The Sun - March 9, 2013

This image of the Sun was taken at the Phoebe Waterman Haas Public Observatory on March 9, 2013 at 11:58 AM with a hydrogen-alpha telescope.

The Sun was quiet on this day. Although we are near solar maximum, the Sun has been fairly quiet. Actually, this is the weakest maximum in recent decades. There are a few prominences along the outer edge which are magnetic loops sticking out of the Sun. The dark lines seen on the disk are the same feature seen from above; when the loop is on the disk of the Sun it’s called a filament. There are a couple of small sunspots. The largest is near the top of the disk.

Telescope: Lunt 100mm hydrogen- alphaCamera: Lumenera SKYnyx 2-2M