center sun

Sunspot 822 is now center sun, facing earth. Pretty exciting, though it hasn't given any CME (Coronal Mass Ejection). There is a strange magnetic connection between earth and the sun, and when the field lines connect just right, the protons from an ejection can travel VERY fast and in massive quantities straight towards us, they've been known to reach earth in less than an hour after a CME. Our amazing magnetosphere does protect us for the most part, but the auroras from such events are stunning, as well these events can be damaging to our satellites and hamper radio communications. They've found evidence of CME's doing significant damage to our ozone layer in the area of our poles.