Huge Sunspot Aimed at Earth — Eruption Imminent?
The active region in question, called AR1476, is huge. In fact, as cheerfully pointed out by the SDO’s little yellow chicken mascot Camilla, the sunspot complex underlying the active region is about the size of Jupiter! In the image shown above, we are looking at light generated by plasma (heated to approximately 6,000 Celsius/Kelvin) in the sun’s photosphere. The sunspots appear dark as the sun’s intense magnetic field is thrusting through the photosphere from the interior, pushing the hotter surface layers aside, exposing the cooler plasma below.
Annular Solar Eclipse of May 20, 2012
On May 20, 2012, an annular solar eclipse of the sun will occur when the moon will block about 94 percent of the sun. This view from Japan’s Hinode spacecraft shows an example of an annular solar eclipse. This was taken during the solar eclipse of Jan. 4, 2011.
(Source: space.com)
Rare Venus Transit of Sun in June to Amaze Skywatchers
Make sure to see the June 5 passage of the planet Venus across the face of the sun: a similar event won’t happen again until the year 2117.
In the Image:
Watching the tiny silhouette of the planet Venus slowly cross the face of the sun doesn’t evoke the same drama and excitement as experiencing a total solar eclipse, but what makes a transit so unique is its rarity and historical significance.
(Source: space.com)
Sun’s Twin Discovered — the Perfect SETI Target?
There are 10 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy that are the same size as our sun. Therefore it should come as no surprise that astronomers have identified a clone to our sun lying only 200 light-years away.
Still, it is fascinating to imagine a yellow dwarf that is exactly the same mass, temperature and chemical composition as our nearest star. In a recent paper reporting on observations of the star — called HP 56948 — astronomer Jorge Melendez of the University of San Paulo, Brazil, calls it “the best solar twin known to date.”
Sun
Complete time-lapse video of the Sun, spanning the entire months of September, October and November 2011 as seen through the SWAP ultraviolet instrument onboard the European Space Agency spacecraft Proba-2.
Transit of Mercury across the sun
Because of its close proximity to the sun, Mercury is often lost in the glare and is usually best seen from Earth only when there is a solar eclipse. From the Northern Hemisphere, you can sometimes see it at dawn or twilight. Here Mercury crosses the sun in 2006. Mercury is the small black dotin the lower middle of the sun. The sunspot on the extreme left of the star is actually bigger than the planet.
Spectacular Solar Flare Erupts From the Sun
The sun is currently in an active phase of its 11-year solar weather cycle and is expected to reach its peak activity in 2013. The current solar weather cycle is known as Solar Cycle 24.
Look Up! Saturn Opposes the Sun
Saturn’s illuminated majestic rings and the gas giant’s shadow are captured during this 2007 Cassini mission photograph. Read More
It’s a twice in a lifetime moment: the transit of Venus across the Sun
On 6 June, an event that takes place only four times every two centuries will enthral the world’s astronomers, as it has ever since the 1600s – but now it can provide priceless data in the hunt for habitable planets in deep space
In the image:
1. The tiny black disc of Venus edges across the Sun during the last transit, in 2004. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod for the Observer
An animated image of the Sun, showing a large solar flare erupting on March 5, 2012, launching a coronal mass ejection into space. (NASA/ESA) #
A Trip Across the Solar System
A view of the Sun on March 7, 2012, seen in extreme ultraviolet wavelengths by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly aboard NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. Looping lines reveal solar plasma that is rising and falling along magnetic field lines in the solar atmosphere, or corona. The brighter prominence at upper left is named solar active region 1429, which has already released several large solar flares, some accompanied by large explosions of solar plasma known as coronal mass ejections.
