Take a photo with a thin film solar filter and you get a blue-white image of the Sun. Correcting this to a yellow gold image is fairly simple in most any photo processing package.
The Sun as photographed through a Baader film solar filterCorrecting is probably the wrong word here. The Sun is actually closer to white as we define color. After all, the Sun is our normal source of light, what our eyes evolved to use.
Color is a fluid subject, simply our interpretation of frequency across a very small slice of the electromagnetic spectrum. As such there is no absolute right and wrong, just a set of conventions we normally use.
The issue is that people expect the Sun to be yellow-gold. Present an image of the Sun in any other hue and it is rejected as fake, or false color. We are accustomed to certain visual cues to identify and interpret our world, color is a major part of that. Unless you want to argue with a million people or two, you are better off making your Sun photos yellow-gold.
With a quiet Sun, no active sunspot regions on the face or limb of the visible disk, one wonders what the solar corona will look like. What will we see when the Moon blots out the Sun and the corona is revealed.
The K-Coronagraph image from the Mauna Loa Solar Observatory from Aug 13, 2017Unlike solar observers of old, we can look at the corona without waiting for an eclipse. We have both spacecraft and ground based telescopes equipped with coronagraphs. With these we can view the corona in real-time everyday!
Just up the hill from me is the Mauna Loa Solar Observatory. I know a couple folks that work there and have toured the facility. MLSO is a fairly modest telescope equipped with some very specialized instruments. This telescope stares at the Sun all day, every day, monitoring our star as part of a worldwide network of solar observatories.
What will the Sun look like when eclipse day arrives on August 21st?
Very quiet!
The Sun as it appeared August 10, 2017 with sunspot AR2670There is only one major sunspot group visible at the moment. The large spot AR2670 has been visible for a couple weeks now, crossing the face of the Sun since the beginning of the month.
I observed this spot several times while training some folks at the observatory to use a solar setup and while testing my eclipse telescope.
AR2670 is now disappearing from sight as it rotates over the limb, maybe it will be back in another couple weeks for a third appearance.
Checking the SOHO image archive and the GONG farside maps shows there is nothing else, no significant solar activity that will appear before the total eclipse in eight days. Nothing hiding on the farside to rotate into sight.
There is a slim chance of something new developing over the next week. However, we are approaching solar minimum, a quiet Sun is to be expected. Indeed, I expect we will have an almost featureless solar disk on eclipse day.
Update 14 Aug 2017: With one week to go a new spot has appeared! I do not see that is has an AR designation yet, but this new spot should be in the middle of the Sun on eclipse day if it lasts for the week. It may not be big or pretty, but it will at least give everyone something to focus cameras on in preparation for the main event.
Update 15 Aug 2017: The new sunspot has been designated AR2671 and has already produced some C class flares. Looks like has the energy to develop a bit more. At least one small sunspot for the eclipse?
While the total phase of this month’s total solar eclipse can be viewed directly without protection, as soon as the Sun peeks out from behind the Moon you will need a safe way to view the Sun. That means a proper, and safe viewing method.
A partial solar eclipse from Kawaihae, 9 May 2013I have previously posted on safe viewing of the Sun, discussing both filters and projection methods. It is time to re-post that information!
Personally? I will have a small telescope with a filter available for viewing and photography, along with proper solar sunglasses available to monitor the partial phases as the eclipse begins.
As I gazed up at a nearly full Moon this evening I realized that the countdown is quite short now. When that Moon is new again it will pass in front of the Sun to create a total solar eclipse.
The Moon one day short of full.This will be my first total solar eclipse in nearly four decades. Not since 1979 have I witnessed a total eclipse. Over those decades I have seen many partial eclipses, quite a few lunar eclipses, a few transits of Mercury, and one transit of Venus.
I have been anticipating and planning this trip for many years. It was after the transit of Venus in 2012 that I really turned my attention to the next major astro-event. Laying out plans to camp somewhere in Eastern Oregon where the viewing is likely to be excellent.
On August 21 this year a total solar eclipse will sweep cross the mainland United States, something that has not happened since 1979.
The 1999 Total Solar Eclipse, image credit Luc ViatorI have witnessed only one total solar eclipse in my lifetime, the February 1979 eclipse that crossed Oregon and Washington. Our family viewed the eclipse from near Maryhill, Washington, atop one of the high bluffs overlooking the Columbia river. We had a perfect view, a vivid memory that remains with me nearly four decades later. The 2017 event will be similar in some respects, sweeping into North America near the Washington-Oregon border.
Our plan for this eclipse? A little preliminary yet, but starting to shape up. Eastern Oregon should provide a good chance for a clear view in August. Stay in the LaGrande area with family, heading south on eclipse day to a good vantage point near the center-line. Most likely somewhere south of Baker, Oregon. There are a lot of high elevation meadows and mountain roads that should provide a memorable place from which to view this eclipse.
Today the Earth is furthest from the Sun, a point called apehelion. We will be about 152,096,000km (94,508,000miles) from the Sun. Compare this to the 147,099,000km (91,403,000miles) we were at perihelion on January 4th, a difference of about 4,996,000km (3,104,000miles) occurring throughout one orbit.
It may seem odd that we are actually at the furthest for the middle of northern summer, you just have to remember that proximity to the Sun is not the cause of the seasons. The seasons are caused by the axial tilt of the Earth, creating short and long days throughout the year, with a resulting change in the angle and intensity of the sunlight.
Cherry Blossom Festival is a huge event where a large segment of the island population descends upon Waimea for a day of celebration. there are booths and events all across town. There are cultural demonstrations, cooking demonstrations, performances, and lots of food available for an all day, all town festival.
Viewing the Sun at the Cherry Blossom FestivalWith most of the parking on the south side of Keck observatory, the shopping mall parking lots, and the main event venue north of Keck at Church Row where the cherry trees are, a huge number of people cross the observatory lawns on their way to the festival. It is a natural fit for us to use the day for an outreach event.
The festival is also a very local event. Sure there are a few tourists drawn to Waimea for a festival. But, by and large this is a local event, the majority of attendees are island residents.
Today the Earth is closest to the Sun, a point called perihelion. We will be about 147,099,000km (91,403,000miles) from the Sun. Compare this to the 152,096,000km (94,508,000miles) we will be at aphelion on July 3rd, a difference of about 4,996,000km (3,104,000miles) occurs throughout one orbit.
It may seem odd that we are actually at the closest for the middle of northern winter, you just have to remember that proximity to the Sun is not the cause of the seasons. The seasons are caused by the axial tilt of the Earth, creating short and long days throughout the year, with a resulting change in the angle and intensity of the sunlight.
