The Sun Now!

[Luana]

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.

[Dantheman62]

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]

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.

[Dantheman62]

Nice, thanks Luminari!

[Dantheman62]

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]

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

[Dantheman62]

Still no sunspots!



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

[Luminari]

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]

Originally Posted by Luminari

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]

All it takes is one, pointed in the right direction
alys

[Orion11]

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!!

[GaiaLove]

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]

Originally Posted by GaiaLove

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]

Originally Posted by GaiaLove

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]

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.

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

[Luminari]

The above picture of our Sun was taken last month in a specific red color of light emitted by hydrogen gas called Hydrogen-alpha and then color inverted to appear blue. In this light, details of the Sun's chromosphere are particularly visible.

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap091104.html

[iainl140285]

Cool pic

[Luminari]

The Doors - Waiting for the sun

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0kypyGSKsE

[bellsisland]

Originally Posted by Luminari

The above picture of our Sun was taken last month in a specific red color of light emitted by hydrogen gas called Hydrogen-alpha and then color inverted to appear blue. In this light, details of the Sun's chromosphere are particularly visible.

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap091104.html

Wow! What a great picture. Is the sun cooler now that it is quiet and without sunspots? Do you think Nibiru is causing the magnetosphere to disappear and the sun going quiet?

[Unified Serenity]

I wonder how much HAARP plays a role in our magnetic problems and the possible impact the sun could have on us. Our magnetic field is weakening and could be a cause for polar shift.

Is it the ptw trying to help prophecy along? Is this why they think going underground will save them and wipe us out? I am convinced the last place I want to be is underground.

[GaiaLove]

Thought this would look good in here
It self updates regularly

[GaiaLove]

Something has exploded on the farside of the sun. Late yesterday, Dec. 4th,
a billion-ton coronal mass ejection (CME) billowed over the sun's western limb.

There are two farside active regions currently under surveillance by NASA's STEREO spacecraft,
but those active regions don't seem to be in the right place to hurl a CME over the sun's
western limb. The source might reveal itself in the days ahead as the sun's rotation turns
unseen territory toward STEREO--or toward Earth.
Stay tuned.

[Ross H]

Thanks Richard,

It looks a biggie for sure! Will look out with interest in the coming days.



Peace.

[SWIFT]

Hi all,

Get out the Barbiecue and those sausages with a fresh salad. Also some prawns and a beer.
If its going to hit us well that life as we know it jim and hopefuly its quick!

Cheers
SWIFTY

[Luminari]

Glad its the far side

Are we going to feel any of it Richard or is it all facing away from the Earth?