Astro-Porn of the Day: The Eye Is Ever Watchful

[mckitterick]

The New Solar Telescope captures the Eye of Sauron!

Well, actually, this is a first light adaptive optics image from the NST at the Big Bear Solar Observatory in California. "With a 1.6-meter primary mirror, the NST is the largest solar telescope in the world," says observatory staff Nicolas Gorceix. "It has realtime correction for atmospheric distortion [aka "adaptive optics"], so we can see things in very high resolution - as small as 65 km wide on the Sun. For perspective, Earth is slightly smaller than the whole sunspot including the dark umbra and the daisy petal-like penumbra. The spot is surrounded by the Sun's ubiquitous granular field," which shows the boiling surface of the Sun.

Check it out:


Click the image to see the story.

Welcome back, sunspots!

Chris

Comments

[xjenavivex.livejournal.com]

What is beneath the dark?

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

A neverending portal to another universe!

Or, y'know, just slightly cooler sun-stuff. A sunspot only looks black compared to the unimaginably intense brightness of the surface of the Sun: If we could mask off the surface surrounding a sunspot, it would still be bright enough to blind you in an instant.

So it only looks black!

[chernobylred.livejournal.com]

Whoa!

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Purr-xactly!

(Speaking of purr, Fetish is lying on the little rug beneath my desk, gripping my left foot in her paw. Awww.)

[chernobylred.livejournal.com]

Awwww! I'm happy I trimmed her nails!

[graygirl.livejournal.com]

That is amazing.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Isn't it though? I love the Sun, especially now that we're entering a new phase of activity!

[holyoutlaw.livejournal.com]

Not as high resolution, but hey:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/holyoutlaw/4868301886/

;>

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Nice work! It's a gorgeous shot.

[scarlettina.livejournal.com]

The Eye of Sauron--that was exactly my impression when I first saw this photograph. Spooky, beautiful, mysterious.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Such an amazing photo. I suspect it inspires all manner of awe, even in those unfamiliar with the Eye of Sauron ;-)

[justaqt.livejournal.com]

Amazing!

[drpaisley.livejournal.com]

Wonderful pic, but for some reason, my first thought was of Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet screaming "Don't you f#@*ing look at me!"

[siro-gravity.livejournal.com]

wow, that's kewl!!

i also saw this. i think it's so beautiful!!

[holyoutlaw.livejournal.com]

Here's something for your "astro porn of the day" -- a video of all the asteroids discovered between 1980 and 2010:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_d-gs0WoUw