A Large Tsunami Shock Wave on the Sun

Explanation: Tsunamis this large don't happen on Earth. During 2006, a large solar flare from an Earth-sized sunspot produced a tsunami-type shock wave that was spectacular even for the Sun. Pictured here, the tsunami wave was captured moving out from active region AR 10930 by the Optical Solar Patrol Network (OSPAN) telescope in New Mexico, USA. The resulting shock wave, known technically as a Moreton wave, compressed and heated up gasses including hydrogen in the photosphere of the Sun, causing a momentarily brighter glow. The featured image was taken in a very specific red color emitted exclusively by hydrogen gas. The rampaging tsunami took out some active filaments on the Sun, although many re-established themselves later. The solar tsunami spread at nearly one million kilometers per hour, and circled the entire Sun in a matter of minutes.

Page 2

This picture shows where stars will be in the future. 2.5 million light-years away, is the big, beautiful, spiral galaxy, M31. This intriguing image of Andromeda has been created by combining both space-based and ground-based observatories. The visible light shows where M31's stars are now, as highlighted in white and blue hues and imaged by the Hubble, Mayall telescopes. The orange hue of the light shows where M31's future stars will form. The dust is warmed by the stars and tracked by the light. The raw material for future star formation comes from this dust. The new stars will likely form over the next hundred million years, well before the merging of the two stars in 5 billion years.