Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Astronomy

Sunspot AR 1654

ar1654.jpg

I stepped out into the courtyard today and took this image of the sun. There are several sunspots that my modest solar camera can resolve today, including AR 1654 which could erupt according to SpaceWeather.com:

CHANCE OF FLARES: So far today, solar activity is low. However, that could be the calm before the storm. The magnetic field of big sunspot AR1654 has grown more complex. It is now classified as a ‘beta-gamma-delta’ magnetic field, which means it harbors energy for X-class eruptions.

If you follow the X-class eruptions link it takes you to a NASA site wherein flare classes are defined. There is a neat little three minute video there, that expands on the classification of solar flares. Click on the image to enlarge.

16 Jan 2013 by Astronomy Science

Solar Flare

I watched this short video of a solar flare captured by SDO on New Year’s Eve. The video was on today’s APOD. They compared the prominence to a ballet:

Of particular interest is the tangled magnetic field that directs a type of solar ballet for the hot plasma as it falls back to the Sun.

The sun is approaching solar maximum sometime soon. In some circles, scientists believe we may already have passed the maximum which will prove to be a disappointment to greenbats. It will also disappoint some Ham radio operators who delight in ionospheric radio propagation which is enhanced by solar activity.

15 Jan 2013 by Aerospace Astronomy Environment Science

The Ringed Planet

Actually, it is one of several ringed planets but the only one whose rings are visible in a telescope on Earth. Today’s APOD posted this wonderful false-color image of Saturn as seen by the Cassini spacecraft in orbit there. Note the backside of the planet (with the sun almost directly on the other side of Saturn) where the solar light reflected from the rings illuminate the dark side.

Imagine being on the dark side of the planet and observing the rings from that position. Click on the image to enlarge.

The Ringed Planet

Image courtesy NASA and Cassini.

22 Dec 2012 by Astronomy Science

Playing With Solar Photography

Sun Spot 1543

Whenever I notice a large sunspot on the Space Weather dot com main page, I go over to the SOHO sunspot page and read about it. On SOHO, I saw that sunspot 1543 is prominent in the northern hemisphere of the solar globe today.

I grabbed the Canon SX-40 and my economy solar filter and went out in the courtyard and took the image above. I am using the same camera setup that I used for the May 20th annular eclipse and the June 5th transit of Venus.

The “little” sunspot is about three times the diameter of the Earth. Click on the image to enlarge.

14 Aug 2012 by Astronomy Environment Photography

HESS Telescope

H.E.S.S.

I was tooling across the web on Friday at my usual web stops when I ran across this behemoth telescope on APOD. It’s the High Energy Stereo System (HESS) used not for looking into space, but to analyze the light emitted by cosmic rays striking the Earth’s atmosphere.

When I first saw the picture of this 32×24 meter cherenkov telescope I immediately thought of the giant contraption in the film “Contact” where Jody Foster takes a trip to the Vega star system. Click on the image to enlarge.

29 Jul 2012 by Astronomy Environment Science

Solar Activity

sunspots.jpg

New sunspot 1520 has rotated into view and is producing C class solar flares according to SpaceWeather.com. They also expect M class and possibly X class flares as the sunspot rotates toward the mid-solar southern latitudes.

I took this image this morning from Wickenburg, Arizona using my Canon SX40 and a Rainbow Symphony solar filter. I annotated the sunspot numbers with my Irfanview graphic editor. Click on the image to enlarge.

Update: 07/11/2012 The group is now closer to facing Earthward.

08 Jul 2012 by Astronomy Environment Photography

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