Beastly Sunspot Amazes, Heightens Eclipse Excitement

universetoday.com ^ | on October 22, 2014 | Bob King

[BenLurkin]

Properly shielded, it was very easy to see with the naked eye. Unlike some other naked eye sunspots, this one showed structure. The eastern end was darker, the western half grayer and more extended.

Through a small telescope, the mix of dark umbras scattered amid weirdly sculpted penumbral “islands” was incredible to see. Photographs like the one above are wonderful documents, but witnessing this beautiful complex magnetic mess with your own eyes is another experience altogether. Region 2192 continues to grow and size and complexity and is now the largest sunspot group of solar cycle 24 which began in 2009 – more than five years ago

[BenLurkin]

72-hour time-lapse video taken by SOHO’s HMI imager Oct. 18-20, 2014 [28 seconds]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMhMIbGUiY0

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

What a monster!

No wonder the skip has been so good lately.

[djf]

Here’s keepin my fingers crossed that that puppy doesn’t let loose with an X15 or so!

[Noob1999]

Wow, that’s a big spot.

It’s sure reassuring that the sun has no impact on
globull warming, otherwise we’d be screwed, no
matter how much carbon dioxide cows fart!

[mikrofon]

Extract from today's APOD (plus appropriate Ping ;)

Should be an interesting sight w/ tomorrow's Partial eclipse ...

[G Larry]

>http://www.drugstore.com/popups/largerphoto/default.asp?pid=518670&catid=182267&size=500&trx=29888&trxp1=518670&trxp2=1<

[mikrofon]

Live view from Prescott, AZ

[dr_lew]

We were socked in by clouds here in Chitown, but I checked at about 5:15, and noticed the horizon looked pretty bright. Went outside and saw shafts of sunlight through the neighborhood, with the sun very low. Grabbed my Astroscan and set it up on the sidewalk across the street, and managed to catch this snapshot using eyepiece projection onto a clipboard, with trees and a chimney obscuring the view.

Think of it as art:

[mikrofon]

That’s a neat, ethereal image .... very Halloween-ish ;)

Here in WNY, it was totally clear skies, but the eclipse started only 1/2 hour before sunset & was behind obstructions by the time it was low enough to safely view.

[mikrofon]

From the SLOOH webcast:

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks mikrofon. Extra to APoD. Maybe I’ll actually get the regular posts to APoD done sometime.

[mikrofon]

n/p, you do seem to have a lot on your plate – not to encroach on your turf ;-)

I always go to the APOD site & Astronomy Topic threads on my own anyway…