Solar astronomy makes me feel like a complete newbie again

[jonathan]

Just when I was getting the hang of the night sky, I find that solar astronomy is like everything I've learned so far all over again but in a completely different language.

I bought Solar Monitor for my iPad but find that I don't have a clue what most of the readings actually mean. Could anyone recommend a good book that can explain to a newbie what things such as kp-now, X-Ray Flux, KP-index, GOES Magnetometer etc are and what they relate to in the real universe? It feels like I'm missing out on most of this stuff because I don't know what it means.

[iwatkins]

Cannot recommend a book as such but a couple of links to get you started:

NASA/Marshall Solar Physics

Education Pages for NOAA / NWS Space Weather Prediction Center

Covers most of it I think. I personally find it a fascinating subject and one often overlooked. You don't even have to have any equipment, NASA have many instruments, many real time, that you can access to view our nearest star.

Cheers

Ian

[umadog]

I bought the same scope a few months ago. They're great, aren't they?

[Merlin66]

As the solar cycle continues there will be more spectacular views of sunspots and proms. Now is the time to be practising.

[jonathan]

As the solar cycle continues there will be more spectacular views of sunspots and proms. Now is the time to be practising.

Indeed. I am trying to learn the lingo so that I know what to write down and how to read my iPad app and the solar observing websites, and thus know the best times to observe (that is usually when there are no clouds, any opportunity should be taken really!)