Boiling Sun

Prelude to Disaster

More sunspots had rotated onto the Sun's disk just three days after my June 26 solar observations. Despite predicted scorching temperature I decided to try imaging the now multi-spotted Sun. My solar telescope and camera were hastily set up as early as possible on the morning of June 29, but I was immediately disappointed by poor seeing conditions. Solar features wavered so much it was hard to focus. I persevered hoping for some moments of atmospheric calm. It takes about 27 seconds to record enough video to produce one still image, so I needed just a few 27-second periods of relative calm. Only one hour after beginning I was pouring sweat and starting to feel woozy as the temperature reached 90F (32.2C). At that point some high clouds began crossing the Sun. It was time to quit.

Even though seeing was generally poor, I was able to capture four respectable images. First, look at sunspot 1515, a growing monster which later became very big, complex, and eruptive:

Sunspot 1515 (Click for full detail.)

Notice the big prominence arching upward on the left side of the image above. Here's an image showing just this prominence:

Sunspot 1513 had also rotated onto the Sun's disk since June 26:

Sunspot 1513 (Click for full detail.)

Finally, sunspot 1512, also present on June 26, still existed on June 29. Here it is accompanied by a filament:

Sunspot 1512 and filament (Click for full detail.)

The morning imaging session was a prelude to disaster! A few hours after packing up my gear afternoon temperatures at my observing site reached 107F (41.7C)! That evening extremely violent storms with maximum winds near 90 MPH (145 km/hr) passed through knocking out electric power over wide areas of Virginia and several other states. Tree limbs were down everywhere, but my home was not damaged. It took a couple hours to clean my yard the next morning. Unfortunately, our electric power was out for 2.7 steamy days with temperatures near 100F (37.8C) every day. Many people in the area endured more than a week without power, and we all gained a new appreciation for air conditioning.