| Author | Message | ||
     Ferris |
when the sun rose over the mountains this morning, heavily filtered as it is right now with all the smoke from the LA fires, i could plainly see several large sunspots on its surface, with just the naked eye. i'm curious if its unusual to see sunspots without the aid of binoculars or a telescope, and am also wondering if sunspot activity right now is above or below average. anybody? FB | ||
| Newfie_buell |
Ferris, Did it look like this Solar Flares Could have something to do with that. | ||
| Ftd |
Sunspot activity reaches its peak every 11 years. The last peak was in 2000 but there is a lot of activity right now. A huge solar flare occurred recently and its affects will be felt by us (Earth) today/tonight. FTD | ||
| Reindog |
Ferris: Check out this link: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=570&ncid=753&e=1&u=/nm/20031029/ sc_nm/space_flare_dc "Scientists said the cloud of charged particles unleashed at high speeds by a hyperactive Sun and known as a coronal mass ejection (CME) was traveling at more than 5 million mph, taking just 19 hours from the Sun. " Coronal mass ejections are heightened when Sun spots group together so it is possible that is what you observed. Coronal mass ejections.....what a concept! edited by reindog on October 29, 2003 | ||
| Ray_maines |
FWIW: A story on the 5:00 news last night said we should expect interruptions and inaccuracies to communications and navigation in the next few weeks because of unusually heavy solar activity. | ||
| Newblaster |
Somewhat related info: Last night's aurora was visible as far south as central CA. Ferris, if you see this post before tonight, you may want to step outside and look north. That high in the mountains, you may see something interesting! Wish I wasn't in the southern part of SF. lol... Scott | ||
| Newfie_buell |
Newsblaster, On a clear night outside the city around September you can almost always see the Northern Lights. Absolutely Beautiful | ||
| Crusty |
Hey Newfie, what are the probabilities that we'll see the Northern Lights next August? | ||
| Ferris |
thanks for the responses, guys, guess i should do a better job of keeping up on things BESIDES working and riding  went outside after dark last night but could see no Northern Lights. in a past life i spent two seasons commercial fishing in the waters of SE Alaska, and have seen the Northern Lights probably half a dozen times. hard to explain to someone who has not seen them how grand, magnificent, and spiritually moving they are. when they really get going, it's almost like you can HEAR them. waited to post this morning 'til after sunrise, but the smoke has cleared out (at least up here), and i was unable to look at the sun at all due to its brightness. the spots yesterday were plainly visible with the naked eye, and even more impressive thru the binoculars. imagine a deep orange-red disc with what looked all the world like someone had taken a black felt pen and done some creative "dot" work in several places. not sure if these "spots" are actually solar flares, and they just look like spots because of the angle of our view from here on Earth. i scanned the perimeter of the sun yesteday, hoping to see a flare, but didn't. i imagine that might take a lot more magnification than the binocs could offer. Coronal mass ejections.....what a concept! Forger, i'm assuming you don't mean what happens when you drink WAYYYYY too much Corona??? FB  | ||
| Davegess |
Ferris, not sure that looking at the sun directly is a real good idea. The UV is what burns your retina and this can happen even if you feel no pain. I know you can look directly at the sun comfortably during partial eclipses and if you do it for more than a few moments you can be in big trouble. | ||
| Ferris |
Dave, i agree wholeheartedly, but you would have had to have seen how extremely filtered the sun was yesterday, because of the thick smoke, to understand. even thru the binocs you could look at it for about the first five minutes after sunrise without the slightest hint of squinting. point well taken, tho. FB | ||
| Ara |
Best site on the web for monitoring solar activity is http://spaceweather.com/ On that site you can get instructions for safely viewing sunspots by using a pair of binoculars to project the sun's image onto a piece of paper. Davegess is right: If you attempt to view the sun directly you won't feel it until the damage is both severe and permanent. It'll end your days as a motorycyclist. | ||
| Turnagain |
Best site on the web for monitoring / seeing Auroral Activity is Extrapolated from NOAA POES |
