| Even a quiet Sun can be a busy place.
And over the deep
Solar Minimum
of the past few years, our Sun has been
unusually quiet.
The above image, taken last week in a
single color of light called
Hydrogen Alpha and then false colored, records a great amount of detail of the simmering surface of
our parent star.
The gradual brightening towards the Sun's edge in this color-inverted image, called
limb darkening, is caused by increased absorption of
relatively cool solar gas.
Just over the Sun's edges, several
prominences are visible,
while two prominences on the Sun's face are
seen as light streaks just above and right of the image center.
Two particularly active areas
of the Sun are marked by dark
plages.
In contrast to recent quiet times,
our Sun is moving toward Solar Maximum, and
for years will likely
appear
much
more
active.
Credit & Copyright:
Alan Friedman
(Averted Imagination)
|
