Astroblog: Sunspot 978

Sunday, December 09, 2007

Sunspot 978

Image Credit NASA/SOHO.

Solar Minimum has persisted for a while, and the Sun has been free of any substantial sunspots (or any sunspots at all) for quite a while. However, this has changed with the appearance of Sunspot 978. Actually its a complex of Sunspots, covering around 6 times the area of the Earth. The image to the left shows Sunspot group near the middle left hand edge. I tried viewing this sunspot directly with solar film, and using binocular projection, but I couldn't make it out. Family duties (including destroying our TV reception while trying to fix it [don't ask]) prevented me from setting up the telescope, but I might have a go tomorrow.

As for the C3 image next to the Sunspot image. Wondering where Mercury has been lately? It's the bright "star" on the middle of the right hand side of the image. The next brightest dot near the bottom right of the image is Antares.

This video (from SOHO archives)Shows a nice solar flare as Mercury heads in towards the Sun, while Antares heads out.

Labels: Mercury, Soho, Sun, sunspot