ikenbot:

Imaged on June 16th 2012 from Anthem, AZ with Astro-Physics 152mm F8 and DayStar Quantum PE .5 Angstrom Filter. Flea2 video ccd camera. 4800mm EFL — Randy Shivak

[Sunspots](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunspot) are temporary phenomena on the photosphere of the Sun that appear visibly as dark spots compared to surrounding regions. They are caused by intense magnetic activity, which inhibits convection by an effect comparable to the eddy current brake, forming areas of reduced surface temperature. Like magnets, they also have two poles. Although they are at temperatures of roughly 3000–4500 K (2727–4227 °C), the contrast with the surrounding material at about 5780 K (5500 °C) leaves them clearly visible as dark spots, as the luminous intensity of a heated black body (closely approximated by the photosphere) is a function of temperature to the fourth power. If the sunspot were isolated from the surrounding photosphere it would be brighter than an electric arc. Sunspots expand and contract as they move across the surface of the Sun and can be as large as 80,000 kilometers (50,000 mi) in diameter, making the larger ones visible from Earth without the aid of a telescope. They may also travel at relative speeds (“proper motions”) of a few hundred m/s when they first emerge onto the solar photosphere.

ikenbot:

Cathedral Sunset

The sun was setting behind Germany´s famous Cologne Cathedral.

To achieve a large size of the sun behind the cathedral, the shot was taken from 40km away. The photographer has visited the shooting location the day before to find out the exact position for his shot. — Bernd Proschold

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The Diamond Ring Effect

Image by Oscar Martin Mesonero

Or better known as Baily’s Beads; The Baily’s beads effect is a feature of total solar eclipses.

As the moon “grazes” by the Sun during a solar eclipse, the rugged lunar limb topography allows beads of sunlight to shine through in some places, and not in others. The name is in honor of Francis Baily who first provided an exact explanation of the phenomenon in 1836. The diamond ring effect is seen when only one bead is left; a shining diamond set in a bright ring around the lunar silhouette.

ikenbot:

Sunrise at Ancient Temple of Poseidon

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Double Prominence Eruptions

The Sun erupted with two prominence eruptions, one after the other over a four-hour period (Nov. 16, 2012).

The action was captured in the 304 Angstrom wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light. It seems possible that the disruption to the Sun’s magnetic field might have triggered the second event since they were in relatively close proximity to each other. The expanding particle clouds heading into space do not appear to be Earth-directed.

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Sunset on the Alien Planet HD209458b: Osiris

The amazing image above of a sunset on exo-planet HD209458b 150 light years away, was reconstructed by Frederic Pont of the University of Exeter using data from a camera onboard the Hubble Space Telescope.

Pont used his knowledge of how the color of light changes based on chemicals it encounters, and computer modeling, to create an actual image of what a sunset on the actual planet would look like.

The large exo planet in question, exoplanet HD209458b, nicknamed Osiris, circles its star rather closely. At certain points, when the planet passes between us and its star, the light from that star passes through Osiris’s atmosphere before reaching us, which allowed Pont to determine the chemical composition of the atmosphere and deduce what colors would appear to the naked human eye.

The light from Osiris’s star is white, like our own sun, but when it passes through the sodium in Osirisi’s atmosphere, red light in it is absorbed, leaving the starlight to appear blue. But as the sun sets, the blue light is scattered in the same way as it is here on Earth (Rayleigh scattering) causing a gradual change to green, and then to a dim dark green. And finally, due to diffraction, the bottom of the image becomes slightly flattened.

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Sky During Totality

“There is much to see and experience during a total Solar eclipse, but the brief darkness of totality is never enough to absorb it all.

As the Sun’s corona becomes visible from behind the dark of the Moon, the sky has got as dark as twilight hours about 40 minutes after sunset. But unlike a normal dusk or dawn, the twilight colors can be seen all around the horizon in every direction with the daylight from the distant locations outside the shadow of the Moon. Brightest stars and planets can also be seen during the short minutes of totality.

In fact, if Venus is above the horizon, it can be seen even before the start of total eclipse. This all-sky panorama was photographed during the total Solar eclipse of 2012 November 14 from James Earl Lookout near Lakeland, in Queensland, Australia.

As the center of the shadow of the Moon passed 30 km south of this location, the southern (right) half of the sky got darker than the northern (left) half. The eclipsed Sun can be seen close to the eastern horizon, just above passing clouds. Bright Venus is easily visible higher in the eastern sky, to the upper left of the Sun.” — Tunc Tezel

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Like a Diamond in the Sky

A dark Sun hung over Queensland, Australia on Wednesday morning during a much anticipated total solar eclipse.

Storm clouds threatened to spoil the view along the northern coast, but minutes before totality the clouds parted. Streaming past the Moon’s edge, the last direct rays of sunlight produced a gorgeous diamond ring effect in this scene from Ellis Beach between Cairns and Port Douglas.