Sunspot Surprise

Space Weather News for January 13, 2005
http://spaceweather.com

BIG SUNSPOT: In less than 48 hours, sunspot 720 has blossomed from an
almost invisible speck into a dark behemoth 5 times wider than Earth.
Solar activity could increase if this rapid growth continues. Already the
'spot is big enough to see, but never stare at the sun. Check
spaceweather.com for safe solar observing tips.

SATURN: Today, Saturn is only 750 million miles from Earth--the closest
we get to the ringed planet all year long. You can step outside tonight
and see Saturn, easily, bright and golden in the eastern sky after sunset.

TITAN HALOS: Here on Earth, we sometimes see rings of light around the
sun. These are called "sun halos" and they're caused by ice crystals in
the air. When the Huygens probe descends through Titan's atmosphere on
Jan. 14th--a big event!--the probe's cameras might see sun halos there,
too. Check spaceweather.com for details.

SOLAR WIND: Earth is inside a high-speed solar wind stream that is
causing some mild geomagnetic storms. Sky watchers in e.g. Alaska, Canada
and Scandinavia should be alert for auroras tonight.