Our Closest Star.
Remarkably, I’ve never really written about our Sun in any detail. There are many reasons for that. Usually, it’s too bright to observe with your eyes alone unless they are protected and even then the features are not fixed as it is in effect a ball of mostly gas! Never-the-less NEVER try to observe the sun directly.
In modern times we have recorded the Sun’s solar cycle of activity and we are currently on Cycle 25. The last cycle lasted 11 years and had the lowest activity since records began in 1755. December 2019 marked the start of the new Cycle so it’s easy to work out we are heading towards peak activity (2025). It may not seem important and in some ways we are protected from the ravages of its activity but it can, and does, have an effect on our everyday life. During an active period it can impact on communications, power grids, GPS and electronics.
A powerful solar flare is measured using a scale - the smallest being B-class followed by C, M and X being the strongest. Within each letter there is a scale of 1 to 9. During 2003 at the solar maximum a flare was so strong it was estimated to be well off the scale!
The sun also has spots! Sun spots are a dark area where activity on the surface uncovers cooler regions and they appear as dots. It is a bit of a fallacy that sunspots affect the weather but they are an indication of solar activity and that does have an impact. Click the link below to see how sunspots develop actively on the Sun’s surface.
Northern Lights
You will be familiar with the idea of solid, liquid and gas but there is a fourth state of matter called plasma. It can carry a charge and be bent by magnetic fields like our own Earth’s. When the Sun is active it can spew plasma towards the Earth. This is called a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME). The electrical charge can collide with the gases in our atmosphere to create wonderful displays which we know in the north as the Northern Lights.
Photo Milan Davidovic
It is very unusual to be able to see them as far south as Yorkshire but recently, places as far south as Cornwall experienced them. There are apps that you can have on your mobile or computer that will alert you if there is a chance of seeing them. https://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/
One word of advice; sometimes your eyes can’t pick up the wavelengths of light but a camera can. Take some snaps, you may get lucky!
Looking North. 20th April at 10 pm
If you have a telescope or binoculars then try to find Bodes Galaxy (see diagram above).
Photo- Milan Davidovic. Bode’s Galaxy (M81) from Embsay
The light collected in my camera for this image set off 12 million years ago. This is roughly when our first common ancestors with chimpanzees evolved. Bodes Galaxy is a beautiful spiral galaxy, alongside to the right is the Cigar Galaxy (M82) a starburst galaxy and has high levels of star formation.
Looking South. 20th April at 10 pm
If you want to find out about the Realm of the Galaxies and the Lyrids (Meteor Storm) both visible this month then click below, find my blog then scroll down to April 2022 where I wrote about them last year.
Please note when looking back at earlier articles the position of planets and appearance of comets vary from year to year.
Full Moon -Thursday April 6th
New Moon - Thursday April 20th
Clear Skies
Milan Davidovic
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