Recent Video from SDO will make earthbound tornado chasers envious.
SDO recently captured some astounding videos of tornados on the surface of the sun.  These are caused by the plasma and it’s interaction with the magnetic fields on the surface of the sun. You can see an obvious spin and a tornado like shape and even what looks like a funnels.
 
The video taken over a 30 hour period on February 7-8. 2012 shows a least 3 tornados.Until SDO was launched videos like this were not possible. The frames are taken 4 minutes apart. The science is great….but the video is just …

The recent intense and frequent solar storms have passed and were now experiencing a welcome low level of solar activity (unless your into looking at Auroras that is). The Solar X rays have basically flat line as the storms that were causing some of the most intense CMEs since 2005 have passed to the back side of the sun and are not facing us any longer. If the sun spots are still active in about 28 days when the sun rotates them around to be in our field of view again we can expect some more excitement.

In reality it will …

Update – Departing sunspot 1402… unleashed an X2 class solar flare today. It is going to the back side of the sun and should not cause any more problems.
To see current Aurora information click Here
Potential Impacts: Area of impact consists of large portions of the sunlit side of Earth, strongest at the sub-solar point. Wide area blackout of HF radio communication, loss of radio contact for about an hour.
See latest live sun images here
See Current space weather here

Video of Flare 1/27/2012

STRONG X-RAY EVENT WARNING ISSUED
Issue Time: 2012 Jan 27 1946 UTC
SUMMARY: X-ray Event exceeded X1
Begin Time: 2012 Jan 27 1737 …

UPDATE 1/25/12 – The Alert has passed and the storm has subsided.
The second storm in a as many weeks has been seen a warning issued. This radiation storm could cause satellites to reboot. Model output suggests potential Earth impact midday on 24 January.
Active region on the sun has spawned an M8.7 eruption – nearly an X-flare, the most powerful type, toward Earth, due to arrive Analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab say the leading edge of the CME will reach Earth on Jan. 24 at 14:18UT  (+/- 7 hours) that is 9:18am Eastern time.
See Live images of the sun …

Source – NASA – A long, solar prominence that rotated into view almost two weeks ago finally became disorganized and broke away into space forming a nifty large loop as it did (Nov. 21-23, 2011). NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) watched in extreme ultraviolet light as the magnetic forces that tethered it in place gradually became unstable, the prominence began to crumble, and eventually lifted off. The Sun is becoming more active as it approaches the solar maximum expected in 2013.

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This is a great DIY Solar water heater project. Solar water heat may not be a sexy as solar electricity but it produces a lot more energy savings for the dollar and is something everyone can do.  See how to build it here.
1. The collector is easy to build using ordinary tools and skills — its a fairly easy DIY project.
2. The collector is about 1/5 th the cost of commercial collectors ($140 vs $700 to $900 for a 4X8 collector)
3. Materials to build the collector are locally available — the cost and hassle of shipping large assembled collectors is …

WASHINGTON — NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, has provided scientists new information about solar flares indicating an increase in strength and longevity that is more than previously thought.
Solar flares are intense bursts of radiation from the release of magnetic energy associated with sunspots. They are the solar system’s largest explosive events and are seen as bright areas on the sun. Their energy can reach Earth’s atmosphere and affect operations of Earth-orbiting communication and navigation satellites.
Using SDO’s Extreme ultraviolet Variability Experiment (EVE) instrument, scientists have observed that radiation from solar flares continue for up to five hours beyond the main …