The Sun continued with its recent bizarre behaviour with three huge solar flares erupting in less than 24 hours on Monday, bringing to nine the number of major eruptions in the last two weeks. Scientists are at a loss for a reason for the current activity. Paal Brekke, deputy project manager of the SOHO spacecraft, was staggered by the latest developments, which come on the back of what some called a 'winding down' eruption at the end of the previous week. "I think the last week will go into the history books as one of the most dramatic periods of solar activity we have seen in modern time," Brekke told SPACE.com. Despite the potential for damage to sensitive electrical equipment and power grids, the series of storms has so far only been responsible for the failure of two Japanese satellites and a power outage in Sweden. However, in a report in New Scientist, researchers have found that the Sun is more active now than it has been for the past millennium. They relied on a reconstruction of sunspots stretching back 1150 years.
View: Full Article | Source: Phenomena Magazine
