Goodbye to Sunspots

Matthew Penn and William Livingston, observing the Zeeman spliting of the 1565 nanometer infrared neutral iron line, report in:

http://arxiv.org/abs/1009.0784v1

an 11 year decreasing trend in the sunspot magnetic field strength.

They used the NSO Kitt Peak McMath-Pierce telescope.

Extrapolating the trend means virtually no sunspots in cycle 25 (we are at the beginning of cycle 24) !!

Are we headed to another 70 year long Maunder minimum ?

First Earth based detection of a superbolide on Jupiter

A preprint of a paper on the subject was published in arXiv September 9, and may be downloaded at:

http://arxiv.org/abs/1009.1824

I am very proud that the lead author is affiliated with the University of the Basque Nation, in Bilbao Spain.
My Family comes from the Basque Nation, located in France and Spain.

0.09 arcsecond resolution Solar images from Big Bear Lake Solar Observatory

The Big Bear Solar Observatory, operated by the New Jersey Institute of Technology in the San Bernardino Mountains of southern California, has obtained wonderful images with its adaptive optics system in the 1.6 meter aperture telescope:

http://www.cieletespace.fr/files/image_du_jour/011-03410-01high.jpg
http://www.bbso.njit.edu/
http://www.njit.edu/news/2010/2010-292.php
http://www.cieletespace.fr/node/5752

Strong type III burst at 16 MHz and C4.4 flare, on 100814 near 10 UT

There is a beautiful movie (171 angstrom wavelength) of the flare and CME.

Save and play this 1.3 MB file:

http://sdowww.lmsal.com/sdomedia/ssw/ssw_client/data/ssw_service_100814_072736_30420863/www/ssw_cutout_20100814_093001_aia_171_N02W40_20100814_093000_m.mpg

It is a short movie, you can use Windows Media Player with repeat on.


http://www.freelists.org/post/radioastro/Strong-type-III-burst-at-16-MHz-and-C44-flare-on-100814-near-10-UT

http://www.freelists.org/archive/radioastro

Top priority

The LSST has received the top priority for the next large ground based astronomical facility:

http://www.lsst.org/lsst/news

The big mirror for this 3200 megapixel "camera" is being lovingly built by Dean Ketelsen.
I saw it last December during the TAAA Newsletter Folding Party:
http://herrero-victor.blogspot.com/2009_12_01_archive.html

LSST headquarters are in Tucson.

Solar Dynamics Observatory Daily Movies

The Atmospheric Imaging Assembly cameras are creating wonderful high resolution images of the Sun at several wavelengths. They are also available as daily movies.

I think they will be FUN to show High School students, at the same time they observe the Sun with Radio JOVE Kits, and Radio JOVE Participant data streams from around the world, and discuss Solar events of various types.

Please go to:
http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/aiahmi/dayform.php
and choose a date (using the calendar icon if you prefer), and an instrument, from one of 11 choices.

I like AIA 171 (gold) because it delineates well the magnetic field of active regions, using iron ions at about a million degrees kelvin.

The resolution can be 512 or 1024 pixels square.

My many thanks to the Taxpayers who made SDO possible.
I am one of them.

Pictures of Owens Valley Radio Telescopes

Please see:
http://herrero.freei.me/OwensValley/