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Dantheman62 12-29-2008 12:36 AM

The Sun Now!
 
Images of the sun updated several times a day,

http://www.esa.int/global_imgs/spacer.gifhttp://www.esa.int/global_imgs/spacer.gifhttp://www.esa.int/global_imgs/spacer.gifhttp://www.esa.int/global_imgs/spacer.gif

http://www.esa.int/global_imgs/print_it.gifThe Sun now

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/...nt/eit_304.jpg





http://projectavalon.net/forum/pictu...pictureid=5382


Image from the Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT)
These SOHO images are automatically updated throughout the day. If the images you see do not show today's date please refresh your page.
CCD Bake-out
If the image above shows 'CCD BAKEOUT', then this means EIT images are temporarily unavailable. In this case, there is nothing wrong with SOHO's EIT instrument. It is routinely taken offline every three months or so for a procedure known as 'bakeout' in order to maintain the performance of the instrument. The images will resume within 2-3 weeks.
The Sun's hot atmosphere today
See the bright twisted clouds of hot gas, revealing storminess, and the dark, calm regions called 'coronal holes'. These images, obtained with invisible ultraviolet light, give the scientists their routine weather maps of the Sun. Occasionally a solar flare appears, as a small, intensely bright flash. Different colours denote various ultraviolet wavelengths, each emanating from gas at a particular temperature - orange, 80 000 degrees, blue 1 000 000 degrees, green 1 500 000 degrees and yellow 2 500 000 degrees.

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/ASE08Y9KOYC_Protecting_0.html

alyscat 12-29-2008 01:30 AM

Re: The Sun Now!
 
Fascinating, Dan, thanks!
alys

Dantheman62 12-29-2008 04:16 AM

Re: The Sun Now!
 
There's alot more pictures at this link from ESA http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/gallery/top10/

Dantheman62 12-29-2008 03:17 PM

Re: The Sun Now!
 
Here's another one with an Earth inset to show size of the CME

http://projectavalon.net/forum/pictu...pictureid=5388

Dantheman62 12-29-2008 03:20 PM

Re: The Sun Now!
 
A sun spot 13 times larger than the surface of the Earth

http://projectavalon.net/forum/pictu...pictureid=5389

Antaletriangle 12-29-2008 03:45 PM

Re: The Sun Now!
 
I like this site-every day you get a different astronomical upload-there are archives also that go back years.Some interesting shots.
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
Astronomical picture of the day website.

Dantheman62 12-29-2008 03:57 PM

Re: The Sun Now!
 
Thanks A, very cool link with great pictures!, I'll remember that one.

Antaletriangle 12-29-2008 04:01 PM

Re: The Sun Now!
 
I was quite impressed with the solar flare shot you posted above-i've seen many but not quite as striking as that.

Dantheman62 12-29-2008 04:06 PM

Re: The Sun Now!
 
go to the link in post #3 and there's some more pics!

Dantheman62 12-30-2008 07:52 PM

Re: The Sun Now!
 
Here's todays shot-12/30/08

http://www.projectavalon.net/forum/p...pictureid=5394

Dantheman62 01-05-2009 03:05 AM

Re: The Sun Now!
 
Here's a cool picture of the 11 year solar cycle, each picture was taken by the SOHO Observatory and shows what the minimum and maximum solar activity years were. The next maximum solar activity year should fall around 2012, hmmm imagine that.

The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) celebrates its 12th launch anniversary on December 2. In late 1996, shortly after its launch, SOHO was able to observe the last minimum of the roughly 11-year activity cycle of the Sun.
The minimum was followed by a rapid rise in solar activity, peaking 2001 and 2002. Activity levels have slowly declined since then, but we haven't reached solar minimum yet, despite passing 11.1 years since the last minimum — the average length of a solar cycle.

In fact, the sunspot cycles measured since the mid-18th century vary in length from 9.0 to 13.5 years, and while a team of experts assembled by NOAA, NASA, and ISES has attempted to predict when the next solar minimum will be, we won't really know until we get there.
The experts, in fact, were sharply divided about the time of the next minimum and the intensity of the next maximum, which should arrive about 2012 or 2013

http://www.projectavalon.net/forum/p...pictureid=5450

Dantheman62 01-05-2009 03:26 AM

Re: The Sun Now!
 
This is a picture of one of the largest solar flares on record,
Solar flares are large explosions on the Sun's surface caused by a sudden release of magnetic energy. They are known to cause local short-lived oscillations traveling away from the explosion like water rings.

This means that the flares drive global oscillations in the Sun in the same way that the entire Earth is set ringing for several weeks after a major earthquake such as the 2004 December Sumatra-Andaman one.

http://www.projectavalon.net/forum/p...pictureid=5451

Dantheman62 01-08-2009 11:03 PM

Re: The Sun Now!
 
SOHO TOP 30


http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/galle...eC3_proton.jpg
The "Bastille Day" particle storm and Earth-directed CME as seen by LASCO C3.
More about this
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/galle...lleEIT_195.jpg
The "Bastille Day" flare as seen by EIT in the 195 Å emission line.
More about this
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/galle...gspot_crop.jpg
A sunspot thirteen times larger than the surface of the Earth.
More about this
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/galle...lueEIT171A.jpg
This EIT 171 Å image shows emission from ionised iron at about 1 million degrees C, revealing diffuse corona and magnetic loops.
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/galle...T_Nov8_00A.jpg
An impressive double set of CMEs observed by LASCO C2, with an EIT 304 Å inset in the middle.
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/galle...c2fireball.jpg
This fiery Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) shows stunning details in the ejected material.
More about this
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/galle...Nov00blast.jpg
This spectacular Coronal Mass Ejection observed by LASCO C2 was interpreted as "Happy Birthday Fireworks" for the 5th anniversary of SOHO's launch.
More about this
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/galle.../C2seq_of3.jpg
A sequence of LASCO C2 images showing the evolution of a Coronal Mass Ejection over a time span of about an hour
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/galle...stNov26_01.jpg
A Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) observed by LASCO C3
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/galle...3bulb_crop.jpg
This "lightbulb" Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) shows the classical parts of a CME: leading edge, void, and core.
More about this
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/galle...3series_02.jpg
An Earth-directed Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) seen by LASCO C3.
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/galle...t171_loops.jpg
This EIT 171 Å image shows a wide variety of loops and active regions (lighter areas on the surface)
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/galle...5loop_serA.jpg
This EIT 195 Å series shows evolving loops stretched out above the edge of the Sun
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/galle...EIT5colorA.jpg
An EIT 304 Å image showing an unusual collection of prominences
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/galle...omposMercA.jpg
These EIT composite images show the passage of Mercury across EIT's field-of-view during the transit on 7 May 2003.
More about this
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/galle...t_MDIcompA.jpg
This combination of an EIT 195 Å image and a computed cutaway model of the Sun's interior shows "peculiarities" in the sound speed compared with theoretical models.
More about this
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/galle...0/EITplume.jpg
A particularly beautiful erupting prominence seen by EIT in 304 Å emission
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/galle.../EITquadsA.jpg
An "EIT colour wheel", showing images in the four filters of EIT. Clockwise from upper left: 171 Å, 304 Å, 284 Å, 195 Å.
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/galle...bopp_shadA.jpg
Comet Hale-Bopp and its shadow - cast on the diffuse material flowing into the solar system from the intergalactic wind.
More about this
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/galle...c2blasred2.jpg
This unusual and clearly helical Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) was observed by LASCO C2
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/galle...co_planets.jpg
This image shows no less than four planets, the constellation Pleiades, and a halo Coronal Mass Ejection (CME).
More about this
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/galle...0/mdi_comp.jpg
This MDI composite shows the passage of Mercury across the solar disk during the transit on 7 May 2003.
More about this
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/galle...n304_earth.jpg
A closeup of an erupting Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) with Earth inset at the approximate scale of the image.
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/galle...10/NEAT_c3.jpg
Our most breathtaking shots of a comet featured Comet NEAT (C/2002 V1) in the LASCO C3 field-of-view.
More about this
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/galle...spotmdiG_b.jpg
Using advanced analysis techniques, SOHO's MDI instrument can reveal the temperature and flow structure beneath sunspots.
More about this,and yet more about this
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/galle...SuperpromA.jpg
This magnificent erupting prominence was captured by EIT in 304 Å emission.
More about this
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/galle...0/TRICOLOR.jpg
Composite image with three EIT wavelengths (171 Å, 195 Å and 284 Å) combined to show solar features unique to each wavelength.
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/galle...omp_EIT195.jpg
These three images show the incredible changes in the Sun's corona from near solar minimum to near solar maximum.
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/galle.../twinpromA.jpg
Two large eruptive prominences captured by EIT in 304 Å emission.
More about this http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/galle...XMAScometA.jpg
This LASCO C2 image from 23 December 1996 shows the "Christmas Comet" (Comet SOHO-6) streaking towards the Sun </SPAN>

GaiaLove 01-08-2009 11:50 PM

Re: The Sun Now!
 
Current Solar Image
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/...512/latest.jpg

Dantheman62 01-18-2009 05:01 PM

Re: The Sun Now!
 
Spotless Sun: Blankest Year of the Space Age
10.06.08


Astronomers who count sunspots have announced that 2008 is now the "blankest year" of the Space Age.

As of Sept. 27, 2008, the sun had been blank, i.e., had no visible sunspots, on 200 days of the year. To find a year with more blank suns, you have to go back to 1954, three years before the launch of Sputnik, when the sun was blank 241 times.

"Sunspot counts are at a 50-year low," says solar physicist David Hathaway of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. "We're experiencing a deep minimum of the solar cycle."

A spotless day looks like this (below left):


http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/2..._2shot_452.jpg Left: A photo of the sun taken Sept. 27, 2008. The face of the sun is "blank," i.e., completely unmarked by spots.
Right: The sun on Sept. 27, 2001. The sun's face is peppered with colossal sunspots, all crackling with solar flares.
Credit: ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/2...hs_226x249.jpg Top: A histogram showing the blankest years of the last half-century. The vertical axis is a count of spotless days in each year. The bar for 2008, which was updated on Sept. 27th, is still growing.
Bottom: A histogram showing the blankest years of the last century. As in the above histogram, the bar for 2008 is still growing.

Starlah 01-19-2009 01:56 AM

Re: The Sun Now!
 
Oh that wonderful Sun!! Lets hope that when 2012 comes it doesn't bake us with cosmic ray particles and cosmic dust! A nice gentle massage will do instead...
__________________________________________________ __
The End is the Beginning and the Beginning is the End...(Nothing New Under The Sun)

Luminari 01-20-2009 01:48 PM

Re: The Sun Now!
 
Nice Sun photos Dan http://www.clicksmilies.com/s1106/na...smiley-015.gif

Dantheman62 01-23-2009 07:43 AM

Re: The Sun Now!
 
Coronal Holes: http://www.spaceweather.com/images/spacer.gifhttp://www.spaceweather.com/images20...e_soho_163.gif http://www.spaceweather.com/images/spacer.gifA solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole should reach Earth on or about Jan. 25th or 26th. Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope

Geomagnetic Storms:
Probabilities for significant disturbances in Earth's magnetic field are given for three activity levels: active, minor storm, severe storm
Updated at: 2009 Jan 22 2201 UTC
Mid-latitudes 0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 01 % 01 %
MINOR 01 % 01 %
SEVERE 01 % 01 %

High latitudes 0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 05 % 05 %
MINOR 01 % 01 %
SEVERE 01 % 01 %

Dantheman62 01-23-2009 07:46 AM

Re: The Sun Now!
 
Solar Storms</B>
Impact From Space

Dantheman62 01-23-2009 07:48 AM

Re: The Sun Now!
 
Aurora</B>

Dantheman62 02-04-2009 02:12 PM

Re: The Sun Now!
 
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/...nt/eit_304.jpg

iainl140285 02-04-2009 02:41 PM

Re: The Sun Now!
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Dantheman62 (Post 109346)

Hi Dan,

What are the black squares?


Peace
Iain

Dantheman62 02-04-2009 02:48 PM

Re: The Sun Now!
 
square UFO's LOL!, no not really, just a blotch in the camera image, every once in awhile you'll see a defect of some sort. Oh I see they're gone now, they must've corrected it! I guess they come and go.

Dantheman62 02-08-2009 06:01 PM

Re: The Sun Now!
 
Forecast

The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet to active on February 5 due to effects from CH358 and quiet on February 6-11.


Active solar regions (Recent map)

http://www.solen.info/solar/images/AR_CH_20090204.jpg

Data for all numbered solar regions according to the Solar Region Summary provided by NOAA/SWPC. Comments are my own, as is the STAR spot count (spots observed at or inside a few hours before midnight) and data for regions not numbered by SWPC or where SWPC has observed no spots. SWPC active region numbers in the table below and in the active region map above are the historic SWPC/USAF numbers.

A small recurrent coronal hole (CH358) in the southern hemisphere was in an Earth facing position on January 30-31.
http://www.solen.info/solar/images/e...0000_coron.jpg
Processed SOHO/EIT 195 image at 00:00 UTC on February 5. The darkest areas on the solar disk are likely coronal holes

Dantheman62 02-14-2009 06:16 PM

Re: The Sun Now!
 
http://www.esa.int/global_imgs/spacer.gifhttp://www.esa.int/images/Clusters_Earth2_S.jpg
The Cluster constellation
Cluster — the Sun-Earth connection in focus

The Cluster constellation was launched in summer 2000 and started operating in early 2001. Since then, this four-satellite mission is performing the first and best ever stereo investigation of the Earth’s magnetosphere — the magnetic bubble surrounding our planet.

Thanks to Cluster, scientists have reached an unprecedented understanding of the way solar activity affects the near-Earth environment.

Cluster has provided the first 3D observation of magnetic reconnection in space — a phenomenon that reconfigures the magnetic field and releases high amounts of energy.

Cluster pioneered measurements of electric currents in space, revealed the nature of black aurorae, and discovered that plasma — a gas of charged particles surrounding Earth — makes ‘waves’.

The Cluster mission has been extended twice in the past, up to June 2009. The new extension will make it possible to study the auroral regions above Earth’s poles and widen the investigations of the magnetosphere — its inner region in particular.

Luana 02-14-2009 08:37 PM

Re: The Sun Now!
 
This is a great post Dan, I've never seen pictures of the sun like that. Unfortunately I'm ignorant to what it means. I may take an astronomy class this summer, looks like I know who can help me with my homework. :wink2:

Dantheman62 02-14-2009 08:42 PM

Re: The Sun Now!
 
Yeah Luana those are all real pictures from the ESA (European Space Agency), and basically it tells all about sun spots, solar flares, and CME's ( Coronal Mass Ejections), also that we're in a lull now for solar activity and the next maximum solar activity period just happens to fall around 2012, hmmm imagine that!

Luminari 03-10-2009 04:12 PM

Re: The Sun Now!
 
:original: Solar Observing Glossary

CHROMOSPHERIC NETWORK An constant patchy network of long thin sinuous chains of tiny low contrast brighter points called Filigree (also found in plages) extending over much of the solar disk in H-Alpha. These points, or "network elements", often have darker spicules or short fibrils sticking out of, or running past them (part of the fine disk detail known as the Dark Mottles), making the actual network harder to see.

ELLERMAN BOMBS Bright transient pin-points of light (usually last less than 5 minutes), most often found in Emerging Flux Regions or on the edges of sunspots where the magnetic field is breaking the surface. They are best seen in the wings of H-alpha (nearly 5 Angstroms wide).

EMERGING FLUX REGION (EFR) A magnetic area on the sun where "flux tube" is surfacing on the disk, eventually producing a bipolar sunspot group. In H-alpha, EFRs usually appear as a small oval area of bright plage (typically about 7000 km across) often containing a series of short-lived narrow fibrils (Arch Filament System (AFS)) running roughly from one end of the dipole to the other. Each pole of an EFR is often marked by pores or small developing sunspots. Surges or even small solar flares can sometimes occur in EFRs.

EPHEMERAL REGIONS (ER's) Small magnetic dipoles with lifetimes of about a day which contain no sunspots. Ephemeral regions can develop anywhere on the sun, but are more common at mid and lower solar latitudes. They appear as small brighter elements in the chromospheric network but are fainter than active region plage. They also can occasionally produce small surges or sub flares.

FACULAE Patchy white light blotches in the photosphere (not visible in H-alpha), usually seen mainly towards the limb due to limb darkening. Faculae are most often found near active regions or where one is about to form, and can last well after the sunspots in the active region have decayed (best seen in blue light).

FIBRILS Small fine filament-like darker features which tend to run along magnetic field lines. Often, they are connected to or part of the structure of larger filaments, curving into or running along the filament's main axis.

FIELD TRANSITION ARCHES (FTA) Filament-like fibrils which cross the polarity inversion line (a line marking the halfway point between two opposite polarity areas) of a bipolar magnetic region. Unlike AFS fibrils, they show little or no Doppler shifts and tend to be rather thin and not very dark. FTA tend to arch directly between localized areas of opposite magnetic polarity, and often mark magnetically stable regions.

FILAMENTS Prominences seen against the face of the sun, appearing as long narrow dark streamers or diffuse complex dark areas in H-alpha light. Filaments often mark areas of magnetic shearing (see Prominences).

GRANULATION Tiny convective cell structures visible in white light ("rice grains"), best seen in apertures over three inches, and in green light. Each cell consists of a brighter polygonal area of hot rising gas typically about 1100 km across, and a cooler edge or "channel" of descending gas about 230 km wide.

MORETON WAVE A shock wave seen on the chromosphere that is occasionally seen expanding outward from large impulsive solar flares, moving over the surface at about 1000 km/sec. It usually appears as a slowly moving diffuse arc of brightening in the centerline of H-alpha, or as a faint diffuse slightly darker arc in the blue wing.

PROMINENCES H-Alpha emission features that resemble "flames" projecting beyond the edge of the sun, consisting of complex clouds or streamers of gas above or in the chromosphere. They generally come in two broad classes: Active (limb flares, surges, sprays, loops), and Quiescent (Quiet Region Filaments, Active Region Filaments).

PLAGE Patchy brightenings on the solar disk seen in H-Alpha light, usually found in or near active regions, which can last for several days. Plage is irregular in shape and variable in brightness, marking areas of nearly vertical emerging or reconnecting magnetic field lines (from French word for "beach" with the "a" being a short one).

PORES Tiny darker spots under 2500 km in size, often having fairly short lifetimes. Pores occasionally form where several granulation channels meet and can sometimes precede the development of sunspots.

RECONNECTION A realignment of magnetic fields, where an area of one magnetic polarity breaks earlier links, and connects with the nearest region of opposite polarity. On the sun, this often happens when a new magnetic dipole emerges near another pre-existing one. For example, if the north pole of the new dipole emerges close to the south pole of the old dipole, the lines of force may reconnect these two nearby poles configuring them as a new lower energy dipole and releasing energy, often in the form of plage brightening or a solar flare.

SOLAR FLARE Extremely bright moderate to large transient emission feature lasting from a few minutes to over four hours. Flares are a rapid and violent release of energy in the chromosphere due to extreme magnetic field stress and can occasionally result in material leaving the sun in the form of a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME).

SPICULES Small jets of gas under 10,000 km long, usually seen as a mass of tiny brighter spike-like features at the limb or as tiny darker spikes coming out of network elements, but are not usually seen over bright plage.

SPRAY A transient prominence formed by the explosion of pre-flare elevated material which sends debris flying off in many directions. Usually produced only by the most violent flares, as overlying filaments are blown away.

SUNSPOT Dark long-lived photospheric feature, typically from 2500 to 50,000 km in size. Moderate to large spots usually consist of a darker central region (umbra) and a lighter halo consisting of many short fine fibrils (penumbra). Sunspots have strong concentrated magnetic fields which tend to inhibit energy transfer from below, making them at the center about 2500 degrees K cooler than the photosphere. In the Umbra, the fields tend to be nearly vertical in orientation while in the penumbra, the magnetic fields become more horizontal.

SURGE A transient prominence produced by flares or very active regions, appearing as a moderate to large collimated jet of gas rising up from the surface. Surge ejected gas will often fall or draw back onto the sun tending to follow magnetic field lines, while at other times it will rise and disperse, fading from view.

"WINGS" OF H-ALPHA Doppler-shifted features of the sun can be viewed at wavelengths slightly off of 6562.8 Angstroms (up to +/- 2 Angstroms). The "blue" wing is a shorter wavelength and the "red" is on the longer side.

http://Luminari.fileave.com/sunfeature.jpg

Dantheman62 03-10-2009 10:14 PM

Re: The Sun Now!
 
Nice, thanks Luminari!

Dantheman62 03-15-2009 03:24 AM

Re: The Sun Now!
 
Astronomers once thought they understood how the Sun worked. A large ball of gas, generating energy by nuclear fusion, it also created a magnetic field enclosing Earth and the other planets in a gigantic magnetic bubble.

This bubble protected us from the dusty cosmic debris that shoots through space beyond the Solar System. But thanks to ESA's solar polewatcher Ulysses, that picture is changing...

11-year switch

Ulysses has revealed a complexity to the Sun's magnetic field that astronomers had never imagined. The Sun's magnetic field consists of a north pole, where the field flows out of the Sun and a south pole, where the field re-enters. Usually, these line up, more-or-less, with the rotation axis of the Sun.

Every 11 years the Sun reaches a peak of activity that triggers the magnetic poles to exchange places. The reversal was thought to be a rapid process but, thanks to Ulysses, astronomers now know it is gradual and could take as much as seven years to complete. During this slow-motion reversal, the line connecting the poles - known as the magnetic axis - comes close to the Sun's equator and is swept through space like the beam of a light house. Eventually it passes through this region and lines up with the opposite pole.

Imagine if this happened on Earth! Compasses would become useless, given that they rely on the fact that Earth's magnetic axis is roughly coincident with its rotation axis, which passes through the North and South geographic Pole.
Although it seems surprising, magnetic pole reversals have happened on Earth also. The last time was about 740 000 years ago. After studying magnetic rocks, scientists conclude that field reversals on Earth take place once every 5000 to 50 million years (but are impossible to predict). Reversals on the Sun, however, are almost as regular as clockwork - every 11 years, with its magnetic axis changing position for most of that time.

Earth's magnetic field is more stable because it arises in the metal-dominated regions in the deep interior of the planet. The Sun's field, however, comes from a high-temperature, electrified gas called plasma so it is a much more volatile thing. Loops of the magnetic field can burst through the surface of the Sun and when they do, they create the dark patches known as sunspots.

Astronomers are still studying the precise reasons behind the Sun's 11-year magnetic flips. However, using Ulysses, they have now shown that, when the Sun's magnetic axis points near its equator, it allows much more cosmic dust to enter the Solar System than normal. What does that mean for us?
If there is more dust in the Solar System, more of it will fall on Earth also. Scientists estimate that in the coming years, about 40 000 tonnes of dust could fall on Earth every day. However, most of it will be so small that it will burn up in the atmosphere before reaching the ground. This will certainly increase the number of faint shooting stars during the next 11 years, but fortunately the Earth will not become a dustier place!

http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMVB3ZO4HD_index_0.html

Dantheman62 03-15-2009 03:47 AM

Re: The Sun Now!
 
The Earth has a magnetic field with north and south poles. The Earth's magnetic field reaches 36,000 miles into space.
The magnetic field of the Earth is surrounded in a region called the magnetosphere. The magnetosphere prevents most of the particles from the sun, carried in solar wind, from hitting the Earth.
Some particles from the solar wind can enters the magnetosphere. The particles that enter from the magnetotail travel toward the Earth and create the auroral oval light shows. The Sun and other planets have magnetospheres, but the Earth has the strongest one of all the rocky planets. The Earth's north and south magnetic poles reverse at irregular intervals of hundreds of thousands of years.


The Earth's Magnetic Field

http://www.windows.ucar.edu/earth/im...th_magneto.jpg

Dantheman62 06-13-2009 03:45 PM

Re: The Sun Now!
 
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/...nt/eit_304.jpg


Still no sunspots!

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/...nt/mdi_igr.jpg

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/ASE08Y9KOYC_Protecting_0.html

Luminari 06-14-2009 12:17 AM

Re: The Sun Now!
 
Amazing how quiet and calm the sun is!

To the people interpreting cropcircles as pointing to a massive solar flare in early july (3 weeks away) I must say this look extremely unlikely, near impossible considering the Sun is currently blissed out in peaceful contemplation of itself.

Dantheman62 06-14-2009 12:34 AM

Re: The Sun Now!
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Luminari (Post 144991)
Amazing how quiet and calm the sun is!

To the people interpreting cropcircles as pointing to a massive solar flare in early july (3 weeks away) I must say this look extremely unlikely, near impossible considering the Sun is currently blissed out in peaceful contemplation of itself.

Yeah I saw that in the cropcircle thread, and that's why I posted recent pictures of the sun. So unless it changes in a few short weeks I don't see that happening either.

alyscat 06-14-2009 02:09 AM

Re: The Sun Now!
 
All it takes is one, pointed in the right direction :mfr_lol:
alys

Orion11 06-14-2009 02:16 AM

Re: The Sun Now!
 
we saw a couple small spots not long ago up at the observatory through the 14".
still wikked quiet tho.

i never got to watch Sol thru a scope before, until a couple weeks ago.

if you guys havent gotten to, and ever get the chance.. dont pass it up!! :wub2:

GaiaLove 06-14-2009 04:10 AM

Re: The Sun Now!
 
I am an avid space and Sol observer. I got tired of going to different sites everyday for the info I wanted to monitor so I put it all together on one page. I think some of you may find it as useful as I do.
http://2012info.ca/EarthWatch/?page_id=1147

Luminari 06-14-2009 09:01 AM

Re: The Sun Now!
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by GaiaLove (Post 145023)
I am an avid space and Sol observer. I got tired of going to different sites everyday for the info I wanted to monitor so I put it all together on one page. I think some of you may find it as useful as I do.
http://2012info.ca/EarthWatch/?page_id=1147

Excellent site! I've bookmarked it..

I also like how you can see who's visited and where they came from, that is cool huh. Though it says I came from Brisbane even though that is over 2000kms away from my location, I guess it was the softwares closest point of reference.

Im going to buy a CORONADO at some point so I can view the sun myself, I think when we get near solar maximum it will be quite a show.
Have you used one of those? Is there other better options in the way of filter-lenses to fit on my meade telescope I will have?

mudra 06-14-2009 02:09 PM

Re: The Sun Now!
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by GaiaLove (Post 145023)
I am an avid space and Sol observer. I got tired of going to different sites everyday for the info I wanted to monitor so I put it all together on one page. I think some of you may find it as useful as I do.
http://2012info.ca/EarthWatch/?page_id=1147

Thanks Gaialove ,

Awsome site !
I'll use it ans share it with others .

Kindness
mudra

GaiaLove 06-17-2009 05:54 PM

Re: The Sun Now!
 
With respect to the perceived threats from Nibiru, World War 3, the NWO, Galactic Alignments etc. The real threat and one I firmly believe is going to decimate (not destroy) life on Earth in the next few years comes from our life source. Here's the pitch, the hit comes around or before 2012. :shocked:

Quote:

NASA's five THEMIS spacecraft have discovered a breach in Earth's magnetic field ten times larger than anything previously thought to exist. Solar wind can flow in through the opening to "load up" the magnetosphere for powerful geomagnetic storms. But the breach itself is not the biggest surprise. Researchers are even more amazed at the strange and unexpected way it forms, overturning long-held ideas of space physics.

"The opening was huge—four times wider than Earth itself," says Wenhui Li, a space physicist at the University of New Hampshire who has been analyzing the data. Li's colleague Jimmy Raeder, also of New Hampshire, says "1027 particles per second were flowing into the magnetosphere—that's a 1 followed by 27 zeros. This kind of influx is an order of magnitude greater than what we thought was possible."

The event began with little warning when a gentle gust of solar wind delivered a bundle of magnetic fields from the Sun to Earth. Like an octopus wrapping its tentacles around a big clam, solar magnetic fields draped themselves around the magnetosphere and cracked it open. The cracking was accomplished by means of a process called "magnetic reconnection." High above Earth's poles, solar and terrestrial magnetic fields linked up (reconnected) to form conduits for solar wind. Conduits over the Arctic and Antarctic quickly expanded; within minutes they overlapped over Earth's equator to create the biggest magnetic breach ever recorded by Earth-orbiting spacecraft.

The size of the breach took researchers by surprise. "We've seen things like this before," says Raeder, "but never on such a large scale. The entire day-side of the magnetosphere was open to the solar wind."

The circumstances were even more surprising. Space physicists have long believed that holes in Earth's magnetosphere open only in response to solar magnetic fields that point south. The great breach of June 2007, however, opened in response to a solar magnetic field that pointed north.

"To the lay person, this may sound like a quibble, but to a space physicist, it is almost seismic," says Sibeck. "When I tell my colleagues, most react with skepticism, as if I'm trying to convince them that the sun rises in the west."

Here is why they can't believe their ears: The solar wind presses against Earth's magnetosphere almost directly above the equator where our planet's magnetic field points north. Suppose a bundle of solar magnetism comes along, and it points north, too. The two fields should reinforce one another, strengthening Earth's magnetic defenses and slamming the door shut on the solar wind. In the language of space physics, a north-pointing solar magnetic field is called a "northern IMF" and it is synonymous with shields up!

"So, you can imagine our surprise when a northern IMF came along and shields went down instead," says Sibeck. "This completely overturns our understanding of things."

Northern IMF events don't actually trigger geomagnetic storms, notes Raeder, but they do set the stage for storms by loading the magnetosphere with plasma. A loaded magnetosphere is primed for auroras, power outages, and other disturbances that can result when, say, a CME (coronal mass ejection) hits.

The years ahead could be especially lively. Raeder explains: "We're entering Solar Cycle 24. For reasons not fully understood, CMEs in even-numbered solar cycles (like 24) tend to hit Earth with a leading edge that is magnetized north. Such a CME should open a breach and load the magnetosphere with plasma just before the storm gets underway. It's the perfect sequence for a really big event."

Sibeck agrees. "This could result in stronger geomagnetic storms than we have seen in many years."

For more information about the THEMIS mission, visit http://nasa.gov/themis

Source: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2...iantbreach.htm
Related video: http://www.nasa.gov/mpg/297403main_THEMIS_svsLG.mpg


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