The Sun as Art

8/2/2019 The Sun as Art

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Majestic

Blast

An extremeultraviolet image ofthe Sun itself wasenlarged andsuperimposed on alarger backgroundimage. Thebackground image

from the SOHOspacecraft shows awidely spreadingcoronal massejection (CME) as itblasts more than abillion tons of

matter out intospace at over amillion miles perhour.


3/21

Blue Bayou

Sunset

If one were to observethe Sun rising over abayou or ocean inextreme ultraviolet lightand apply a blue filter, itmight look a little like

this. The active Sun ispeppered with magneticfield lines and activeregions busilyconnecting andreconnecting over itssurface. Yet, the subtletones of blue suggest a

watery fluiditynonetheless.


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Sun Shades of Warhol

Credit:Barbara

Thompson,

NASA

This close-up of a solar eruption seemed to lend itself to a modernistic approach with color

tables. The original image combined three wavelengths in extreme UV light.


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Stonehenge SunriseStonehenge in England is a mammoth stone and timber structure built 2700 years ago over hundreds of

years. It is speculated that the builders oriented some of the structure to mark astronomical events likeequinoxes. Hence, there is a kind of logical tie-in to the Sun.


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Volcanic EruptionNot a volcano really, but a spectacular solar blast of particles called a coronal mass ejection viewed in extreme UV light. Asmall part of this cloud fell back to the Sun's surface but much more rocketed into space at over a million miles per hour.
http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/gallery/assets/movies/M2_CME_304_bestcrop.mov


7/21

Making

anImpression

This Monet-likeclose-up of anerupting activeregion (brightestarea) combinesthree color-codedwave-lengths ofextreme UV light.Besides doublingand turning theimage, very littlewas altered from

the original, veryvibrant image.


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Magnetic SlinkiesThese detailed and tight coils of particles spiraling along magnetic field lines above an active region look a lot

like slinky toys. However, solar physicists would explain that after a solar flare these loops are busily recreatingnew magnetic re-connections after the magnetic field was disrupted.


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Shuffle the Deck

These seven imagescascading around wereall taken at almost thesame time. Each oneshows different featuresof the Sun in differentwavelengths of light atvarying heights andtemperatures. And therewere many more tochoose from. Scientistscompare and contrastthem to learn moreabout the secrets of the

Sun.


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Dazzling Red Hot ArcsCharged particles spiraling along magnetic field lines rise above several active regions, then weremade to zoom out to the viewer. The field lines are in constant motion and often break apart and

reconnect. The ionized material imaged here was heated to over one million degrees.


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Old Man in the Sun

By sheer coincidence several active regions seen in extreme UV light, without anyre-arranging, aligned themselves to resemble a contemplative face.
http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/gallery/assets/movies/OldMan_small.mov


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Huge

Prominence

A single, giganticprominence blossomedout from the Sun on thefirst day that SDObegan taking images. Itreached out over 25times the size of Earth.Prominences areunstable clouds ofcooler gas tetheredabove the Sun'ssurface by magneticforces. Here we justrepeated the

prominence three timeswith different colors.
http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/gallery/assets/movies/prominence20100330_sm.mov


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Observant SunspotsIt appears that these pairs of sunspots are peering out from the Sun. Sunspots are a little cooler (7,000 degrees F.) andthus appear darker than the Sun's surface (10,000 degrees F.). Notice how the surface looks dimpled everywhere you

look: each of these granules is the top of a convection cell where hot fluid rises up, spreads out, then sinks back overabout 20 minutes. Each granule is about 620 miles across.


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Making Detailed ConnectionsWhen viewed in profile, the intricate series of looping magnetic field lines appear graceful and well designed. In

fact these very hot and energetic connections emerged from beneath the surface where powerful magnetic forcesare engaged in a huge tug of war.
http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/assets/mov/art/MakingConn_web.mov


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Fire Breather

An especially complex and

large coronal massejection in January 2002made even seasonedsolar physicists gasp withawe. An instrumentonboard the SOHOspacecraft observed theparticles blasting into thecorona. The plain blue diskblocks out the Sun and thearea right around it. Areasof white indicate thegreatest intensity ofmatter; the reds somewhatless; blues, even less. An

extreme ultraviolet imageof the Sun (blue) wassuperimposed on theforeground to give a senseof scale.


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Magnetic Loop SwirlsA close up of an active region in extreme UV light reveals tangles of loops and coils of arcs. This static image of

particles spinning along magnetic field lines conceals the fact that the dynamic region is in motion every second.
http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/assets/mov/art/Swirls_web.mov


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Lets Twist Again

Prominences are huge clouds ofrelatively cool dense plasmasuspended in the Suns hot, thincorona. At times, they can eruptout into space, propelled bymagnetic forces from the Sunsatmosphere. Ultraviolet emission

in this wavelength (ions of heliumat 304) shows the upperchromosphere (not far above thevisible surface) at a temperatureof about 100,000 degrees F. Fora size comparison, the Earthwould be no larger than your littlefingertip.
http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/gallery/assets/movies/304prom_erupt_Mar2011_zm_best.mov


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3D Sun(needs 3D glasses)

With this 3D effect the Sunreally does seem to befloating in space, while thearcing loops above thebrighter active regions canbe seen rising up above

the solar surface. Since wedo not have a stereoperspective of the Sun withSDO (although for a timethe STEREO solar missiondid), we combined imagesabout nine hours apart toget that sense of

perspective.


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Orange you gladto see the Sun?

Though very orange-like in appearance, adopplergram imageof the Sun measures

millions of subtlemotions on the Sunssurface that helps uslearn about movementand structure insidethe Sun. It takes

supercomputers tohandle thecalculations.


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Flash of a FlareA solar flare on August 9, 2011 overwhelmed the SDO imager with such strong light that it caused the

brightness to spread out in broken lines above and below the flare site for just a few minutes. When flareserupt, they unleash a lot of radiation into space that can be harmful to astronauts.
http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/gallery/assets/movies/Flare_AugX7_best2.mov


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Sun Flower

There was something

about the bright coronalmass ejection (cropped butun-retouched) in February2002 that, when copied intoa circular pattern,suggested the splash ofcolor found in a flowerpetal. Add an extremeultraviolet image of the Sunas the centerpiece and itseemed to suggest arecreation of oneness inthe universe. The Englishpoet William Blakeexpressed it as all the

world in a grain of sand.

The Sun as Art

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