The sun - as you've never seen it before

 

By NIALL FIRTH - More by this author » Last updated at 11:15am on 25th July 2007 Comments (2)

A stunning new image of the sun has been released by NASA which shows it as an almost perfect sphere, glowing a fiery red and orange in the pitch-black of space.

It is almost spotless, a sign that the Sun may have reached solar minimum. Scientists are now watching for the first spot of the new solar cycle to appear.

The 11 year long solar cycle is marked by two extremes, solar minimum and solar maximum. Solar minimum is the period of least solar activity in the solar cycle of the sun.

During this time the sun becomes much calmer, with sunspot and solar flare activity dying down.

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The sun, as photographed by NASA's SOHO spacecraft

 

When spots begin to appear on the sun once again, scientists know that the sun is heading into a new season of extreme solar activity.

This amazing photo was taken by NASA's spacecraft SOHO, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, which is a collaborative project between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) to study the Sun.

Last year SOHO gave scientists their very first view of the far side of the sun, which is always facing away from Earth.

At the solar cycle's peak, solar maximum, the sun puts on quite a show.

Its surface is continually peppered with spots, solar flares erupt, and it hurls gigantic clouds of electrified gas into space.

Solar maximum is much like hurricane season here on Earth. Violent solar events, like flares and coronal mass ejections, are the hurricanes of space weather.

These solar storms can wreak havoc with satellites, power grids, and radio communications systems, including GPS, which car sat-nav systems rely on.

It is forecast that the next solar cycle should begin in March 2008 and should peak in late 2011 or mid 2012.

I think they mixed the sun with our moon when saying, it's far side always faces away from earth :rolleyes:

 

looking forward to the next period of higher activity - we could be able to see some northern lights again here :) love them!