Solar Palette If you look at the Sun (which you shouldn’t, ever), you just see white light (for the second or so before your retinas are permanently scorched. That’s a mixture of all wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum that our eyes respond to, between 390 and 700 nanometers (or about 3,900 to 7,000 angstroms). And there is a lot we can learn about the Sun by viewing it in that range, from studying its undulating surface swirls to its rotation.  But scientists at places like NASA can learn even more by extending their “eyes” beyond the visible.That’s what this new mosaic from the Solar Dynamics Observatory shows us. It represents all of SDO’s detectable wavelengths and the ions and temperatures that those wavelengths represent. Viewing each of those can tell us a deeper, richer story of the solar physics at work in and on the fusion-powered energy source that feeds our planet. I’ve captured the false colored hues that NASA scientists assign to each and put it in a digital palette. I can’t help but feel a bit amazed at not only the extreme temperatures at play (millions of Kelvin!) but also the extreme beauty. Our Sun is the best sun. To dig into more detail about each wavelength and what it measures, check out this NASA article.
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Solar Palette If you look at the Sun (which you shouldn’t, ever), you just see white light (for the second or so before your retinas are permanently scorched. That’s a mixture of all wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum that our eyes respond to, between 390 and 700 nanometers (or about 3,900 to 7,000 angstroms). And there is a lot we can learn about the Sun by viewing it in that range, from studying its undulating surface swirls to its rotation.  But scientists at places like NASA can learn even more by extending their “eyes” beyond the visible.That’s what this new mosaic from the Solar Dynamics Observatory shows us. It represents all of SDO’s detectable wavelengths and the ions and temperatures that those wavelengths represent. Viewing each of those can tell us a deeper, richer story of the solar physics at work in and on the fusion-powered energy source that feeds our planet. I’ve captured the false colored hues that NASA scientists assign to each and put it in a digital palette. I can’t help but feel a bit amazed at not only the extreme temperatures at play (millions of Kelvin!) but also the extreme beauty. Our Sun is the best sun. To dig into more detail about each wavelength and what it measures, check out this NASA article.
Zoom Info

Solar Palette

If you look at the Sun (which you shouldn’t, ever), you just see white light (for the second or so before your retinas are permanently scorched. That’s a mixture of all wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum that our eyes respond to, between 390 and 700 nanometers (or about 3,900 to 7,000 angstroms). And there is a lot we can learn about the Sun by viewing it in that range, from studying its undulating surface swirls to its rotation. 

But scientists at places like NASA can learn even more by extending their “eyes” beyond the visible.That’s what this new mosaic from the Solar Dynamics Observatory shows us. It represents all of SDO’s detectable wavelengths and the ions and temperatures that those wavelengths represent. Viewing each of those can tell us a deeper, richer story of the solar physics at work in and on the fusion-powered energy source that feeds our planet.

I’ve captured the false colored hues that NASA scientists assign to each and put it in a digital palette. I can’t help but feel a bit amazed at not only the extreme temperatures at play (millions of Kelvin!) but also the extreme beauty. Our Sun is the best sun.

To dig into more detail about each wavelength and what it measures, check out this NASA article.

Transparent Solar Cells: Clearly Amazing Imagine a skyscraper, gleaming with polished glass, that was generating electricity with every square inch of window space. Thanks to these UCLA nanochemists, that is a pretty realistic image. By impregnating plastic with silver nanowires (atomic-scale conductors) that are small enough to be invisible, and absorbing infrared light while allowing visible light to pass through, these solar cells (right, above) are 70% transparent. They take a slight hit in efficiency compared to traditional solar, but can be deployed almost anywhere. Within a decade, we could have buildings supplying their own electricity via building materials!  (via latimes.com)
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Transparent Solar Cells: Clearly Amazing

Imagine a skyscraper, gleaming with polished glass, that was generating electricity with every square inch of window space. Thanks to these UCLA nanochemists, that is a pretty realistic image.

By impregnating plastic with silver nanowires (atomic-scale conductors) that are small enough to be invisible, and absorbing infrared light while allowing visible light to pass through, these solar cells (right, above) are 70% transparent.

They take a slight hit in efficiency compared to traditional solar, but can be deployed almost anywhere. Within a decade, we could have buildings supplying their own electricity via building materials! 

(via latimes.com)

Source: Los Angeles Times

thesunproject: The June Solstice Approacheth! There’s no mystical occurrences happening on June 20 (at 23:09 UTC, to be exact), but this is a key point in the Earth’s path around the Sun. It’s also the best day to mount your solargraphs to get solstice-to-solstice images. Don’t worry if you don’t get them up by Wednesday, you’ll still get great pictures no matter what. What is the June Solstice? Due to the axial tilt of the Earth, the June solstice marks the point in Earth’s orbit when the Sun reaches its highest maximum point in the sky in the Northern Hemisphere, and the opposite in the Southern Hemisphere. The sun will appear straight overhead along the Tropic of Cancer, but nowhere else (despite some commonly held beliefs). Ancient cultures gave the day much spiritual significance, but today it’s just the beginning of summer (or winter, if you live in the Southern Hemisphere). Good luck getting those cameras up this week! Keep spreading the word so we can get every continent represented, and here’s our how-to video on building a pinhole cam.
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thesunproject:

The June Solstice Approacheth!

There’s no mystical occurrences happening on June 20 (at 23:09 UTC, to be exact), but this is a key point in the Earth’s path around the Sun. It’s also the best day to mount your solargraphs to get solstice-to-solstice images. Don’t worry if you don’t get them up by Wednesday, you’ll still get great pictures no matter what.

What is the June Solstice?

Due to the axial tilt of the Earth, the June solstice marks the point in Earth’s orbit when the Sun reaches its highest maximum point in the sky in the Northern Hemisphere, and the opposite in the Southern Hemisphere. The sun will appear straight overhead along the Tropic of Cancer, but nowhere else (despite some commonly held beliefs). Ancient cultures gave the day much spiritual significance, but today it’s just the beginning of summer (or winter, if you live in the Southern Hemisphere).

Good luck getting those cameras up this week! Keep spreading the word so we can get every continent represented, and here’s our how-to video on building a pinhole cam.

Ever wondered what the view would be like when looking down the barrel of a stellar gun? Look no further, this is it. Looks like the sun’s a-rumblin’! The coronal firing squad hasn’t pulled the trigger yet, but that thing’s staring right at us. Oh, and right now the sunspot region is the size of Jupiter (image from NASA SDO): Should a powerful X-class event happen, well … hold on to your hats! Magneto-Storm!! Maybe it would be strong enough to run our iPhones off of aerial current, like the telegraph operators did in 1849 (<- must-read!)
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Ever wondered what the view would be like when looking down the barrel of a stellar gun? Look no further, this is it.

Looks like the sun’s a-rumblin’! The coronal firing squad hasn’t pulled the trigger yet, but that thing’s staring right at us. Oh, and right now the sunspot region is the size of Jupiter (image from NASA SDO):

Should a powerful X-class event happen, well … hold on to your hats! Magneto-Storm!! Maybe it would be strong enough to run our iPhones off of aerial current, like the telegraph operators did in 1849 (<- must-read!)

(via discoverynews)

Pinhole Solargraph Herfordshire 2011 - Days in the Sun We&#8217;ve visited pinhole camera solargraphs before, but this one is even better. Taken over a period of six months at Bayfordbury Observatory, this constant exposure required nothing more than a soft drink can, some photo paper and a lot of patience. You can see gaps caused by cloudy weather, and streaks in periods of complete sun. The Sun trails lower as the year goes on from June to December. Want to try it yourself? Here&#8217;s some instructions. (via APOD, image by Regina Valkenborgh)
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Pinhole Solargraph Herfordshire 2011 - Days in the Sun

We’ve visited pinhole camera solargraphs before, but this one is even better. Taken over a period of six months at Bayfordbury Observatory, this constant exposure required nothing more than a soft drink can, some photo paper and a lot of patience.

You can see gaps caused by cloudy weather, and streaks in periods of complete sun. The Sun trails lower as the year goes on from June to December.

Want to try it yourself? Here’s some instructions.

(via APOD, image by Regina Valkenborgh)

Source: apod.nasa.gov

Goddard Year In Review: 2011 Was A Big Year For Sun Science

From observations of “surfer wave” solar flares to stereo images of the sun, and from suicidal comet collisions to new insights into our aurorae from the ARTEMIS satellites … NASA really knocked it out of the park this year when it comes to solar science.

Here’s a slideshow of their annual highlights. Links to each story here.

(via NASA)

Source: nasa.gov