APOD: Sun Spot Hill (2021 Sep 21)

[APOD Robot]

Sun Spot Hill

Explanation: Is this giant orange ball about to roll down that tree-lined hill? No, because the giant orange ball is actually the Sun. Our Solar System's central star was captured rising beyond a hill on Earth twelve days ago complete with a delightfully detailed foreground. The Sun's disk showed five sunspots, quite a lot considering that during the solar minimum in solar activity of the past few years, most days showed no spots. A close look at the hill -- Sierra del Cid in Perter, Spain -- reveals not only silhouetted pine trees, but silhouetted people -- by coincidence three brothers of the photographer. The trees and brothers were about 3.5-kilometers away during the morning of the well-planned, single-exposure image. A dark filter muted the usually brilliant Sun and brought up great detail on the lower sunspots. Within a few minutes, the Sun rose far above the hill, while within a week, the sunspots rotated around the Sun, out of view. The captured scene, however, is now frozen in time for all to enjoy.

<< Previous APOD

This Day in APOD

Next APOD >>

[daddyo]

Looks like it picked up a bit of grit on the way down. Awesome shot!

[orin stepanek]

I can see more than 5 sun spots; but the others are very small! What
a beautiful photo; with the people and the wonderful silhouetted
trees!
Kudos to the photographer!

Very good looking puppy!

[neufer]

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

<<Rover is a plot device from the 1967 British television program The Prisoner, and was a crucial tool used to keep 'prisoners' from escaping the Village. It was depicted as a floating white balloon that could coerce, and, if necessary, incapacitate or kill recalcitrant inhabitants of the Village. It also had the ability to subdivide. Several aspects of the Rover device were left unexplained and to the imagination of the viewer. The name "Rover" was only used once in the entire series. The novel The Prisoner: Number Two by David McDaniel, based upon the series, uses the name Guardian.

[johnnydeep]

Looks like it picked up a bit of grit on the way down. Awesome shot!

Or on the way up - the sun is rising.

[johnnydeep]

SunSpotHill_Coy_2358.jpg
I can see more than 5 sun spots; but the others are very small! What
a beautiful photo; with the people and the wonderful silhouetted
trees!
...

Seemingly, they're counted in groups. See the "five sunspots" link.

[johnnydeep]

This reminds me of something...

Click to view full size image

[orin stepanek]

SunSpotHill_Coy_2358.jpg
I can see more than 5 sun spots; but the others are very small! What
a beautiful photo; with the people and the wonderful silhouetted
trees!
...

Seemingly, they're counted in groups. See the "five sunspots" link.

Maybe; but I count them individually!

[Chris Peterson]

SunSpotHill_Coy_2358.jpg
I can see more than 5 sun spots; but the others are very small! What
a beautiful photo; with the people and the wonderful silhouetted
trees!
...

Seemingly, they're counted in groups. See the "five sunspots" link.

Maybe; but I count them individually! :mrgreen:

In general, a sunspot group is multiple sunspots that are the product of the same magnetic flux zone. Usually that's fairly obvious, but when the Sun is active you can get independent sunspots that are very close together, and absent a separate measurement of magnetic fields, might not be able to tell if they are or are not members of the same group.

[orin stepanek]

Seemingly, they're counted in groups. See the "five sunspots" link.

Maybe; but I count them individually!

In general, a sunspot group is multiple sunspots that are the product of the same magnetic flux zone. Usually that's fairly obvious, but when the Sun is active you can get independent sunspots that are very close together, and absent a separate measurement of magnetic fields, might not be able to tell if they are or are not members of the same group.

OK; I think I can understand That! Thanks Chris!

[muehlner@gmail.com]

This is the first photo I've seen in which the sun is between the viewer and a cloud!

[johnnydeep]

This is the first photo I've seen in which the sun is between the viewer and a cloud!

Hmm, now that you mention it, just what IS that white wispy stuff to the right of the Sun, and seemingly behind it?! Or is my eye simply deceiving me yet again?

[neufer]

This is the first photo I've seen in which the sun is between the viewer and a cloud!

Hmm, now that you mention it, just what IS that white wispy stuff to the right of the Sun, and seemingly behind it?! Or is my eye simply deceiving me yet again?

Morning ground fog in the process of being blown off the hill top when the photo was taken

[johnnydeep]

This is the first photo I've seen in which the sun is between the viewer and a cloud!

Hmm, now that you mention it, just what IS that white wispy stuff to the right of the Sun, and seemingly behind it?! Or is my eye simply deceiving me yet again?

Morning ground fog in the process of being blown off the hill top when the photo was taken

So it just happens to exactly match up with the edge of the disk of the Sun and not overlap it at all nor leave any space between? It almost looks like cotton batting and the Sun is resting on it!

[Chris Peterson]

Hmm, now that you mention it, just what IS that white wispy stuff to the right of the Sun, and seemingly behind it?! Or is my eye simply deceiving me yet again?

Morning ground fog in the process of being blown off the hill top when the photo was taken :?:

So it just happens to exactly match up with the edge of the disk of the Sun and not overlap it at all nor leave any space between? It almost looks like cotton batting and the Sun is resting on it!

I'd suggest that we simply can't see the mist in front of the Sun. It's too thin and the Sun is too bright.

[neufer]

Hmm, now that you mention it, just what IS that white wispy stuff to the right of the Sun, and seemingly behind it?! Or is my eye simply deceiving me yet again?

Morning ground fog in the process of being blown off the hill top when the photo was taken

So it just happens to exactly match up with the edge of the disk of the Sun and not overlap it at all nor leave any space between? It almost looks like cotton batting and the Sun is resting on it!

Oh, Joffydeep, you and your visions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4JgsWxFY2E&t=180s

[johnnydeep]

Morning ground fog in the process of being blown off the hill top when the photo was taken

So it just happens to exactly match up with the edge of the disk of the Sun and not overlap it at all nor leave any space between? It almost looks like cotton batting and the Sun is resting on it!

I'd suggest that we simply can't see the mist in front of the Sun. It's too thin and the Sun is too bright.

I guess that'll works. And the lower limb of the Sun is actually a little darker on the left, suggesting something is obscuring it.

[johnnydeep]

Morning ground fog in the process of being blown off the hill top when the photo was taken

So it just happens to exactly match up with the edge of the disk of the Sun and not overlap it at all nor leave any space between? It almost looks like cotton batting and the Sun is resting on it!

Oh, Joffydeep, you and your visions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4JgsWxFY2E&t=180s

I really need to watch that movie some day.

[varadinagypal]

Could you please retract this fake, or at least edit the description? Or could anyone explain why the image contains a solar disk under the horizon? Thank you. Printscreen from the APOD main page, adjusted the gamma.



Full image -- but please do repeat after me, adjust the gamma and see the Sun below the horizon: https://csillagtura.ro/temp/printscreen1.jpg

[johnnydeep]

Could you please retract this fake, or at least edit the description? Or could anyone explain why the image contains a solar disk under the horizon? Thank you. Printscreen from the APOD main page, adjusted the gamma.



Full image -- but please do repeat after me, adjust the gamma and see the Sun below the horizon: https://csillagtura.ro/temp/printscreen1.jpg

Hmm. That's certainly interesting! I confirmed what you've found (using color adjustment in GIMP), but I'm not enough of an image processing expert to know what it means: does it really indicate some actual hidden - by (not necessarily nefarious!) image processing effect - sun surface behind the hill, or is something else going on? Here's my pic:

Gamma adjustment reveals hidden solar surface behind hill?

[varadinagypal]

Fellow amateur astronomer, Gábor HŐDÖR spent some more time with this ... work of art.



@APOD please think this through.

[varadinagypal]

Also, if you check out the little people and the tree, the light is coming from the left. ffs

[varadinagypal]

Is there a more official way to report fakes?

[johnnydeep]

Is there a more official way to report fakes?

Well, someone at APOD chose this picture and wrote the text, so contacting them might get a response. There are two possibilities:

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)

There's also the original photographer - who happens to be a native Spanish speaker, but likely can at least read and write English - and you could email him at jordilc86@gmail.com. His Facebook page is here - https://www.facebook.com/jordilopezphotography

As for why none of the other regulars are responding to your concern, I can't say. But I am at least still interested in what others have to say.

[varadinagypal]

Is there a more official way to report fakes?

Well, someone at APOD chose this picture and wrote the text, so contacting them might get a response. There are two possibilities:

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)

There's also the original photographer - who happens to be a native Spanish speaker, but likely can at least read and write English - and you could email him at jordilc86@gmail.com. His Facebook page is here - https://www.facebook.com/jordilopezphotography

As for why none of the other regulars are responding to your concern, I can't say. But I am at least still interested in what others have to say.

Well, the original photographer lectured me on facebook, right under the EPOD photo where we (mostly Hungarians*) tore his >>work of art<< apart. I wrote to the EPOD page owners, as they have published my work in 2013, so I believe they may trust my words as much to at least look into the issue as seriously as I pointed it out. There is no such trust built up with APOD, on the contrary, I often criticize because APOD goes, in my opinion, too much for eye candies and cuties, in detriment of astro-value, as, quite ironically, this APOD issue also demonstrates.

-----------
*I think the Hungarian astrophoto community can be viewed as a school, in the academic/artistic sense, but that is off topic here.