by Michael Swartz
I then set up my umbrella for shade, set up the tables, fold out chairs, brought out the cooler and sandwich, turned on some jazz and sat down to relax and enjoy a nice lunch out in the middle of this parking lot at my little solar oasis. I am sure I must have been an odd site.
Bob Hess showed up a little later with his h-alpha gear. He got it all put together and we exchanged views, had some good conversation and tagteamed curious visitors.
We had maybe 20 to 30 people who were either walking by or driving by stop to talk and look through the scopes. One young man who worked at Borders stopped by to have a look and talked with me about string theory. Pretty smart kid. Quite a few people mentioned the article in National Geographic which I haven't had a chance to ready yet. And everyone enjoyed the views.
Even though spot 652 is getting close to the limb the detail that is visible is astounding. As I watched it today I could see subtle changes and occassionally dramatic activity around the spots. Opposite that feature was a large prominance which looked somewhat like a mohawk. It was tall and seemed to arch around towards the far side. As the sun moved across the mid-day sky and it's relative position rotated in my telescope that prominance seemed like it was getting larger. It also seemed to me that more structure was visible from the side is it got rotated higher in my field of view. There were some other interesting filaments that were visible at slight angles revealing their lacy structures.
It was actually really nice. By the time I started packing up I realized that 3 hours had passed and I was late for my next appointment. It is so easy to lose track of time when you are having fun under the sun with friends.
Well, I plan on getting out again either this week or next. I'll be sure and post my plans just in case anyone would like to join me.
Posted on sf-bay-tac Jul 27, 2004 20:31:48 PT
Converted by report.pm 1.2 Jan 04, 2005 22:53:41 PT