Greetings fellow astrophiles!
I refer you to the animated gif below that shows Sun Spot activity from July 15 to July 29 (images taken from the SOHO website, sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov). Pay particular attention to Sun Spots 1260, 1261, and 1263:
You’ll note there’s a large (LARGE!) band of Sun Spots approaching from the left in the last few images. For those who cannot see the labels in the bottom-right corner, the big circle is JUPITER, the smaller circle is EARTH. This all means that our Barlow Bob-hosted Solar Session tomorrow will have several large targets for observation in the observatory scopes. This is excellent timing on the part of our closest star!
In preparation for this event, we’ve prepared a small brochure for your reading pleasure available for download (and copies will be on hand at the Observatory):
sas_solar_observing_brochure.pdf
And I’ve already had a few interested parties bringing scopes to the collimation session by Bob Piekiel Saturday evening at 6:30 p.m., which will precede our Public Viewing session.
All are welcome to all of tomorrow’s sessions!