Distraction from Reality II: Ultraviolet Sun in False Color

[Andrea B.]

Here's the link: https://apod.nasa.go...d/ap180204.html

If you click up the sun photo there, you get a better(?) display against a larger black background. And there is more info about the event.

 

This photo was made during the crossing of the sun by the planet Venus. More details on the link.

 

We might have seen this here on UVP before** or linked to it. But I ran across it again today, and it left me feeling in awe. What a stunning UV photo! I just had to bring it again to our forum attention.

 

 

 

 

Credit:

 

---

** For about the first 3 years of UVP's existence, I could remember where to find all the outstanding topics or references or spectacular photos. But we have so much now, that that ability has begun to fail me!!

[Andy Perrin]

Hah, yes, this forum has grown a lot even in the time I've been on here. The colors here are fantastic, but it seems they are EUV(!). No doubt made with the lens cap filter. :D

[Andrea B.]

Wouldn't surprise me if that stuff could ramble right on through a lens cap. It's only about 100 nm away from X-rays, isn't it?

 

It was fun to see the yellow/blue colours in this photo like we use here sometimes.

[bobfriedman]

wow.. very nice.. i think i can even see the penumbra around venus.

[Cadmium]

Incredible! Nice to see that.

I was at the coast that year and shot pics of it, here is a shot I have rotated to line up the sun spots with the NASA shot.

My shot shows Venus in a slightly different spot.

I did an overlay, but I will not post it here.

[OlDoinyo]

The way the magnetic structure is imaged is amazing. I wonder if the area showing dark blue is what they call a 'plage.'

[Bill De Jager]

Amazing photo, and thanks for sharing. I think it's worth noting an unusual aspect of this photo - it shows both the disk of the sun and the corona. That's not really possible in visible light unless you photograph each separately, due to their extreme difference in brightness in the visible spectrum. I imagine it's possible to do this in the far parts of the UV spectrum because the photosphere emits far less extreme UV than visible light, while the corona should be preferentially emitting extreme UV due to its high temperature of a few million degrees K.

 

I tried to take visible, UV, and IR photos of totality during the 2017 solar eclipse. Unfortunately I forgot to take off the solar filters so the photos didn't turn out. I had hoped to create false color composites of the photosphere and corona.

[Cadmium]

You can access the daily shots here:

https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/dataaccess.php

 

 

UV images used for composite were.

171Å (B), 193Å (G) and 211Å ® from the SDO (Solar Dynamics Observatory) satellite's AIA (Atmospheric Imaging Assembly) camera.

[dabateman]

You can access the daily shots here:

https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/dataaccess.php

 

 

UV images used for composite were.

171Å (B), 193Å (G) and 211Å ® from the SDO (Solar Dynamics Observatory) satellite's AIA (Atmospheric Imaging Assembly) camera.

 

Interesting only a special filter made from Andy's foil hat would let you see those wavelengths with a normal camera :P

 

Seriously.

Andrea, I hadn't see that before. Thank you for the post and link.

Astrophotography is a slippery slope into extremely expensive though.

[JMC]

That is an amazing picture. Thanks for sharing.

[Andrea B.]

Our Universe is indeed rather amazing, isn't it?

 

---

 

We should all get our photo made while wearing our tinfoil hats! Mine has a gold foil star on it. Very lah-de-dah indeed! I recently learned that the tinfoil hat need not be pointy. Tinfoil baseball caps are acceptable in the US. Worn backwards, of course.