Most detailed pic of a sunspot ever taken

[n2doc]

NJIT Distinguished Professor Philip R. Goode and the Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO) team have achieved "first light" using a deformable mirror in what is called adaptive optics at Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO). Using this equipment, an image of a sunspot was published yesterday on the website of Ciel et l'Espace, as the photo of the day: http://www.cieletespace.fr/node/5752

"This photo of a sunspot is now the most detailed ever obtained in visible light," according to Ciel et l'Espace. In September, the publication, a popular astronomy magazine, will publish several more photos of the Sun taken with BBSO's new adaptive optics system.

Goode said that the images were achieved with the 1.6 m clear aperture, off-axis New Solar Telescope (NST) at BBSO. The telescope has a resolution covering about 50 miles on the Sun's surface.

The telescope is the crown jewel of BBSO, the first facility-class solar observatory built in more than a generation in the U.S. The instrument is undergoing commissioning at BBSO.

more
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-08/njio-san082410.php

"Black Hole Sun, won't you come, and wash away the rain?"

[liberal N proud]

1. WAY COOL!

[tabasco]

2. Looks like a sunflower. n/t

[jgraz]

9. Yeah, sunflower is not the first thing I thought of

But, then again, I'm 12.

[TheMadMonk]

15. Is this your second or third decade being 12? /nt

[jgraz]

16. Actually, it's my first.

Last decade, I was 8.

[baldguy]

3. Looks like Sauron

[Joe Chi Minh]

4. What a different world we'd be living in under Ghandi's leadership.

All truths uttered at different times by different Christians, but how wonderful it would have been had a Pope composed that epigrammatic compendium, and raised Cain about its particular applicability to the West.

Strange how the most seminal and significant truths seem to be expressible in a few words or mathematical symbols.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

6. lol, wut?

Did you wander out of the R&T forum?

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

8. Who's Ian David?

[Joe Chi Minh]

10. Is there anything you do know, old chap? Don't answer that. It was rhetorical. We're

all too aware of your, seemingly, permanently confused condition.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

11. OK then.

Say hello to Fred Phelps for me.

[Joe Chi Minh]

12. Don't know him. Looked him up. Is he a Catholic?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

13. More or less.

[Joe Chi Minh]

14. Well, if I come across him, I'll pass on your good wishes.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

22. Did you doctor say you'd develop leukemia if you didn't make at least 17 personal attacks a day?

[petronius]

21. Yep. Even if it's not Sauron exactly, it's unquestionably an eye

Cool pic...

[dickthegrouch]

5. It's full of stars - lol /nt

[Nihil]

17. Funny how subjective the phenomena is ...

> La température y est d'environ 3600°C. Tout autour, la mosaïque de petites
> cellules est ce qu'on appelle la granulation (température : environ 5800°C).

The "black" bit of the sunspot is about 3,600°C whilst the surrounding
"bright" cells are about 5,800°C.

3,600°C makes it look "dark"!

:wow:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

18. "3,600°C makes it look "dark"!" Ah, only in comparison to the surrounding material.

If you just looked at the isolated sunspot itself, while screening out the surrounding material, the sunspot would be white hot.

[Nihil]

19. Precisely!

I understand what is happening but I still find it wonderful! :hi:

[cleanhippie]

20. Wow! Very cool! Kinda looks like the eye of sauron, though!

[Posteritatis]

23. For scale, each of those granules is about half the size of the continental US. (nt)

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

24. Sunflower, eye... you people are too innocent.

:evilgrin:

[Orrex]

25. Not me... I thought the same thing.

A close-up of a peppercorn in an over-easy egg, right?