by Michael Swartz
I found a nice spot in front of the MicroCenter computer store. In the parking lot in front of MicroCenter nearest the street there is a cement diving island that is just wide enough for me to set up my little solar oasis. I put out my umbrella, folding tables and chairs, my cooler full of cold drinks, rolled out my carpet, set up observing chair, tripod, scopes and filters and then enjoyed viewing the sun for a couple of hours. The wind started to pick up around 1:00 so I packed up and left.
Today there were three sunspot groups but only the larger one was visible in the chromosphere. There was some interesting swirling formations around that sunspot and a nice filament nearby. Below that formation was a long series of filaments that I've been watching for a few days. In all the series extended well over half the diameter of the sun making it more than half a million miles long. Today the sun had rotated so that this long series of filaments now connected to the western limb. It actually looked like it started from beyond the midline, angled up, then made a dramatic curve to the right and then rode the limb upward for about 1/8th, then disappeared. Just beyond it's end point was a nice fat prominence that rose up and then thinned out dramatically as it extended to the right and then connected again with the limb. At that point a giant formation extended way up and had large spread out arms almost like it was some kind of large lobster or crawfish standing on it's tail with it's claws and legs extended out and curving slightly forward. I imagine that strange formation may have been caused by a circular swirling of magnetic fields that whipped the plasma up and then around almost like a giant hurricane. Around 2:00 on the upper right there was another large prominence that looked like it also extended up from the surface nearly 100,000 miles or so. It was quite tall. There was more too... there was another bright active region and an interesting jet on the south side that didn't last too long. There was lot's of solar eye candy today.
Well I know we need the rain and all the skiers are happy but I sure miss the sun sometimes. So it was good to get out and soak up some photons and look up at Del Sol and admire it's violence and beauty.
Well my friends, that's it for today. See you again soon.
Posted on sf-bay-tac Apr 20, 2005 17:04:27 PT
Converted by report.pm 1.2 Apr 23, 2005 22:32:26 PT