The Astronomy Picture of the Day

[APOD No.6240049]

SDO's Multiwavelength Sun
Image Credit: GSFC Scientific Visualization Studio, SDO, NASA

Today, the solstice is at 17:11 Universal Time, the Sun reaching the southernmost declination in its yearly journey through planet Earth's sky. The December solstice marks the astronomical beginning of winter in the northern hemisphere and summer in the south. To celebrate, explore this creative visualization of the Sun from visible to extreme ultraviolet wavelengths, using image data from the orbiting Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). Against a base image made at a visible wavelengths, the wedge-shaped segments show the solar disk at increasingly shorter ultraviolet and extreme ultraviolet wavelengths. Shown in false-color and rotating in a clockwise direction, the filters decrease in wavelength from 170 nanometers (in pink) through 9.4 nanometers (green). At shorter wavelengths, the altitude and temperature of the regions revealed in the solar atmosphere tend to increase. Bright at visible wavelengths, the solar photosphere looks darker in the ultraviolet, but sunspots glow and bright plasma traces looping magnetic fields. Watch the filters sweep around the solar disk in this animation of SDO's multiwavelength view of the Sun.

Tomorrow's picture: dark sun eight

[APOD No.6240054]

Watch the filters sweep around the solar disk in this animation of SDO's multiwavelength view of the Sun.
http://youtu.be/kS57VH3QN1g

[APOD No.6240060]

Happy Winter Solstice!

In honor of our closest star on the shortest day of the year, this will be a Sun thread!
I'll post a few, feel free to post as many pics of our nearest star as you want.

[APOD No.6240064]

[APOD No.6240067]

Equinox at Stonehenge. I would love to have been there!

[APOD No.6240070]

A Year on the Sun. This is a composite of 25 pics in UV by the SDO between April 16, 2012 and April 15, 2013.

[APOD No.6240072]

The Flash Spectrum of the Sun captured during a total solar eclipse

[APOD No.6240074]

A Martian Sunset captured by the Spirit rover.

[APOD No.6240075]

All the (visible) colors of the Sun!

[Anonymous No.6240127]

>>6240049
That is an awesome pic
>>6240054
This is exactly what I was looking for next.

[Anonymous No.6240143]

[Anonymous No.6240152]

If only I could be so grossly incandescent...

[Anonymous No.6240312]

>>6240143
That thumbnail looks like a retarded Pac-man with a closed mouth.

[APOD No.6240889]

Solstice Bump!

Sometimes, when conditions are just right, you can see sunspots with the naked eye.
Of course, even when conditions are right, it's still not a good idea to look directly at the Sun.

[APOD No.6240893]

This sculpture in Portugal lets us know when it's the solstice...

[APOD No.6240894]

>>6240893
...and the equinox

[Anonymous No.6241591]