This photo was captured in my driveway with a special solar telescope that has many filters in place so that it doesn't melt my camera (or my eyes).
Our Sun is a star, just like the ones that we see in the night sky. It's just a lot closer to us than the other ones we see at night.
The flowy strands in the photo are "solar filaments." These are regions of dense, cool gas held in place by the Sun's magnetic field. Filaments typically last for a few weeks to a few months. Sometimes, they shoot away from the Sun and head toward Earth, causing "geomagnetic storms."
In 1989, one of these storms caused a power blackout in Canada that left 6 million people without electricity for 12 hours. The same storm also melted power transformers in New Jersey.
Notably, it takes only 8 minutes for light to travel from the Sun to Earth. So--you could *see* an explosion on the Sun, and then experience its fallout 8 minutes later on Earth. While chaotic, these storms also create beautiful auroras on Earth (appearing like the Northern Lights).
The little flares on the outer edge of the Sun photo ("prominences") are still solar filaments--they just look different because there is nothing behind them.
The Sun's core is 27 million degrees Fahrenheit. For context, Lava (on earth) is about 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. This makes the Sun's core 13,500 times hotter than lava.
The Sun itself rotates...but because it's made of gas, different parts move at different speeds. The center of the Sun completes a rotation in 24 days, whereas its polar regions rotate in about 30 days.
The Sun is 93 million miles away from us on Earth. For context, the Moon is about 240 thousand miles away.
All of the planets in our solar system orbit the sun. The sun itself orbits the milky way galaxy (every 230 million years).
Full size image available here: https://astrob.in/full/sgo8li/0/
**WARNING: PLEASE DO NOT USE A REGULAR TELESCOPE TO LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN.**
Our Sun is a star, just like the ones that we see in the night sky. It's just a lot closer to us than the other ones we see at night.
The flowy strands in the photo are "solar filaments." These are regions of dense, cool gas held in place by the Sun's magnetic field. Filaments typically last for a few weeks to a few months. Sometimes, they shoot away from the Sun and head toward Earth, causing "geomagnetic storms."
In 1989, one of these storms caused a power blackout in Canada that left 6 million people without electricity for 12 hours. The same storm also melted power transformers in New Jersey.
Notably, it takes only 8 minutes for light to travel from the Sun to Earth. So--you could *see* an explosion on the Sun, and then experience its fallout 8 minutes later on Earth. While chaotic, these storms also create beautiful auroras on Earth (appearing like the Northern Lights).
The little flares on the outer edge of the Sun photo ("prominences") are still solar filaments--they just look different because there is nothing behind them.
The Sun's core is 27 million degrees Fahrenheit. For context, Lava (on earth) is about 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. This makes the Sun's core 13,500 times hotter than lava.
The Sun itself rotates...but because it's made of gas, different parts move at different speeds. The center of the Sun completes a rotation in 24 days, whereas its polar regions rotate in about 30 days.
The Sun is 93 million miles away from us on Earth. For context, the Moon is about 240 thousand miles away.
All of the planets in our solar system orbit the sun. The sun itself orbits the milky way galaxy (every 230 million years).
Full size image available here: https://astrob.in/full/sgo8li/0/
**WARNING: PLEASE DO NOT USE A REGULAR TELESCOPE TO LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN.**
