Orange Sun Oozing (2009 April 5)

jlfonz · Post by **jlfonz** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 5:57 pm

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090405.html

Beautiful depiction of the sun's power, isn't it?

I want to thank the sites authors for adding the earths size as a reference of scale. Most people (not all) can generally grasp the size of the earth but would not have known what the video represented without it.

bystander · Post by **bystander** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 1:29 pm

HEAPOW: Serene Sun (2009 April 6)

What's going on with the sun? During the 11-year-long solar cycle (sometimes called the "sunspot cycle") magnetically generated solar phenomena (like sunspots, the size of the solar corona, or the the number of solar flares) rise and fall. All these phenomena are driven by the strength of the solar magnetic field, which gets "screwed up" by the differential rotation of the sun every 11 years. The sun is currently in the minimum of its activity cycle. But this minimum is unusual. Currently, sunspot counts are at a 50-year low, the lowest since the start of the space age. The image above shows a recent X-ray image of the sun by the Hinode observatory, showing the state of the solar corona, the outer atmosphere of the sun that is heated by the solar magnetic field to temperatures of millions of degrees. A recent view of the solar disk shows no spots whatsoever - a blank sun. The sun's on pace to rack up 290 spotless days by the end of December 2009. While this is unprecedented since the dawn of the space age, the solar minima of the late 19th and early 20th centuries were similarly spotless.

aristarchusinexile · Post by **aristarchusinexile** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 2:43 pm

bystander wrote:"... no spots whatsoever - a blank sun. The sun's on pace to rack up 290 spotless days by the end of December 2009. While this is unprecedented since the dawn of the space age, the solar minima of the late 19th and early 20th centuries were similarly spotless.

So that blemish medication really does work!

jesusfreak16 · Post by **jesusfreak16** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 7:20 pm

Hasn't this one been up before? (not that I mind, since it's one of my favorites)

BMAONE23 · Post by **BMAONE23** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 7:27 pm

jesusfreak16 wrote:Hasn't this one been up before? (not that I mind, since it's one of my favorites)

Fortunately/unfortunately many APODS are repeats. It would be nice to have a unique image every day but atleast some greats are repeated

bystander · Post by **bystander** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 7:29 pm

jesusfreak16 wrote:Hasn't this one been up before? (not that I mind, since it's one of my favorites)

APOD: 2007 May 22 - Orange Sun Oozing
APOD: 2003 July 29 - Orange Sun Simmering

Starship Asterisk*