DELICATO: With two big sunspots turning toward Earth and a variety of prominences dancing around the solar limb, the sun is attracting the attention of amateur astronomers. Alan Friedman sends this report from Buffalo, New York: "The activity on the sun today was so diverse in intensity and character I was reminded of movements in a symphony. This very massive prominence (pictured below) was so very faint--almost invisible when others circling the limb were properly exposed. It's delicate tendrils inspired the name Delicato."
In Falmouth, Maine, photographer John Stetson turned his solar telescope toward sunspot group 1271 and found it seething. "The active region is bright and crackling, surrounded by long, twisting filaments of magnetism that seem poised to produce some powerful flares," he says. Indeed,NOAA analysts note that the sunspot has a "beta-delta-gamma" magnetic field that harbors energy for X-class explosions.
In Falmouth, Maine, photographer John Stetson turned his solar telescope toward sunspot group 1271 and found it seething. "The active region is bright and crackling, surrounded by long, twisting filaments of magnetism that seem poised to produce some powerful flares," he says. Indeed,NOAA analysts note that the sunspot has a "beta-delta-gamma" magnetic field that harbors energy for X-class explosions.
