Magnetic Froth On The Sun

Solar Max has arrived, but only half the sun is fully partcipating. For the past 6 months, most flares and sunspots have been located below the sun's equator. A new image from Eliot Herman of Tuscon, Arizona, adds one more item to the list:

Magnetic froth. It is concentrated in a bright turbulent band stretching across the sun's southern hemisphere.

To take this picture on Dec. 5th, Herman used a Lunt solar telescope with a filter tuned to the blue glow of calcium ions in the sun's atmosphere. Calcium K filters are excellent detectors of magnetic froth--the bright and bubbly sea of magnetism that heralds the emergence of many sunspot groups. Clearly, the sun's southern hemisphere is seething with potential for sunspot genesis.

Meanwhile, the north has barely any froth at all. Catch up, North! Until it does, half of Solar Max is yet to come.

Source: https://www.spaceweather.com/