Blasting CME -- This LASCO C2 image, taken 8 January 2002, shows a widely spreading coronal mass ejection (CME) shooting billi Joseph B. Gurman Normal Joseph B. Gurman 2 1 2003-04-07T18:42:00Z 2003-04-07T18:42:00Z 1 NASA GSGC 1 1 9.2511 800x600 0 0 Sunspot series -- This was the largest sunspot group of this solar cycle as it moved with the SunÄö_Ñ_¥s rotation. On 30 March 2001, the sunspot area within the group (called active region 9393) extended across an area more than 13 times the diameter of the Earth¬¨Ä It yielded numerous flares and coronal mass ejections, including the largest X-ray flare recorded in 25 years on 2 April 2001, the last image in the series. Caused by intense magnetic fields emerging from the interior, a sunspot appears to be dark only when contrasted against the rest of the solar surface, because it is slightly cooler than the unmarked regions.
