Thursday, April 12, 2012

Enormous Filament

Filaments and Prominences

Large sunspots have been rare in early April. Nevertheless, when cloudless skies and mild temperatures beckoned I set up my solar telescope and camera for some Sun watching. On April 7th only a single sunspot, numbered 1450, had nearly finished rotating across the Sun's disk. But this lonely sunspot was accompanied by an enormous, sinuous filament shown in the panoramic image below.
Huge, sinuous filament to the left of sunspot 1450 (Click for full detail.)
 More filaments appeared near the solar limb opposite the sunspot.
Two more filaments hover above the nearly spotless Sun (Click for full detail.)
Several prominences also graced the Sun's limb:
Nice prominence with yet another filament at top center (Click for full detail.)
More prominences add to the show! (Click for full detail.)
 Even with just one sunspot the Sun can put on quite a display!
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People say I'm crazy doing what I'm doing
Well they give me all kinds of warnings to save me from ruin
When I say that I'm o.k. well they look at me kind of strange
Surely you're not happy now you no longer play the game

People say I'm lazy dreaming my life away
Well they give me all kinds of advice designed to enlighten me
When I tell them that I'm doing fine watching shadows on the wall
Don't you miss the big time boy you're no longer on the ball

I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round
I really love to watch them roll
No longer riding on the merry-go-round
I just had to let it go

John Lennon