Source: The Extinction Protocol - 1/08/13
January 9, 2013 – SPACE – CHANCE OF FLARES: NOAA forecasters estimate a 35% chance of M-class flares and a 5% chance of X-flares during the next 24 hours. The most likely source would be sunspot AR1652; it has a ‘beta-gamma’ magnetic field that harbors energy for M-class eruptions. The active region is circled in this Jan. 8th image from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory: Of greater interest, perhaps, is the large sunspot emerging just south of AR1652.
Denoted by an arrow, the unnumbered region is crackling with C-class solar flares and, based on its size, could be capable of even stronger eruptions. We will know more in the days ahead as the sunspot turns toward Earth; a more direct view will reveal what kind of magnetic field the sunspot possesses. A very large sunspot is emerging over the sun’s eastern limb. Numbered AR1654, it consists of two dark cores each 4 or more times wider than Earth. –Space Weather
