During the course of a year, as the Earth orbits the Sun, the position and timing of the Sun set changes. Below are two photographs, taken exactly a day apart and then superimposed on one another, that illustrate just how much it changes!
Remember! Never look at the sun directly, and it can result in blindness.
Yet another comet has been seen falling towards the Sun today, only to be vaporised and never seen again!
If you are wondering where Jupiter and Mercury are at the moment... they are hiding behind the Sun!
Below is a movie using data from the Lasco C3 insrtument on the NASA/ESA SOHO observatory, during February 2010. SOHO points constantly at the Sun, and so it allows us the see Venus, Jupiter and Mercury following their orbits around the far-side of the Sun.
It begins with Venus leaving the scene towards the left (which is why we can see it now in the evening sky), and then Jupiter moving left to right, and finally Mercury appearing!
Note that Lasco C3 is sensitive to 540nm-640nm wavebands, which is mid-green through to mid-red... so I've changed the usual blue colour to grey-scale (I think true colour would be a yellowish-brown...?).
Note also the 'bleeding' of the bright planets - they are so bright, that electrons over-flow into neighbouring cells on the Lasco-C3 CCDs. Note the the Sun is hidden behind a disk, to ensure that its brightness does not damage the camera.
It is beginning to look like the Sun is coming out of its minimum state - there are more spots on the sun! Here is the view today, 8th February, 2010.
For the latest images of solar activity, see SpaceWeather.com.
If you want to see the sunspots for yourself, make sure you do it safety! There are plenty of safe ways to look the Sun which will not blind you, such as using a solar telescope, or by projecting an image of the Sun onto paper. Never look at the Sun directly, as permanent blindness may result.
There are currently spots on the Sun!
If you want to see the sunspots for yourself, make sure you do it safety! There are plenty of safe ways to look the Sun which will not blind you, such as using a solar telescope, or by projecting an image of the Sun onto paper.
On Friday, there is a Annular Eclipse of the Sun, from 04:05 GMT, with mid eclipse at 07:07 GMT, and ending at 08:59 GMT... yes, that's in the middle of the night for us here in the UK, so unfortunately, we will not be able to see it at all! (and even when the Sun is visible at the end of the eclipse, the Moon is slightly off to one side as seen from the UK)
The eclipse will be visible from Africa and across India, as show in the map below.
Below is an animation I made from a series of photographs taken during the annular eclipse of 2005. The reason it is an annular, and not total, is that the Moon orbits the Earth not in a circle, but in an ellipse. During this eclipse, the Moon is slightly further away than on average, making it appear slightly smaller, and so too small to cover the Sun completely.
More details can be found on the Wikipedia.
If you do happen to be in the path of the eclipse, do not look at it with your eyes, since you will probably be blinded for life. Instead, use solar glasses, a simple and cheap solar telescope, or just use your hands as a pinhole projector!
Although we are definitely at a solar minimum, that does not mean nothing is happening!
The sequence of images below, taken by the NASA/ESA SOHO Observatory, shows a small sun spot system moving over the last week, as the Sun itself rotates.
With a lot of imagination, you can half-believe that it looks a bit like a Christmas tree, too!
Merry Christmas everyone!
The Sun has an 11 year cycle of activity, and for the last two years the Sun has been very quiet indeed. Last year had the second fewest number of sun spots - in only 1913 was the Sun less active (see this plot of inactivity).
So it has been nice to see a few sunspots on the Sun over the last few days, as shown in the SOHO observatory image below.
A nice image for sure... But I'm still looking forward a few years, when the Sun will (hopefully!) look more like the following image taken in November 2003!
The Sun has an 11 year cycle of activity - and we're currently in a low point. There has not been a single spot on the Sun for 45 days in a row! That means that we are now in the deepest solar minimum for a hundred years (and that we cannot blame the Sun for global warming).
Being that there are no Sun-spots, you might think that it is a bad time to be using a solar telescope - but that is not the case (which is fortunate for us here at Sussex since we have two solar telescopes that are available for schools to use!).
Take a look at this image taken by the SOHO observatory...
Even when the Sun is in a quiet state, jets of hot gas can be seen though a solar telescope. For the latest images, take a look at the SOHO realtime data page.
And remember, never look at the Sun directly since it will damage your eyes. Always use equipment with the appropriate solar filters.
