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WELCOME TO NASA's HINODE WEBSITE!
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Hinode (Sunrise), a project to study the Sun, is exploring
the magnetic fields of the Sun, and is improving our understanding of the mechanisms that power the solar atmosphere and drive solar eruptions.
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Old Cycle Spot Appears at Equator
May 27, 2008
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NOAA active region 10997 (AR 10997) is an old cycle spot appearing very close to the equator, but in the southern hemisphere. The image on the left shows a magnetogram of that region; positive polarity is displayed as white and negative as black. The image on the right shows the location of the active region and the pointing of Hinode on the disk of the Sun (click on the image for a larger view, 510 kb).
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27 May 2008 SOHO/MDI Intensity Image and Magnetogram:
The images above are from the SOlar and Heliospheric Observatory's (SOHO) Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI). The magnetograph image on the right shows the location and magnetic configuration of AR 10997, an old cycle spot.
Positive polarity magnetic field is represented with white and negative polarity with black. Negative (black) polarity on the western side of a spot in the southern hemisphere is and indicator of the old cycle. Old cycle spots are also close to the equator.
New cycle spots in the southern hemisphere will appear with positive polarity on the western (right) side of the sunspot. For new cycle spots in the northern hemisphere, the reverse is true (negative polarity to the west). Compare AR10997 with the southern hemisphere new cycle spot of 6 May, 2008.
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More Hinode XRT images may be found at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO).
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The solar surface (photosphere) has had four numbered spots May 6 - May 27, 2008 (see the Solar Monitor). There were no flares May 21 - May 29 (as seen by GOES ). For an explanation of flare classes, go to Space Weather's Classification of X-ray Solar Flares.
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