Hi all,
Sorry for the short notice this morning. Even though no one made it out to
join me there were a few people who happened on by to enjoy the views with
me. It was a good day for observing on the sun today.
I found a nice spot in front of the MicroCenter computer store. In the
parking lot in front of MicroCenter nearest the street there is a cement
diving island that is just wide enough for me to set up my little solar
oasis. I put out my umbrella, folding tables and chairs, my cooler full of
cold drinks, rolled out my carpet, set up observing chair, tripod, scopes
and filters and then enjoyed viewing the sun for a couple of hours. The
wind started to pick up around 1:00 so I packed up and left.
Today there were three sunspot groups but only the larger one was visible in
the chromosphere. There was some interesting swirling formations around
that sunspot and a nice filament nearby. Below that formation was a long
series of filaments that I've been watching for a few days. In all the
series extended well over half the diameter of the sun making it more than
half a million miles long. Today the sun had rotated so that this long
series of filaments now connected to the western limb. It actually looked
like it started from beyond the midline, angled up, then made a dramatic
curve to the right and then rode the limb upward for about 1/8th, then
disappeared. Just beyond it's end point was a nice fat prominence that rose
up and then thinned out dramatically as it extended to the right and then
connected again with the limb. At that point a giant formation extended way
up and had large spread out arms almost like it was some kind of large
lobster or crawfish standing on it's tail with it's claws and legs extended
out and curving slightly forward. I imagine that strange formation may have
been caused by a circular swirling of magnetic fields that whipped the
plasma up and then around almost like a giant hurricane. Around 2:00 on the
upper right there was another large prominence that looked like it also
extended up from the surface nearly 100,000 miles or so. It was quite tall.
There was more too... there was another bright active region and an
interesting jet on the south side that didn't last too long. There was
lot's of solar eye candy today.
Well I know we need the rain and all the skiers are happy but I sure miss
the sun sometimes. So it was good to get out and soak up some photons and
look up at Del Sol and admire it's violence and beauty.
Well my friends, that's it for today. See you again soon.
Michael Swartz
Received on Wed Apr 20 17:05:36 2005