Solar Lunch at Borders 9/24

by Michael Swartz

The sun looked good today. Only one spot group with only one mid sized spot visible in h-alpha. It was a little larger than Earth but not huge. there were some interesting magnetic patterns around it, a few hot spots but not much, some smaller filaments near the spot. Not spectacular but nice to look at anyway. Along the limb closest to the spot there was a nice array of small but bright prominences. Opposite the spot there was a larger fountain like prominence and a long winding filament close by.

I had maybe 30 or more visitors over the course of 2 hours. Most had never seen the sun through a telescope so it was a lot of fun answering questions and explaining the science behind what they were seeing. I even gave away a few cold cans of pepsi. Once contingent of Japanese businessmen came by. They were very impressed and rattled on in Japanese about it. I think that for all their seriousness they can be quite childlike sometimes. It was fun to watch them.

I hope you all had a good day too.

See you next time!

Posted on sf-bay-tac Sep 24, 2004 14:56:50 PT
Converted by report.pm 1.2 Jan 11, 2005 23:33:29 PT