Inside the largest solar generator
The Phoenix Sun
The sun today
The image above was taken at 6:24 thismorning Universal Time (UT), which corresponds to 11:24 PM, Sundaynight here in Phoenix, Arizona. Scientists who study the suncolor-coded the image as green to indicate areas of the solaratmosphere that are 2.7 million degrees Fahrenheit.
The video below shows the sun as it turns— taking 25 Earth days to complete each full rotation. Solar weatherevents to look for in the video include solar flares, massiveexplosions of super-heated gases that shoot from the sun at a speed ofmore than a million miles an hour.
These image were taken by an extremeultraviolet imaging telescope (EIT), one of many instruments aboard theSolar & Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) launched into space inDecember 1994. Although SOHO has been a great workhorse for fifteenyears, NASA astrophysicist Joseph Gurman tells the Phoenix Sunthat a far more sophisticated space observatory is scheduled to launchtoward the end of this year. The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) willtake images every ten seconds with a resolution nearly four timesgreater than the EIT.
(Photo and video courtesy of SOHO/EIT consortium. SOHO is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA)
There’s a lot more on the SDO here, and on the SOHO here,
The Phoenix Sun covers solar power from Phoenix, Arizona – the sunniest major city in the nation. In addition to reportingon innovations in solar technology, green job growth and advice for homeowners who want to go solar, the Sun investigates stories you won’t findelsewhere. We cover the legal, political and regulatory framework that has keptthe US solar power industry far behind competitors in Europe and Asia. And wetrack the potential for a solar surge today and tomorrow. The sun isedited by investigative reporter Osha Gray Davidson who has covered theenvironment and politics for 25 years, writing for Mother Jones, RollingStone, the New York Times, and other national and international publications.Articles l Homepage