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Photography
In reply to the discussion: Want to see the sunspots that sparked today's severe geomagnetic storm? [View all]William Seger
(10,793 posts)37. The pic I took yesterday must have been right after the flareup
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1036129000
I took some pics today, but they weren't very good because of scattered light clouds. However, I got good enough images to compare the spots to yesterday, and it occurred to me that I could use them to estimate the sun's rotational period. I took the pixel width of the sun along the line the spots traveled as a diameter to estimate a circumference. I then measured the pixel distance the spots traveled and added 1/365th of the circumference to account for the Earth's movement in its orbit, then divided that into the presumed circumference. I got about 27 days. I then looked up the actual answer, and it turns out that since the sun is a ball of gas, the gas at the equator rotates faster than the gas near the poles. At the equator, it's 25 days, tapering off to over 30 days near the poles. The big spots appear to be somewhat south of the equator (we're seeing more of the south pole this time of year), so I'm pretty happy with my estimate.
I took some pics today, but they weren't very good because of scattered light clouds. However, I got good enough images to compare the spots to yesterday, and it occurred to me that I could use them to estimate the sun's rotational period. I took the pixel width of the sun along the line the spots traveled as a diameter to estimate a circumference. I then measured the pixel distance the spots traveled and added 1/365th of the circumference to account for the Earth's movement in its orbit, then divided that into the presumed circumference. I got about 27 days. I then looked up the actual answer, and it turns out that since the sun is a ball of gas, the gas at the equator rotates faster than the gas near the poles. At the equator, it's 25 days, tapering off to over 30 days near the poles. The big spots appear to be somewhat south of the equator (we're seeing more of the south pole this time of year), so I'm pretty happy with my estimate.
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Want to see the sunspots that sparked today's severe geomagnetic storm? [View all]
Mousetoescamper
Mar 24
OP
It was crazy. The photon drives modules are still not responding to the bridge. Scotty says he's a mechanic ...
marble falls
Mar 24
#4
Is it any wonder that Klingons say the USS Enterprise is designed like a garbage scow?
Mousetoescamper
Mar 24
#6