BADA$$ SUN VID: The sound you hear is not real; it’s made from visible light data by SDO’s Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager, which maps motions on the Sun’s surface, which was then converted into sound by solar astronomer Alexander Kosovichev. In this view, south is up, so the Sun rotates right to left (I’m used to it the other way, but hey, in space there is no up, so fine). 2192 makes its appearance early on, announcing its presence with towering loops of magnetic energy over 200,000 km high — mind you, the Earth is a mere 13,000 km across — and dominates the view thereafter. It’s incredible. You can watch as enormous prominences erupt away from it, hot hydrogen gas flowing along otherwise invisible magnetic field lines like beads on a wire. The gravity of the Sun is strong, and pulls the gas with a force nearly 30 times stronger than Earth’s gravity, but the magnetic field is strong, too, and the gas flows back to the Sun along curving, graceful paths. It’s mesmerizing. Yes, it is! https://youtube/watch?v=ipvfwPqh3V4#t=79 Article from SLATE: slate/blogs/bad_astronomy/2014/11/16/sdo_and_sunspot_2192_amazing_hi_def_video.html
Posted on: Sun, 16 Nov 2014 20:33:01 +0000