A dazzling sunshine in a gorgeous skywatcher photo in New York City.
Fancy astronomer Alexander Kryvinishev, president of WorldTimeZone.com, snapped a picture of the sun above the Big Apple on Saturday (November 26th) morning. A close-up image he captured clearly shows a large sunspot known as the AR2786 and its younger cousin, the AR2785.
Krevenshev took pictures using a Canon EOS 7D camera, with a solar filter attached for close-up. Warning: Don’t try to take shots if you don’t have a solar filter. Directly looking at the sun through the naked eye or through instruments like cameras or binoculars can cause serious and permanent damage to the eyes including blindness.
Related: How to watch safely (infographic)
Rotate to AR2786 and AR2785 views shortly before Thanksgiving. AR2786 is several times wider than Earth.
Sunspots are temporary dark patches that are significantly cooler than the rest of the solar surface – about 6,500 degrees Fahrenheit (3,600 degrees Celsius) compared to 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit (5,500 centigrade).
Sunspots occur where solar magnetic fields are particularly strong and they serve as launch pads for eruptions and eruptions known as superhot hot plasma coronal mass emissions. For centuries, scientists have counted sunspots as a way to test the sun’s activity.
This activity twists into an 11-year cycle. At most one, the solar cycle started on December 25, 2019 and is expected to remain fairly calm as solar cycle 24 was. But the sun is now doing at least some work: on Sunday (November 29), our star removed its strongest flame in more than three years.
Author of “Mike Wall”Over there“(Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Carl Tate), a book about the pursuit of extraterrestrial life. Follow him on Twitter @MachHeldwall Follow us on Twitter @spastotcom or Facebook
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