Wednesday 10 April 2013

How Dynamic Is The Surface Of The Sun?


I took this time lapse over just under half an hour on Saturday 6th April, and given that the sun was very quiet at the time there is still a lot going on; plasma can readily be seen flowing along the filament on the right hand side of the image, and on the left hand side by AR11719 plasma can be seen ebbing and flowing around like a rough sea.  This is the reason solar astronomy appeals to me; the sun is the most dynamic object we can observe, it is constantly changing from minute to minute, unlike say the Orion Nebula which will likely remain static in it's appearance for the lifetime of the observer.  The moon and planets show slightly more changes through time, but these are insignificant compared to the ever changing face of our nearest star.