Spooky Sun Spots?

People often ask me, What's your favorite science? As a full blown skeptic I always answer: Why, it's pseudo-science!

There's nothing like a good story about space-age healing necklaces or backwater UFO sightings. I mean, we've all heard the "proven fact" that more crimes are reported during a full moon.

So what of Sun Spots?

You know, those little black spots on the sun today. We're talking uncharted territory for your average joe pseudo-science who's checking in on the space weather daily to see if Fido should stay inside this afternoon.

Have you felt the effects of the Sun Spots? Anything strange happen to you within the past 7 days of cosmic storm warnings? Did anyone lose any appliances to the electromagnetic disturbance?

This is a completely unscientific survey, you might call it a pseudo-science survey.

Addendum: The very latest SOHO images are online and updated frequently. Don't miss the images nominated for SOHO's Top 10.

Strange but true: The Sun is actually green. (via: SOHO FAQ.)

I did not know that. That is wild. Funny. Stuff.

Comments

Soooo...the Star-Bulletin website had this really cool pic of the sun yesterday only thing it was green. Now, common sense tells me that that particular image must have been captured through some sort of fancy scientific gizmo that reads x-rays or gamma rays or filters out neutrinos (can you tell I'm making this up as I go along?) or what have you and that's why it's green. The problem I have is that the Star-Bull didn't explain it its caption why the image was green. When I asked the webgirl said "Hmmm...oh, that's because in the paper that picture ran on a black and white page, and so when we put it on our website we didn't realize we should change the caption info." Well, fine, I guess that's an honest answer, but that still doesn't tell me what I want to know. Anyone know which "green sun" pic I'm talking about? And if so, why is it green? I guess I could google the answer but bitching about it is so much more fun.

For photos of the sun from a San Diego perspective, try here and here.

Yes, I know it has nothing to do with the sunspots, but they took some truly amazing pics of a bright red sun and assorted fire/smoke shots (200 yards from their apartment building before it was stopped).

The picture in question, according to the caption was taken via the SOHO spacecraft (which according to CNN stands for Solar and Heliospheric Observatory). I can't remember when it was launched but it's been there for quite some time. The photo was taken through a filter that just lets in green light. They could have just as well used filters to let in blue, red, or yellow light. I don't know if the SOHO spacecraft has those filters or not but I can only assume it does or it's processed via software as opposed to a filter before the lens of the spacecraft's camera(s).

In any event the sun is pumping out light in all different colors (or wavelengths) and our eyes are the ones who is seeing yellow.

I just edited my post to include links to the SOHO site. You can download high-quality images like the ones you see in the newspaper and on CNN. They even have MPEG movies of current activity for your consumption.

I've heard a lot of anecdotal stories from fellow geeks about weird tech glitches that are at least fun to blame on solar flares. Frankly, I'm beginning to feel like someone's gunning for us pretty hard.

I guess it would be a really big solar flare if we see the northern lights in Hawaii.

An Aurora Borealis sighting in Hawaii was documented once before. Who knows? At least it's not localized in my kitchen.

Hello, did I complete this correctly?

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