The Familiar Sun in White Light

The Sun Now

September 3, 2010 18:57

Compare to Active Sun


White Light
(Courtesy of the Mees Solar Observatory)

(Courtesy of the Evans Solar Facilty, National Solar Observatory, Sacramento Peak)
What layer does the light come from?

About the images:

The sun in white light provides a view of the solar surface. The solar surface is not solid but is actually the rather thin, ~300 km deep (less than the width of the state of Michigan) layer of the sun from which the bulk of the radiation is emitted. Because it is so narrow, the layer appears to be the edge of a solid surface. White light is composed of a continuum of colors ranging from violet to blue to green to yellowto red as one moves from 400.0 nm to 700.0 nm in wavelength (1 nanometer = 1/billionth of a meter).

What to look for:

The dark features on the image to the right are sunspots. These are indicators of magnetic activity. Rarely, an extremely large flare event may also be visible in white light images of the sun.

Connect me to the Mees Solar Observatory
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