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Comment by Idaho Spud on May 22, 2015 at 2:40pm

Amazing sun images Joan.  I read what is pictured, but couldn't understand it all. 

They say the blue and yellow areas are opposite poles of the magnetic field, and the threads are magnetic flux.  Whatever is going on, it looks powerful and wild.

Comment by Joan Denoo on May 22, 2015 at 2:00pm

May 22, 2015

Coronal Loops Over a Sunspot Group

May 22, 2015

Coronal Loops Over a Sunspot Group

Comment by Idaho Spud on May 16, 2015 at 1:37pm

Hope I'm around in 4 billion years to see the main show.

Comment by Gerald Payne on May 16, 2015 at 7:36am

The milky way and Andromeda galaxies, set to collide in 4 billion years may already be in contact. Using the Hubble telescope scientists have discovered a halo of gas surrounding Andromeda that's 2 light years in diameter. Being 2 light years distant, a similar halo around our galaxy would mean contact has already begun.

Quasars are the brightest objects in the Universe and so distant, relative to Andromeda that from them has to pas through Andromeda's halo. Light showed a minute dip at selected wavelengths as  it passed through the halo en route to Hubble

Comment by Gerald Payne on May 1, 2015 at 7:19am

Sending a probe to Mercury was the most challenging mission they've ever tried. The gravitational well of the Sun is so strong that the inner Planets, although the closest, are the most difficult to reach. It was estimated that a direct spaceflight to Mercury would need to burn so much fuel to check it's momentum there'd be no room for the scientific instruments!

Comment by Gerald Payne on May 1, 2015 at 6:57am

When we consider that they have only a 50 mile 'window' to hit to get the sling right after millions of miles of travel, with everything moving under the influence of gravity, it's no small feat.

Comment by Idaho Spud on May 1, 2015 at 6:34am

I'm often amazed at what scientists have accomplished.

Comment by Gerald Payne on May 1, 2015 at 6:30am

I think it took something like 8 years to get there Idaho, using planetary slingshot manoeuvers, first out to Jupiter and then slinging back to Earth to Venus back to Earth and so on to slow the spacecraft down before it fell into the gravitational well of the Sun.

Comment by Idaho Spud on May 1, 2015 at 6:06am

Messenger slammed into Mercury at 3:27 PM ET.  It was on the other side from us, so we got no pictures of it.  Other telescopes in space could not get pictures because they would have been looking into the sun.

But it was a sucess.  Like several other missions, it exceeded it goal.  It's original goal was to take 2,500 images of the planet, but it has returned more than 270,000 to earth.

Comment by Gerald Payne on April 30, 2015 at 4:11pm

Today Mercury will have a new crater, the messenger probe will collide with the surface creating a crater 16 metres wide. John Lennon has had a mercurial crater named after him.

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