NASA says it Solar Dynamics Observatory has detected a giant sunspot that has grown to over six times the diameter of Earth in the last two days.

Sunspots form on the sun‘s surface as magnetic fields rearrange and realign.

Beginning Tuesday, instruments on the solar observatory detected a sunspot that grew to giant proportions in just under 48 hours, the space agency said Wednesday.

The spot has quickly grown into what astronomers call a delta region, in which the lighter areas around the sunspot, known as the penumbra, exhibit magnetic fields that point in the opposite direction of those fields in the center, dark area, NASA said.

This is a fairly unstable configuration that scientists have confirmed can lead to eruptions of radiation on the sun called solar flares, it said. (UPI)



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지구 여섯 배의 '태양 흑점' 발견

NASA의 태양활동관측위성(Solar Dynamics Observatory)이 지난 이틀 동안 지구 지름의 여섯 배에 달하는 크기의 거대한 흑점이 생성되는 모습을 발견했다고 수요일 전했다.

이는 태양 자기장의 교란으로 태양 표면에서 생성된 것이다.

태양 홍염이나 방사능 폭발로도 이어질 수 있는 아주 불안정한 상태를 보이고 있다고 전문가들이 전했다. (코리아헤럴드)