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Another Question from a New Guy


Hayduke27

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Today was my second day of staring at the sun.  I am still amazed that staring at the sun has become of such interest to me 🤪  I guess that since I took up astronomy I've been staring at distant suns.  I may as well look at ours!

 

Anyhow, more seriously, although there isn't much going on with the sun right now, it still fascinates me to see it as a giant textured sphere.  Just gazing at it and thinking about the giant fission machine blasting away and churning energy out into the universe, and seeing just what the surface of that machine looks like, well I guess it still just mesmerizes me.  It's quite a thing to gaze at the surface of the sun and see the details.

 

As I observed today for approximately 90 minutes or so I swear I saw a couple of bright spots (I apologize for not knowing all the terminology just yet) appeared near the center that were not there at the beginning of my session.  Is it more likely that I managed to refine the tuning and adjust my eyes to see this feature, or is there a chance that it appeared during my session?  How quickly do the observable features of the sun change?  I realize it's a huge scale to be observing and I won't be watching anything necessarily in motion, but during a session of a couple hours would there be noticeable changes in what can be observed?

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19 hours ago, Hayduke27 said:

 ... the giant fission machine blasting away and churning energy out into the universe ...

Alex, your enthusiasm is palpable and infectious. Just for reference it’s fusion, not fission, that powers the Sun. (Just to avoid the smart guy who wants to take you down! 😩)

I’ve read some reports from very respectable sources who say they have observed solar features on the move ‘real time’. I cannot claim to have been so fortunate. The best description I came across was that if you go and make a cup of tea you will see some movement on your return to viewing. And I will vouch for that.

Have fun - as you so obviously are. 👌🤗

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4 hours ago, Floater said:

 Just for reference it’s fusion, not fission, that powers the Sun. (Just to avoid the smart guy who wants to take you down! 😩)

 

That was a brain fart on my part!  I absolutely understand that it is the fusing of elements into heavier elements that makes the stars burn, I just obviously mis-typed that one out!  Thanks for keeping me on the right track ;) 

Observing the sun has in many ways been just as eye opening and amazing as when I discovered all that there was to discover through my night-scope.  The observable things going on right there over all of our heads is just so amazing.  I can't believe I was so oblivious to it all for so long!!  I feel like I have catching up to do in both my observing and my learning!

I have been reading through the forums and learning a lot, and I have been looking at solar images and watching web-broadcast live solar images along with time lapses.  I think I'm starting to get a bit of a feel for what my expectations should be for observing sessions.  I'm excited for the Mercury transit on Monday, and I am also very excited for the chance to observe the sun when it has more activity in the future!

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