Backwards Sunspot

Dear Friends,

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2....htm?list29945

Be Well, Be Love.

David

Backward Sunspot
08.15.2006


en español
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August 15, 2006: On July 31st, a tiny sunspot was born. It popped up from the
sun's interior, floated around a bit, and vanished again in a few hours. On the
sun this sort of thing happens all the time and, ordinarily, it wouldn't be
worth mentioning. But this sunspot was special: It was backward.

"We've been waiting for this," says David Hathaway, a solar physicist at the
Marshall Space Flight in Huntsville, Alabama. "A backward sunspot is a sign that
the next solar cycle is beginning."

Right: The tiny, backward sunspot of July 31, 2006. Credit: SOHO. [Larger
image]
"Backward" means magnetically backward. Hathaway explains:



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