Monday, June 16, 2008

Don't Get Too Close to the Sun...Oops!

There is a satellite called SOHO (the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) that orbits at a gravitationally balanced point between the Earth and the Sun called L1 (the First Lagangian point). This orbit allows the satellite to always point toward the Sun for pretty much continuous observations. Launched in 1995 and still going strong.

SOHO has two cameras with coronographs. A coronograph is literally a disk placed in front of the Sun so you can observe the area around the Sun which does happen to contain the Sun's corona (hence the name).

Yesterday it saw a comet get a little too close to the Sun. These comets are called Sungrazers and SOHO has discovered a lot of them (I remember when they 1000th was discovered, and they are rapidly closing in on 1500). You can see the comet approach, grow a nice tail, and then disintegrate before your eyes.

This isn't the biggest, best or most spectacular one SOHO has seen, but merely the most recent. There are amazing things going on in our universe all the time and I encourage you to visit sites such as the SOHO home page from time to time...you never know what just happened!
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4 comments:

  1. kkditherJune 17, 2008 at 6:49 AM

    Thanks hale. You always get me thinking when I read your blogs. I found an interesting data page that answered (in language I could understand) many of the questions this blog evoked. Here it is for other lay people who want to know more. It even talks about our friend, hale-bopp's, namesake.

    Teacher Page

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  2. hale-boppJune 17, 2008 at 10:57 AM

    You mean it talks about my cat?

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  3. kkditherJune 17, 2008 at 12:54 PM

    Hmmmm... I knew it didn't word that quite right. Do tell, is your cat a punk too? :)

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  4. drewzepmeisterJune 17, 2008 at 3:35 PM

    Thanks Hale,for the space pictures and stuff! Makes me feel like that nerdy 4th grader I was-always digging in books on dinosaurs and planets.(still do). I love them!

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