APOD: Black Sun and Inverted Starfield (2012 Oct 15)

Comments and questions about the APOD on the main view screen.
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APOD: Black Sun and Inverted Starfield (2012 Oct 15)

Post by APOD Robot » Mon Oct 15, 2012 4:08 am

Image Black Sun and Inverted Starfield

Explanation: Does this strange dark ball look somehow familiar? If so, that might be because it is our Sun. In the above image, a detailed solar view was captured originally in a very specific color of red light, then rendered in black and white, and then color inverted. Once complete, the resulting image was added to a starfield, then also color inverted. Visible in the above image of the Sun are long light filaments, dark active regions, prominences peaking around the edge, and a moving carpet of hot gas. The surface of our Sun has become a particularly busy place over the past two years because it is now nearing Solar Maximum, the time when its surface magnetic field is wound up the most. Besides an active Sun being so picturesque, the plasma expelled can also become picturesque when it impacts the Earth's magnetosphere and creates auroras.

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henrystar
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Re: APOD: Black Sun and Inverted Starfield (2012 Oct 15)

Post by henrystar » Mon Oct 15, 2012 8:55 am

Is the star field correct for some date?

Sinan İpek
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Re: APOD: Black Sun and Inverted Starfield (2012 Oct 15)

Post by Sinan İpek » Mon Oct 15, 2012 9:27 am

Any reason for the 11-years solar period?

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Re: APOD: Black Sun and Inverted Starfield (2012 Oct 15)

Post by neufer » Mon Oct 15, 2012 1:53 pm

Sinan İpek wrote:
Any reason for the 11-years solar period?
22-year solar period actually. :arrow:

The bipolar solar magnetic field certainly gets all twisted up because the rotation rate at the equator is considerably faster than the rate near the poles.

In any event, active magnetic dynamos such as the sun and earth have quasi-periodic reversals of their bipolar magnetic field but nobody understands it very well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cycle#Phenomena.2C_measurement.2C_and_causes wrote: <<Dynamo theory proposes a mechanism by which a celestial body such as the Earth or a star generates a magnetic field. The theory describes the process through which a rotating, convecting, and electrically conducting fluid can maintain a magnetic field over astronomical time scales.

The basic causes of the solar variability and solar cycles are still under debate, with some researchers suggesting a link with the tidal forces due to the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn, or due to the solar inertial motion. Another cause of sun spots can be solar jet stream "torsional oscillation".

Patterns have been noted in solar cycles. For example, the Waldmeier effect is the phenomenon that cycles with larger maximum amplitudes tend to take less time to reach their maxima than cycles with smaller amplitudes; there is also a negative correlation between maximum amplitudes and the lengths of earlier cycles, which allows a degree of prediction.>>
Art Neuendorffer

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Psnarf
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Re: APOD: Black Sun and Inverted Starfield (2012 Oct 15)

Post by Psnarf » Mon Oct 15, 2012 3:17 pm

200 days of no spots in 2008
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/sc ... blankyear/
http://spaceweather.com/glossary/sunspotnumber.html shows a plot of the sunspot cycle from 1750-2000.
http://www-958.ibm.com/software/data/co ... 000-2009-2 plot sunspot number 2000 through 2009
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/SolarCycle/index.html 2012 monthly plot
Nobody knows what's the deal, but there does appear to be sunspot cycles with a period of 22 years.

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Re: APOD: Black Sun and Inverted Starfield (2012 Oct 15)

Post by Psnarf » Mon Oct 15, 2012 3:24 pm

--
Obquote: "There lands the Fiend, a spot like which perhaps; Astronomer in the Sun's lucent Orbe; through his glaz'd Optic Tube yet never saw." -Paradise Lost, by John Milton, 1674, Book 3, Line 590.

[I'd have to figure out how to translate the original line, but it does suggest that Milton witnessed a sunspot circa 1674 which left an impression strong enough to evoke a comment.]

Applefish

Re: APOD: Black Sun and Inverted Starfield (2012 Oct 15)

Post by Applefish » Mon Oct 15, 2012 3:25 pm

It reminds me of a atom under the microscope.

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Re: APOD: Black Sun and Inverted Starfield (2012 Oct 15)

Post by neufer » Mon Oct 15, 2012 3:34 pm

APOD Robot wrote:Image Black Sun and Inverted Starfield
Image
Explanation: Does this strange dark ball look somehow familiar? If so, that might be because it is our Sun. A detailed solar view was captured originally in a very specific color of red light, then rendered in black and white, and then color inverted. Once complete, the resulting image was added to a starfield, then also color inverted. Visible in the above image of the Sun are long light filaments, dark active regions, prominences peaking around the edge, and a moving carpet of hot gas. The surface of our Sun has become a particularly busy place over the past two years because it is now nearing Solar Maximum, the time when its surface magnetic field is wound up the most. Besides an active Sun being so picturesque, the plasma expelled can also become picturesque when it impacts the Earth's magnetosphere and creates auroras.
Art Neuendorffer

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Re: APOD: Black Sun and Inverted Starfield (2012 Oct 15)

Post by owlice » Mon Oct 15, 2012 3:55 pm

Someone on FB said this image looked like a microorganism covered with smaller microorganisms.
A closed mouth gathers no foot.

Leonardjk

Re: APOD: Black Sun and Inverted Starfield (2012 Oct 15)

Post by Leonardjk » Mon Oct 15, 2012 3:56 pm

As this image was scrolling onto my screen I first thought it was something completely different. A human egg cell. See this link for an example that is eerily close.

http://www.sciencephoto.com/media/312714/enlarge

Leonard

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Re: APOD: Black Sun and Inverted Starfield (2012 Oct 15)

Post by tomgow » Mon Oct 15, 2012 4:39 pm

It looks like a used sponge ball i used to play with as a kid!


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Re: APOD: Black Sun and Inverted Starfield (2012 Oct 15)

Post by Chostany » Mon Oct 15, 2012 5:05 pm

Looks like an ovary to me :?

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Re: APOD: Black Sun and Inverted Starfield (2012 Oct 15)

Post by LocalColor » Mon Oct 15, 2012 5:13 pm

henrystar wrote:Is the star field correct for some date?
We were pondering the same question. Perhaps a star field image 12 hours before or after the sun photo?

Had to save the .gif of the "Diagram of temporal changes in Earth's magnetic declination field." - will be staring at that over and over. Fascinating!

ego

Re: APOD: Black Sun and Inverted Starfield (2012 Oct 15)

Post by ego » Mon Oct 15, 2012 5:34 pm

a dangerous asteroid !

chuckster

Re: APOD: Black Sun and Inverted Starfield (2012 Oct 15)

Post by chuckster » Mon Oct 15, 2012 6:23 pm

It looks like The Boss at the end of a particularly nasty video game.

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Re: APOD: Black Sun and Inverted Starfield (2012 Oct 15)

Post by JimLafferty » Mon Oct 15, 2012 6:42 pm

To answer Henrystar>>>> no, the star field is not correct for the sun's location at that moment---The solar image was captured with a Lunt 100 Ha telescope double stacked with a Coronado 90 Ha filter for .5angstroms. The starfield was captured with a Takahashi FSQ106N refractor. The camera was an imaging source DMK41 USB CCD camera.
Thanks to all for your kind comments

Jim

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Redlands, California
http://scopetrader.com/jimlafferty

stb1965

Re: APOD: Black Sun and Inverted Starfield (2012 Oct 15)

Post by stb1965 » Mon Oct 15, 2012 6:57 pm

It looks like a human, unfertilized egg.

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Re: APOD: Black Sun and Inverted Starfield (2012 Oct 15)

Post by Anthony Barreiro » Mon Oct 15, 2012 6:58 pm

When was this picture taken? I keep track of sunspots in white light, and find it interesting to correlate hydrogen alpha and ultraviolet images with how the Sun appears through a humble white light solar filter.
May all beings be happy, peaceful, and free.

jasproles

Re: APOD: Black Sun and Inverted Starfield (2012 Oct 15)

Post by jasproles » Mon Oct 15, 2012 7:18 pm

A cell undergoing mitosis.

Mark J

Re: APOD: Black Sun and Inverted Starfield (2012 Oct 15)

Post by Mark J » Mon Oct 15, 2012 8:46 pm

The Black Sun and inverted starfield look very much like a tennis ball at the end of rough life lying on a slab of concrete.

neptunium

Re: APOD: Black Sun and Inverted Starfield (2012 Oct 15)

Post by neptunium » Mon Oct 15, 2012 8:47 pm

Looks like a transluscent gray bubble to me. Pretty cool though.

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Re: APOD: Black Sun and Inverted Starfield (2012 Oct 15)

Post by a.niwa » Mon Oct 15, 2012 9:23 pm

It looks like a lymphocyte.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lymphocyte

areinheimer

Re: APOD: Black Sun and Inverted Starfield (2012 Oct 15)

Post by areinheimer » Mon Oct 15, 2012 9:41 pm

Doesn't anyone think it looks like a tennis ball after the dog dropped it, besides me?

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Re: APOD: Black Sun and Inverted Starfield (2012 Oct 15)

Post by JimLafferty » Mon Oct 15, 2012 9:55 pm

@Anthony>>>>the image was taken on September 26, 2012.

Regards!

Jim

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