Chuck Hards wrote:
Two sunspot groups visible on the surface today, widely separated. Easily seen at low powers. Speaking of sunspots, here's something from today's Spaceweather.com site:
FAR SIDE OF THE SUN: Remember giant sunspot 720? On Jan. 20th it exploded, sparking bright auroras over Europe and the most intense proton storm in 15 years. Since then the 'spot has been transiting the far side of the sun, carried around by our star's 27-day rotation. Although sunspot 720 is on the sun's far side now, it's not out of sight. Using a technique called helioseismic holography, solar physicists can take pictures of the sun's far side--and they've seen sunspot 720 there. If the active region holds together a while longer, it could turn to face Earth again in early- to mid-February.
Sure is nice to see the sun again. "Twas also nice to see the stars, too. I didn't manage to close the observatory until 6:20 this morning.
Looking forward to tonight, Patrick