1 00:00:00,010 --> 00:00:04,020 Voice off Screen: Scientists around the world have their eyes turned 2 00:00:04,040 --> 00:00:08,050 to the sun this week as it reveals a massive active region that could affect 3 00:00:08,070 --> 00:00:12,080 us here on Earth. And here joining us from NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center 4 00:00:12,100 --> 00:00:16,100 in Greenbelt, Maryland is Dr. Alex Young. Thank you for joining us. 5 00:00:16,120 --> 00:00:20,120 Dr.Young: Thank you. Voice off Screen: So what is a sunspot and why 6 00:00:20,140 --> 00:00:24,140 is this one so special? Dr.Young: Well sunspots are these regions 7 00:00:24,160 --> 00:00:28,150 of really, really intense magnetic field, they're massive areas they're 8 00:00:28,170 --> 00:00:32,160 slightly cooler than the surrounding sun so they appear dark. 9 00:00:32,180 --> 00:00:36,210 This one is of great interest for us because it's the largest one we've 10 00:00:36,230 --> 00:00:40,250 seen in almost 24 years. It's more than ten times 11 00:00:40,270 --> 00:00:44,290 the size of the Earth. 12 00:00:44,310 --> 00:00:48,320 Voice off Screen: Why do we want to learn more from this sunspot ? Dr.Young: Well, 13 00:00:48,340 --> 00:00:52,340 this one is really intersting because generally sunspots of this size 14 00:00:52,360 --> 00:00:56,360 produce a lot of activity that can have direct impact 15 00:00:56,380 --> 00:01:00,380 on us here on Earth. This particular one 16 00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:04,390 though its produced some activity, has not produced the kind of activity we 17 00:01:04,410 --> 00:01:08,410 expected. So this has been a very intresting puzzle for 18 00:01:08,430 --> 00:01:12,450 scientists to study, so that we can better understand sunspots in general. 19 00:01:12,470 --> 00:01:16,480 Voice off Screen: Will it affect us here in Earth? 20 00:01:16,500 --> 00:01:20,510 Dr.Young: The sunspots can throw out huge blasts of 21 00:01:20,530 --> 00:01:24,540 light, we call solar flares, sometimes big blobs of material. 22 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:28,570 It doesn't impact us directly but all of this is 23 00:01:28,590 --> 00:01:32,580 electromagnetic in nature and therefore it impacts our technology. 24 00:01:32,600 --> 00:01:36,600 Sometimes it can disrupt communications, it can cause 25 00:01:36,620 --> 00:01:40,620 problems with GPS and even impact our power grids 26 00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:44,630 if the storms are strong enough. Voice off Screen: What is NASA doing 27 00:01:44,650 --> 00:01:48,670 to understand sunspots better? Dr.Young: Well in particular we have 28 00:01:48,690 --> 00:01:52,700 several spacecrafts such as the Solar Dynamics Observatory 29 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:56,740 which is looking at the sun twenty four hours a day providing 30 00:01:56,760 --> 00:02:00,780 great amounts of data for us to study it. We also have this huge 31 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:04,810 fleet of spacecraft that is studying not just the sun, 32 00:02:04,830 --> 00:02:08,830 but also the suns interaction with the Earth, the other planets 33 00:02:08,850 --> 00:02:12,850 and throughout the solar system. Now, next year we're launching 34 00:02:12,870 --> 00:02:16,850 a new mission called MMS, which is four spacecraft, 35 00:02:16,870 --> 00:02:20,900 that is going to circle the Earth and study; 36 00:02:20,920 --> 00:02:24,940 using the Earth's magnetic field study this particular 37 00:02:24,960 --> 00:02:28,980 phenomenon that happens both at the Earth, 38 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:33,000 on the Sun and sunspots and also through the entire solar system. 39 00:02:33,020 --> 00:02:37,030 Voice off Screen: Where can we learn more? Dr.Young: If you go to 40 00:02:37,050 --> 00:02:41,060 nasa.gov/sunearth you can learn more about this 41 00:02:41,080 --> 00:02:45,080 other missions and you can also find a lot of great imagery videos 42 00:02:45,100 --> 00:02:49,090 and all sorts of articles about the kind of research we do 43 00:02:49,110 --> 00:02:53,100 here at NASA. Voice off Screen: Dr. Alex Young thank you so much. 44 00:02:53,120 --> 00:02:56,390 Dr.Young: Thank you.