Heliopolis *2* - ...Sun, Solar Science Cont'd...

Palomar · 2005-01-26 06:28:54

*The first thread is getting near to 200 posts, with quite a few links and images, etc., in it. I'm afraid of it collapsing here soon, so let's please continue here. I'll request the mods lock the first one.

--Cindy

SpaceNut · 2005-01-31 10:22:35

Sample Of Solar Wind Sent To Scientists

The sample, the first to be allocated for Genesis early science analysis, may hold important evidence about the overall composition of the sun. Several important Genesis science objectives will be investigated as part of the Early Science Return, including studies of noble gas isotopes in bulk solar wind and nitrogen isotopes.

"Gaining a better understanding of the noble gas elements in the sun is one of the 19 specific scientific measurement objectives originally proposed for the Genesis mission," said Stansbery. "We are delighted to provide this sample to our Washington University colleagues.

Palomar · 2005-02-02 06:01:22

*Sunspot 720 (we discussed it a bit extensively late last month, in the first "Heliopolis" thread) persists on the far side of Sol as expected. I can't lift the helioseismic holography image of Sunspot 720, but it is currently being hosted at spaceweather.com (that site archives and updates daily; however, they've been monitoring 'Spot 720 throughout its far-side tenure via HH). They think yet another large 'Spot is evolving on the far side of Sol. 'Spot 720 and the newcomer are due to (re-)emerge over the eastern limb of Sol on Sunday, February 6.

Sol is nearly devoid of sunspots, though, on the side of it facing Earth.

SUN REPORT: The sun is almost blank. Solar activity is very low and auroras are unlikely this week.
That's the report for the Earth-facing side of the sun. The other side of the sun is a different story. Using a technique called helioseismic holography, astronomers can take pictures of the sun's far side--and they've seen possibly two big sunspots there...
One of the sunspots is NOAA 720, which was facing Earth on Jan. 20th when it unleashed an X7-class solar flare. The blast sparked bright auroras over Europe and an intense proton storm on the Moon. The other 'spot, denoted above by a question mark, is a newcomer.
Either of these active regions might be responsible for a spate of farside explosions yesterday. The explosions themselves were not visible from Earth, but the coronal mass ejections (CMEs) they hurled into space were photographed rising over the sun's limb, as shown in this SOHO coronagraph movie captured on February 1st.
The sun's 27-day rotation will soon carry these 'spots around to face Earth. Watch for them emerging over the sun's eastern limb as early as February 6th.

Here's the coronagraph of that far-side CME mentioned in the quote:

http://www.spaceweather.com/images2005/ … .gif]Click

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-02-12 06:54:25

http://galileo.rice.edu/sci/observation … ml]Sunspot history

*Interesting facts, lots of drawings, even a bit of interpersonal drama.

http://galileo.rice.edu/sci/observation … .html]More drawings

The 2nd link was posted last year in the 1st Heliopolis thread. It's worth a repeat, I think.

--Cindy

::EDIT:: From spaceweather.com:

In Galileo's day, many people thought sunspots were satellites of the sun. Galileo proved otherwise. By drawing sunspots every day, he discovered that the sun spins and that sunspots are located on (or very near) the sun's surface.

Palomar · 2005-02-16 06:49:24

*I'm going to re-submit this. Originally I divided the image from the caption, but the digital metamorphosis plays much more swiftly in the original Astropix format.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050216.html]Sunspot metamorphosis

And our humble little home there for comparison.

The solar granules are especially interesting to look at. The caption's writer refers to them as "continent-sized," yet I've read at another resource that each granule is "only" about the size of California. Don't mean to nit-pick, but that is a difference in analogy.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-02-20 12:04:47

*This just in from spaceweather.com. Photo below from Greg Peipol:

http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2005/2 … g]February 19: Enormous dark filament

Experienced Sol observers say it's the longest they've yet seen. It stretches more than 300,000 miles from end to end, meaning it's longer than the distance between Earth and Luna.

Filaments are magnetic tubes suspended above the surface of the sun and filled with dense gas. Because the gas is cooler than the sun below it, filaments appear dark. Sometimes filaments erupt, producing a "Hyder flare." More often they don't.

This filament is expected to linger for days. The sunspot count is 51, and nothing major in the way of size. I wonder about the correlation -- if any -- between sunspot cycles and the formation of these gargantuan filaments. ?

http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2005/2 … pg]Another pic (closeup) from Didier Favre.

http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2005/2 … er.jpg]And another (b/w) from Andreas Murner.

I wonder if the filaments are relatively stationary or if they "slide" or otherwise move.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-02-21 14:22:21

http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2005/2 … .jpg]Solar Explosion

*Pic by Mr. Gary Palmer, being hosted at spaceweather.com. Mr. Palmer gets a lot of his solar pics posted there. He said the explosion was "ultra-fast moving" and "pretty." Yes, pretty humongous columns of fire. Can see that long filament too (refer to post above).

Yesterday something exploded on the sun. We couldn't see the blast from Earth because the blast-site was hidden behind the sun's western limb.

Especially interesting, given the 'Spot count is nominal and the holographic image of Sol's far side doesn't show any major 'Spots or unusual activity. :hm: Hopefully there'll be an update.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-02-23 07:19:30

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/solarsci … html]Solar Tadpoles

*Excellent article on this phenomenon.

Researchers at the University of Warwick's Department of Physics have gained insight into the mysterious giant dark "tadpoles" that appear to swim towards the surface of the Sun during solar flares - enormous energy releases happening in the atmosphere of the Sun.
The tadpoles - colossal physical structures with dark heads and attendant wiggly tails that seem to swim sunwards against tides of hot matter being thrown away from the Sun during flares - have puzzled astrophysicists for several years,
as they are so unlike any other phenomena observed on the Sun.

Includes illustration and animation. "Negative energy waves." Apparently they're an optical illusion, and not material features (and I've got to run, so enjoy...)

--Cindy

Shaun Barrett · 2005-02-23 07:31:37

Well, those 'tadpoles' were never a mystery to me at all.

I'll leave it to you to figure out why not!
[I'm not mocking by the way; just admitting one more aspect of my ignorance.]

What really caught my eye was the little white Earth included in the picture for size-comparison purposes ... it makes you stop and think, doesn't it?!

Palomar · 2005-02-23 19:29:28

Well, those 'tadpoles' were never a mystery to me at all.
I'll leave it to you to figure out why not!
[I'm not mocking by the way; just admitting one more aspect of my ignorance.]

*Methinks thou art being mysterious or clever, Sir Barrett. (I've not been able to view the Solar Tadpole animation because of computer situation).

Remember the odd solar explosion which I posted about on Feb 21? Here's http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2005/2 … zlo1.jpg]a different, non-color photo.

That looks weird.

--Cindy

Shaun Barrett · 2005-02-24 00:46:42

Cindy: "*Methinks thou art being mysterious or clever .."
Maybe mysterious but certainly not clever.
One can't be mystified by something one didn't even know existed!

"That looks weird. "
Hmmm, looks ill-mannered to me. Now if I'd caught my kids spitting like that ... :rant:

Palomar · 2005-02-27 08:25:43

"That looks weird. "
Hmmm, looks ill-mannered to me. Now if I'd caught my kids spitting like that ... :rant:

*So...are -you- going to try and discipline a naughty star? ??? Good luck. :;):

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030629.html]The solar spectrum

Ah, so now Sol is holding out some colors on us. :hm:

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-02-28 06:49:15

http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2005/2 … ler1.jpg]A quiet explosion on Sol

*Lovely photos. Why does my mind's eye want to "see" a Phoenix bird in some of these prominences?

Each frame has Universal Time noted on it. Too bad this couldn't have been a video, but I shouldn't even mention that minor complaint.

The photo is being hosted by spaceweather.com and here's their caption:

QUIET EXPLOSION: Last week, astronomers watched a beautiful little prominence rise over the sun's western limb. For days it hung there, unchanging, until Sunday, Feb. 27th when it finally erupted. Cai-Uso Wohler of Winsen/Luhe, Germany, photographed the spectacular event.
Curiously, the eruption did not emit a strong pulse of x-radiation--in other words, there was no solar flare. Nor did it fling a massive cloud of gas from the sun. The material rising up in Wohler's image, above, mostly fell back again. All things considered, it was a quiet explosion.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-03-07 13:19:35

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.htm … ]Decisions, decisions!

A cloudy mirror for the Sun?

At first I was going to post this in the http://www.newmars.com/forums/viewtopic … 45]Jupiter: Galileo, Voyager, Etc. thread because it equally involves both Jove and Sol. :-\ But as the main thrust of the article pertains to solar science, I'll put it here (actually I want to put the article in BOTH threads...aaarrrgh. But can't be redundant. <frown> Teehee).

This is from ESA.

Astronomers using the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton telescope have discovered that observing the giant planet Jupiter may actually give them an insight in to solar activity on the *-far side-* of the Sun! In research reported in the most recent edition of Geophysical Research Letters, they discovered that Jupiter's x-ray glow is due to x-rays from the Sun being reflected back off the planet's atmosphere.

This is extraordinary.

Jupiter is an intriguing object when viewed in x-rays; it has dramatic x-ray auroras at the poles and a variable x-ray glow from near the equator. Researchers had theorised that these x-rays from the equatorial regions of Jupiter, called disk x-rays, were controlled by the Sun. In November 2003, during a period of high solar activity, they observed Jupiter.
"We found that Jupiter's day-to-day disk x-rays were synchronised with the Sun's emissions," says Dr Anil Bhardwaj, from NASA Marshall Space Flight Centre and lead author on the paper. "
In addition to supporting the researchers' theory, this result has another application - in studying the Sun...
"As Jupiter orbits the Sun, we hope to be able to learn more about the active areas of the Sun we can't see from Earth by watching the Jovian x-ray emissions...
If a large solar flare occurs on an area of the Sun that is facing Jupiter, we may be able to observe it in light scattered from Jupiter, even if we cannot see that region of the Sun from around the Earth at the time."

Wonders never cease. :up:

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-03-16 05:47:09

http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2005/1 … s.jpg]*Hot magnetic coil

Photo by Mr. Gary Honis of PA.

-*-

http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2005/1 … ...smaller but more dramatic perhaps

Photo by Mr. John Stetson of ME.

They're not sure what exactly was the source of the explosion, as the initial blast occurred behind Sol's eastern limb. They think a Sunspot might have triggered it.

At its peak, the loop soared 240,000 km high. :up:

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-03-29 05:12:57

*A bit of interesting info regarding hydrogen alpha filter photos of the Sun:

The sky around the Sun is black. Why? Palmer took the picture using an "H-alpha" filter tuned to the red glow of solar hydrogen. There's none of that in Earth's atmosphere.

Interesting. I've always noted the black background in these types of photos but didn't know the reason for it; I figured it was simply part of a filtering-out process.

http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2005/2 … mer.jpg]Mr. Gary Palmer's photo: Utility pole, wires, birds & big Sol

Nice.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-03-31 08:39:35

http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2005/3 … _l.gif]Sol takes a holiday

*That image is being hosted by spaceweather.com. It's an illustration showing "predicted and measured sunspot numbers." Currently Sol has only 11 tiny 'Spots. We're heading into a minimum. Apparently our monthly-averaged 'Spot count has been at lowest levels since 1997.

They're predicting 2006 will be *the* minimum, followed by "a rapid ascent back to solar maximum in 2010."

However, 'Spot activity, flares, etc., will continue to a point even throughout the minimum.

::sigh:: Wish we were currently in a MAXIMUM period...oh well.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-04-06 13:51:51

*Sol might be taking a holiday (as its 'Spots go)...

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/solarsci … g.html]but its SOUNDS aren't

From the Birmingham Solar Oscillations Network. Since 1976 they've been gathering helioseismic data. When starting out they only operated during the summer and had only 1 station. Six stations (network) by the early '90s.

The Sun is a like a vast bell that is being struck continuously by tiny grains of sand and is ringing away.

Yep. Have read this in a book about the Sun, which I own.

Internal sound waves have an oscillatory period of 5 minutes.

Some of the sound waves penetrate into the deep interior of the Sun, so they give scientists an opportunity to study these core regions where the nuclear reactions occur that power the Sun and also drive its evolution.

Now, with 29 years of data, they hope to look for changes between successive solar cycles and any long period trends. The results from this new analysis of old data should be published in the next few months.

http://bison.ph.bham.ac.uk/]BiSON homepage

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-04-07 05:41:43

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/solarsci … ml]Solving the mystery of solar flares

*First off: The movie in the article (beneath the illustration) doesn't work. At least not on this computer.

Study is from Mullard Space Science Laboratory in London, regarding "one of the most powerful solar flares of recent years," which occurred on 15 July 2002.

They've found it was a "complex event": 3 eruptions, one triggering another, like a domino effect. That SE's power was 5000 times that of an atomic bomb. The entrained gas within grew to 20 million degrees Celsius and shot up into the solar corona at 90,000 mph.

The analysis of this flare contradicts the standard model of how flares are created. Until now, it has been believed that magnetic field lines from the core of the active region become entangled and reconnect high in the corona.
"In the case of the July 2002 flare, magnetic reconnection had to occur over a much wider area than expected," explained Dr. Harra.
"The data show that small-scale magnetic disturbances around the main active region snowballed until they broke through the weak field that blanketed the region.
"This magnetic build-up swept away the existing magnetic field lines that overlay the entire active region, so allowing the core field to reconnect. We were able to measure this by looking for flashes of ultraviolet light and fast-flowing gas.
"This is important, because we have observed the flows of hot gas for the first time, enabling us to see that several small flares combine to create a major explosion. This may eventually enable us to predict large flares before they erupt."

Also mentions an upcoming solar mission: I'll be following the incoming information from that in this thread.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-04-08 04:39:32

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/solarsci … i.html]SDO (Solar Dynamics Observatory)

*This will be launched in 2008 by NASA and will "continue" SOHO (which of course is a joint NASA/ESA mission since 1995).

SDO will, among other things, study (via helioseismic instrumentation) oscillations caused by sound waves caught in Sol's interior, contains other sensors, Extreme Ultra Violet (10 separate wavelengths), etc.

Technological advances mean that the SDO spacecraft can observe the full Sun continuously with 1 arc sec resolution and will have a data rate approximately ten thousand times greater than that available to SOHO.

The UK is playing a major role in this mission as well, especially with "e-SDO":

a project designed to give the UK solar-terrestrial physics community easy access to the data received from the spacecraft.
The data volume received on the ground from SDO will amount to around two million million bytes each day equivalent to 3000 Cds. The UK team must provide scientists with effective access to this enormous data volume.

Terrific.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-04-11 10:36:18

http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2005/1 … .jpg]Giant solar eruption

*Nice sequence of shots.

A magnetic prominence (top frame) became unstable and exploded, hurling a cloud of hot gas into space (bottom frame). The explosion was not aimed at our planet, so Earth should experience no effects from the blast.

Photo taken by Mr. Ivan Marthinusen from Malaysia. Can see filaments in the photo, too.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-04-21 09:39:28

*Sunspot count has only been wavering slightly this week. Generally ranging from 39 to 45 with no wild fluctuations. Current 'Spot count is 39 and they're small, but there's been plenty of gigantic prominences:

http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2005/2 … 1.jpg]Nice, nice, nice!

-*-

http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2005/2 … hal.jpg]As seen from Australia

-*-

http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2005/2 … .jpg]Looks ghoulish and sinister

-*-

http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2005/2 … jpg]Flares about the edge

-*-

http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2005/2 … r.jpg]Last one in this batch

Here are the photo credits (in order to the links):

Greg Piepol, on April 17th: ...
more images: from Monty Leventhal of Sydney, Australia (April 17th); from Didier Favre of Los Angeles, California (April 17th); from John Stetson of Falmouth, Maine (April 20th); from Gary Palmer of Los Angeles, California (April 20th);

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-04-22 06:59:35

*Okay, this is certifiably WEIRD:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980629.html]Solar Magnetic "Bananas"

???

Is a "computer-generated snapshot."

Yet another gem from Astropix. Wild.

--Cindy

::EDIT:: (Much later in the day): New article being hosted at universetoday.com:

http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish … 2005]Solar wind flows from magnetic funnels on the Sun

Will read it more closely tomorrow. Almost time to get offline.

Palomar · 2005-05-03 05:10:21

*The seemingly current pattern with Sol seems to be mild fluctuations in numbers of very tiny 'Spots and then, perhaps every 2 - 3 weeks, a gollywhopper of a 'Spot.

http://www.spaceweather.com/im

Shaun Barrett · 2005-05-04 00:26:18

Well, none of us can plead ignorance about our own star with all the information you keep us supplied with!
You're right about that 'banana' picture of the Sun's magnetic field structure ... weird!

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#1 2005-01-26 06:28:54

Re: Heliopolis *2* - ...Sun, Solar Science Cont'd...

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