Article

23 July 2004

The Sun up close

The cover story of the July issue of National Geographic is entitled "The Sun, Living with a Stormy Star." Illustrated in traditional National Geographic style, this article is well worth reading by anyone interested in solar astronomy and the impact of solar trends and events on life on Earth.

The photographs and art in the print version of the magazine are stunning. The online version includes an excerpt from the article, a bibliography and various links to solar research web sites. It's at http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0407/feature1/index.html

Solar research was pioneered by amateur astronomers, and many still make regular observations of sun spots and auroras caused by solar activity. It's possible for even a middle school student to measure the rotation of the Sun by tracking the daily motion of sun spots across the solar disk.

This was nicely demonstrated by my daughter Vicki Rae Mims when she was an eighth grade student. She used an inexpensive spotting telescope that she attached to a length of 2 x 4 lumber and pointed at the Sun with the help of a lawn chair. The telescope projected the image of the solar disk onto a sheet of paper held by a clipboard mounted at the end of the 2 x 4. Sunspots were simply marked with a pencil each afternoon after school. For details, see F. M. Mims III, Sunspots and How to Observe Them Safely, Scientific American 262, 130-133, June 1990.

Daily sunspot image of the Sun for 17 July 2004 from SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory). This and many other resources are available at http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/. Image courtesy of the SOHO team. Click image to enlarge.

Annotated version of the daily sun spot image for 17 July 2004 from SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory). These daily images are very helpful to amateur solar astronomers who track sun spots. Image courtesy of the SOHO team. Click image to enlarge.

Forrest M. Mims III