rotated into view and grew quickly in this video captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory between July 5-11, 2017. The associated sunspot group was the first to appear after the Sun had gone completely spotless for two days.

The rotation of the Sun on its axis — which is obvious from the two animations above — can cause lines of magnetic force beneath the surface to become twisted over time. And that’s intimately connected to the sunspots as well as the spectacular activity that can occur in those regions.

Here’s a terrific explanation from Windows to the Universe, produced by the National Earth Science Teachers Association:

The best way to think about the very complicated process of sunspot formation is to think of magnetic “ropes” breaking through the visible surface (photosphere) of the Sun. Where the rope comes up from the solar surface is one sunspot and where the rope plunges into the photosphere is another sunspot.

Meanwhile, the Sun keeps rotating, and those ropes continue to get increasingly twisted, until… SNAAAAP!:

When the tangled fields reach a “breaking point”, like a rubber band that snaps when wound too tight, huge bursts of energy are released as the field lines reconnect. This can lead to solar flares and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs).

Incredible video shows northern lights shining above Michigan’s Mackinac Bridge during the early morning hours. https://t.co/sroBjEAofA pic.twitter.com/9efeFd5K34

— ABC News (@ABC) July 18, 2017

The material in the coronal mass ejection was aimed toward Earth — where it triggered beautiful displays of the auroral borealis farther south than usual, including in northern Michigan, as seen in the beautiful animation above.

The material in the coronal mass ejection was aimed toward Earth — where it triggered beautiful displays of the auroral borealis farther south than usual, including in northern Michigan, as seen in the beautiful animation above.

Watch as a lonely sunspot grows larger than our planet, turns toward Earth, and gets ready to blast hot stuff at us
Tom Yulsman, Discover Magazine