ChucklesOK, let's get a little serious. The sun, as I believe I previously mentioned, rotates at different velocities at different latitudes, because it is a gas (which flows similar to a liquid). Because there is what is called "differential rotation," electric currents are generated, which in turn induce a magnetic field. The lines of magnetic force get sort of "twisted" since parts of the sun rotate faster than other parts (equatorial regions go faster than the poles) which finally intensify to produce sunspot pairs of opposite polarity.
Sunspots are areas of extremely intense magnetic force. It is from these areas that solar flares (or coronal mass ejections) erupt, which shoot tons of particles out into the solar wind (and eventually impact upon the inner planets.) These flares occur when the aforementioned twisted magnetic field lines suddenly "untwist." More such flares than usual occur during the sunspot maximum in the Sun's 11-year cycle.
We are now at the height of the Sun's solar activity cycle: we are at what we call "Sunspot Maximum." Thus we can expect quite a few CMEs to be shot forth, as indeed they have been!
So again, this is why the Sun seems to be "burping" so much lately! 
Note: the full cycle of sunspots and solar activity is actually a full 44 years, but I will not go into that much detail here.
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[monger=000FFF,FF0000]"I Ride the Stormcloud and the Night!"[/monger]
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posted 09-26-2000 06:23 PM
