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RAC Main Forum => General Discussion => Topic started by: fealeybob14 on October 06, 2017, 11:20:39 AM
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Not sure if there has been a past topic that would be a home for this post but missions such as SOHO https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/realtime-update.html continue to provide useful visual ephemerides of the sun and inner solar system objects. Daily images provide current sunspot locations for example. Images from August 21 provided context for what we observed during totality. The LASCO C3 observations viewed in the SOHO Movie theater https://sohodata.nascom.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/soho_movie_theater for the last week for example shows (on Sept 26th) what appears to be a tiny comet like body vaporizing into the sun and then the planet Mercury (on Sept 28th) as it swings in approaching superior conjunction. (to see this, highlight the LASCO C3 observations and put in the dates 2017-09-26 to 2017-10-06 and play the images at a fast rate). A few CME's also appear during this period.
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An interesting SOHO C3 image from this morning.
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Watch the short period comet 96P/Machholz swing around the sun over the last 3 days using the SOHO movie theater images https://sohodata.nascom.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/soho_movie_theater. Jupiter is also in view as it emerges from behind the sun. Choose the LASCO C3 images and put in the dates 2017-10-26 to 2017-10-29 in the above link page. A still from yesterday is shown below.
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Venus, moving towards superior conjunction has now entered the fov of LASCO C3 (below image) as the star Antares is leaving!
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The planet Venus at superior conjunction as it appears today in the fov of SOHO LASCO C2 https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/c2/512/
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Ugh!!! I was foolish to rely on one ‘armchair observing site’ (SOHO) and so almost entirely missed the sunspot group (thanks Randy for kindly pointing it out to me yesterday!) pictured below (red arrow). A reflection artifact (white arrow) also was noted while using the SteadyPix I phone adapter.
I had last observed the sun around Jan 25th or so and didn’t see any spots. Nor did SOHO and so I relied on the latter over the last 2 weeks to inform me about sunspots. I hadn’t noticed the last SOHO sun image was dated Jan 28th. Other sources such as Space Weather http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/communities/space-weather-enthusiasts (thanks Mike C) show the current view of the visible sun, with the spots still visible. The I-phone image did not do justice to the telescope appearance!
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However, to the SOHO site's credit, they have posted a link, https://umbra.nascom.nasa.gov/newsite/images.html ,to current images while they work on updating the SOHO web access to images and videos.
Links to many other solar imagery and solar-terrestrial observations are found on the above site as well.
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A nice article on the quiet sun by Bob Henson of Weather Underground is presented here: https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/Weirdly-Quiet-Sun-May-Get-Even-Quieter-and-BTW-Earth-Still-Warming
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There is a large sunspot rotating into view according to SOHO https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/hmi_igr/512/ and Space weather https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/communities/space-weather-enthusiasts websites.
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Don't know when we'll see the sun again so for now I'll post this image of an impressive sunspot from the SOHO website https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/hmi_igr/512/ !
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That sunspot is not huge ... but it's bigger than Earth!
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At last some sunshine! The image below compares the current SOHO sun with an image made about 11:30 am this morning using the ORION Starblast with solar filter, a 20 mm eyepiece and my I-phone 6.
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Bob, I was out observing that sunspot too, maybe 12:15, or so. I recall it had a "stripe" across the middle, looking a bit like an "8" when I saw it. I wanted to sketch it or image it, but after my kids all had a look, they were hungry. And I thought feeding them would be more important. I really should put my phone adapter with the eyepieces!
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Thanks Luka! Yes higher power (via a 7 mm eyepiece) even with the Starblast showed more detail in the sunspot as you describe. A not so great closeup pic of the sunspot is shown below using Starblast, the 7 mm eyepiece and I-phone 6.
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Hey! Maybe the sun is waking up a bit! We now have two sizable sunspots to enjoy. Image below taken 5/7/2019 with my Starblast 4.5 inch reflector using a 20 mm eyepiece and Orion sun filter, Orion 'Steady Pix Quick Smartphone Adapter' and an I-Phone 6 using the Camera+ app.
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SOHO (C3) movie theater shows Venus as it approaches inferior conjunction ...
https://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/data/Theater/
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Today's SOHO LASCO C3 image shows two planets (Venus and Mars) in superior conjunction in the constellation Leo.
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That's a neat image!
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Thanks Luka! Had to post again as Mercury has now entered the fov of C3 SOHO's camera.
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Now go to the SOHO Movie Theater https://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/data/Theater/ and choose the C3 image at 512 image resolution, the dates Aug 30 to Sept 1 and generate the images, and watch the neat celestial (solar system) orbital mechanics of Venus, Mars and Mercury. Notable is the faster orbital motion of Mercury (than Venus) as it swings into superior conjunction and the slower motion of dim Mars (with respect to the background star Regulus on the far right) as Earth overtakes it and Mars moves towards conjunction with the sun. (No need to download the 250+ images generated; just use the buttons below the first image to play the sequence)!
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SOHO images (C3) from early Jan 2020 show conjuctions of planets Saturn, Mercury and Jupiter as well as a possible coronal mass ejection (CME). Selected images are below, but also run the SOHO Movie Theater https://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/data/Theater/ (with C3, 512 resolution and dates Jan 6 thru Jan 8th) for a nice video of the events.
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Almost missed this small sunspot group!
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While the evening star Venus has sunken from view Mercury is still (barely) visible in the NW after sunset. SOHO image from today (left) shows Venus approaching inferior conjunction in Taurus. A screenshot image from several weeks ago using a moon filter on my 10 inch SCT is attached.
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One cannot rest when it comes to the "quiet sun"; today's SOHO image shows a new sunspot group! I am also sure there were others (maybe one or two) that were wondering how close was Venus to making a transit of the sun during its recent inferior conjunction. Well check out the C2 SOHO movie theater from June 2nd to June 5th to find out! https://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/data/Theater/
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The latest SOHO C3 image shows what appears to be a comet (?new);https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/c3/512/
Using the SOHO movie theater with C3 and dates 6-23 and 6-24 shows the probable comet approaching the sun (right lower C3 fov).
The Sungrazer Project https://sungrazer.nrl.navy.mil/index.php?p=FAQs seems to mention a left upper fov comet thats visible in SOHO C2 and C3??
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Bob, yes, there is a comet there: Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3).
They do mention it here on spaceweather.com: https://spaceweather.com/ (https://spaceweather.com/)
Scroll done a bit to see it mentioned, has the SOHO image.
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Awesome Jeff! Thanks so much! Would be great if that comet would get brighter and visible on the outbound journey!
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Yeah, it would be nice if it is visible here at a mag 3 or so when it emerges on the other side.
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A good site to follow this comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) here: https://theskylive.com/c2020f3-tracker
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This site is excellent and now my favorite for following (and hopefully getting out to see and photograph) comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) https://theskylive.com/c2020f3-info#position
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The links above seem to be down. Link to spaceweather.com instead. https://spaceweather.com/
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Wow! The comet in our morning skies is awesome in 7 x 50 binoculars. One has to have clear, relatively dark skies and a good view of the northeastern sky fairly close to the horizon. At present the best viewing times are between 3:30 to 4:30 am. There have been many comet photos published (see https://spaceweather.com/). Looking forward to evening views of the comet in the NW skies in the coming weeks.
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Please see the photos of our illustrious member Josef of comet neowise here: https://rochesterskies.org/comet-c-2020-f3-neowise-seen-early-july/
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Was checking out the sun 2 days ago and noticed a new sunspot seen here on the SOHO website.https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/hmi_igr/512/
Note as this site updates daily positions of sunspots etc. will change. Currently, Aug 2nd no sunspots are visible.
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But hey it's a day later (August 3rd) and it appears another sunspot is coming into view! https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/hmi_igr/512/
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Now that I'm working from home more, I'll have to make time to observe these. Maybe even sketch or image some.
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That would be neat Luka, although the sunspots are pretty sparse these days!
Had a nice armchair observation this am between 3:45 am and 4:15 am while looking out our living room picture window ... some Perseids of course! In a patch of sky looking NNE (from Polaris over to Capella diagonally), I observed 8 nice meteors, all likely Perseids based on their trajectory.
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Mercury, heading towards superior conjunction, appears in this animated SOHO C3 field of view. https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/LATEST/current_c3.gif
(If you wait for all the images from 8/8 to 8/13 to load, you will then see a repeated, faster animation!). The sequence updates itself daily (or possibly with each new image taken).
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Looks like several coronal mass ejections have happened in the last 2 to 3 days. Spaceweather https://spaceweather.com/ has a nice description of the latest one. (Note, this site changes it's reports daily, so link to the archive file date that this was posted)!
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A new sunspot group has appeared today! Will try to get a Starblast image to compare with SOHO's!
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Mercury is exiting the SOHO C3 fov. https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/LATEST/current_c3.gif
EDIT. And watch this tiny comet dive into the sun! https://spaceweather.com/
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Spaceweather https://spaceweather.com/ from today (Sept 8th) has a neat picture of Mars and the moon at sunrise. Photo and details here: https://spaceweathergallery.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=167889
And check out what appears to be several coronal mass ejections captured on C2 SOHO imaging over the last 2 days. https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/LATEST/current_c2.gif
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Spaceweather, https://spaceweather.com/ has an interesting note and photo of the current sunspot (2776) that's easily visible at this time.
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Watch the sun eject a 'smoke ring' shaped CME on today's spaceweather https://spaceweather.com/ page. The movie is from the C3 camera of SOHO https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/LATEST/current_c3.gif. Just before the CME a small comet is seen on its way to crash into the sun! Here is the incoming comet on the C2 camera! https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/LATEST/current_c2.gif.
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A new sunspot group (AR27778) has just appeared on the sun since yesterday! It bears watching to see if significant daily changes are evident and should be interesting to see in appropriately sun-filtered small telescopes. (Hoping to get a photo this week!)
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Got a nice view of sunspot group 2778 at noon today with the Orion Starblast fitted with a sun-filter. No time for a photo however. Maybe try tomorrow. Counted 12 individual spots in the group.
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Darn ... clouds moved in after 12 noon so I didn't image that sunspot group. Maybe in a couple of days when the sun is out.
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Was able to image sunspots 2779 and 2778 with the Orion StarBlast telescope and Orion 6.3 mpixel 'mini' color camera on Oct 30 around 12:30 pm. Took a still image from the video and compared that to the SOHO sun image from earlier in the day as shown below. (WOW so glad we can post images again!)
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Another sunspot group (2781) is rotating into view. Viewed today; will photograph tomorrow! Check out https://spaceweather.com/ for details.
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Sunspot group AR 2781 is quite impressive! It has rotated into an ideal view for observers with sun filtered telescopes. A view from 3 days ago (11-6-2020) taken with the StarBlast 4.5 inch reflector with Orion solar filter and 6.3 Mpixel camera is shown below. Great views and discussions continue on https://spaceweather.com
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A great Mars 3-D imaging video from the Pic Du Midi observatory is today's feature on https://spaceweather.com/. A complete rotation of Mars is presented taken during the close opposition this October and early November.
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SOHO C3 shows a big coronal mass ejection (CME) today and solar flare. The sunspot responsible should be rotating into view in a few days.
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An interesting C3 gif movie from SOHO today shows the planet Mercury nearing superior conjunction (below the sun to the right) as well as a small comet (Erasmus) entering the fov on the right in the last few frames. https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/LATEST/current_c3.gif
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Mercury (lower left) and comet Erasmus (top left) are soon to exit the SOHO C3 field of view (fov) https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/LATEST/current_c3.gif. Sun is relatively quiet today but increased activity is in the forecast https://spaceweather.com/.
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Today's C2 SOHO images includes two small comets that were eventually vaporized by the sun. Also see https://spaceweather.com/
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A nice SOHO C3 gif animation from today shows the two comets mentioned above and the planets Saturn and Jupiter (bright objects to the left of the sun). Pretty cool! https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/LATEST/current_c3.gif.
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Another interesting SOHO C3 gif animation from today shows bright Jupiter, less bright Saturn moving to solar conjunction; a small sun grazing comet appears near the end of the video at the 8-oclock position. https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/LATEST/current_c3.gif
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SOHO shows some interesting solar activity on it's latest C2 and C3 videos https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/gif/. Venus appears on the right in the C3 as it closes in on superior conjunction. Sun has 2 new sunspot groups. https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/hmi_igr/1024/latest.html
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Venus, moving to superior solar conjunction has entered the fov of SOHO C2 imaging https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/LATEST/current_c2.gif. Will pass within 2 degrees of the sun on March 26th https://in-the-sky.org/news.php?id=20210326_11_100.
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C2 gif movies from today show Venus moving away from its superior sun conjunction. Note also what appears to be a small sun-grazing comet (probably vaporizing) early on the 31st of March. https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/LATEST/current_c2.gif