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Solar Astronomy
Space Science Lab 2008
Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute
Sunspots in 2001
Solar
Astronomy
is the study
of the Sun
and how it
affects
Earth…
What's 1.4 million
kilometers across,
covered with magnetic
spots?
Prominences are loops
of magnetic fields with
hot gas trapped inside.
Sometimes, as the fields
become unstable, the
they will erupt and rise
off of the Sun in just a
few minutes or hours.
Earth for size
comparison
On January 18, 2000,
SOHO spotted a
spectacular prominence,
shown here spanning a
24 hour period. At
maximum, the
prominence was about
100 times wider than the
Earth.
Research: Optical and Radio Observations of Solar Activity
Coronal mass ejections (or
CMEs) are huge bubbles
of Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs)
Solar
gas (about 1.5 Solar Radii)
threaded with magnetic field
lines that are ejected from the
Sun over the course of
several hours.
A CME leaves the Sun
traveling at about 1000 km/s
and can carry up to 10 billion
tons of electrified gas.
Coronal Mass Ejections disrupt the flow of the solar wind and produce
disturbances that strike the Earth with sometimes catastrophic results.
• Only 8 minutes after being released: can alter the Earth's outer
atmosphere, disrupting long-distance radio communications.
• An hour later: very energetic particles pushed along by the shock
wave of the CME can endanger astronauts or fry satellite electronics.
• One to Four days later: The actual coronal mass ejection arrives at
the Earth resulting in strong geomagnetic storms, aurorae and electrical
power blackouts
Radio Image of
the Sun taken at
1.4 GHz which
looks deep into
the Sun’s
atmosphere
where hot dense
regions known as
active regions
become visible.
These are the
sites of activity in
the Sun's
atmosphere.
Radio JOVE receiver picking up a
20 MHz solar flare…
Aurora from space…
Aurora seen from Earth…
Space Science Lab is a solar monitoring
and research station.
SSL shares its data with other solar
astronomers around the world.
Instruments include a 20.1 MHz radio
receiver, a 1420 MHz radio receiver, two
ground-based optical telescopes, and two
space-based optical telescopes.