by APOD Robot » Fri Apr 16, 2010 4:04 am
Bright Points on the Quiet Sun
Explanation: Up close, the solar surface is a striking patch work of
granules in this very high resolution picture of the
quiet Sun. Caused by convection, the granules are hot, rising
columns of plasma edged by dark lanes of cooler, descending plasma. But the high-resolution view reveals that the dark lanes are dotted with many small, contrasting bright points.
Constantly present on the solar surface, the bright points do not seem to be related to sunspots that come and go with the
magnetic solar cycle. Nonetheless, the bright points are regions of concentrated magnetic fields and are bright because the magnetic pressure opens a window to hotter deeper layers below
the photosphere. For scale, the white bar at the lower left corresponds to 5,000 kilometers across the Sun's surface. The sharp, narrow-band image was recorded in September, 2007 using the
Swedish Solar Telescope on the
astronomical island of La Palma.
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[url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100416.html][img]http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100416.jpg[/img] [size=150]Bright Points on the Quiet Sun[/size][/url]
[b] Explanation: [/b] Up close, the solar surface is a striking patch work of [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granule_%28solar_physics%29]granules[/url] in this very high resolution picture of the [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090604.html]quiet Sun[/url]. Caused by convection, the granules are hot, rising [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLkGSV9WDMA]columns of plasma[/url] edged by dark lanes of cooler, descending plasma. But the high-resolution view reveals that the dark lanes are dotted with many small, contrasting bright points. [url=http://arxiv.org/abs/1004.1885]Constantly present[/url] on the solar surface, the bright points do not seem to be related to sunspots that come and go with the [url=http://www.phy6.org/earthmag/sunspots.htm]magnetic solar cycle[/url]. Nonetheless, the bright points are regions of concentrated magnetic fields and are bright because the magnetic pressure opens a window to hotter deeper layers below [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090405.html]the photosphere[/url]. For scale, the white bar at the lower left corresponds to 5,000 kilometers across the Sun's surface. The sharp, narrow-band image was recorded in September, 2007 using the [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap021114.html]Swedish Solar Telescope[/url] on the [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap020819.html]astronomical island of La Palma[/url].
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