Bubbling, Boiling Sun Photographed in Detail

The bubbling, roiling surface of the sun has been imaged in unprecedented detail, shedding light on the processes at work on the solar surface.

Images of transient dark spots, the sun's seemingly granulated texture and moving packets of gas were snapped by the SUNRISE balloon-borne telescope.

SUNRISE, the largest solar telescope ever to have left Earth was launched from the ESRANGE Space Centre in Kiruna, northern Sweden, on June 8. The 6-ton telescope is dangling from a gigantic helium balloon with a diameter of 427 feet (130 meters).

After launch, SUNRISE reached a cruising altitude of 37 km above the Earth's surface. At this height, the telescope is in a layer of the Earth's atmosphere (the stratosphere) with observing conditions similar to those from space. Air turbulence isn't a factor for SUNRISE as it is for telescopes on the ground, and ultraviolet light from the sun can be viewed, which would be blocked out by ozone at the surface.

During its five-day flight, SUNRISE gathered 1.8 terabytes of observation data. Scientists have only just begun analyzing the data, though the first findings are already promising.

Of particular interest to astronomers is the connection between the strength of the sun's magnetic field and the brightness of tiny magnetic structures on its surface. Since the magnetic field varies in an 11-year cycle of activity, the increased presence of these foundational elements brings a rise in overall solar brightness, resulting in greater heat input to the Earth.

The variations in solar radiation are particularly pronounced in ultraviolet light. During its stratospheric flight, SUNRISE carried out the first-ever study of the bright magnetic structures on the solar surface in this important range of the sun's spectrum. Previously these structures could only be studied by computer model representations.

"Thanks to its excellent optical quality, the SUFI instrument was able to depict the very small magnetic structures with high intensity contrast, while the IMaX instrument simultaneously recorded the magnetic field and the flow velocity of the hot gas in these structures and their environment," said Achim Gandorfer, project scientist for SUNRISE at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany.

After completing its mission and separating from its balloon, SUNRISE parachuted safely down to Earth on June 14, landing on Somerset Island, a large island in Canada's Nunavut Territory situated in the Northwest Passage, the seaway through the Arctic Ocean between the Atlantic and the Pacific.

SUNRISE is a collaborative project between the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Katlenburg-Lindau and partners in Germany, Spain and the United States.

According to John Derbyshire via Powerline AlGore has the all the answers:

Al Gore has made an enormous amount of money by pretending to know something about science. He is by no means the first such charlatan, but he must be one of the most successful. A week or two ago, when we interviewed National Review's John Derbyshire on our radio show, he emphasized that he is a science guy at heart. Today, at The Corner, he takes Gore to school. To convey the impact I'm reproducing the whole thing, but please do follow the link anyway:

Al Gore on Conan O'Brien's show the other day:

Conan: Now, what about ... you talk in the book about geothermal energy ...
Al: Yeah, yeah.
Conan: and that is, as I understand it, using the heat that's generated from the core of the earth ...
Al: Yeah.
Conan: ... to create energy, and it sounds to me like an evil plan by Lex Luthor to defeat Superman. Can you, can you tell me, is this a viable solution, geothermal energy?
Al: It definitely is, and it's a relatively new one. People think about geothermal energy -- when they think about it at all -- in terms of the hot water bubbling up in some places, but two kilometers or so down in most places there are these incredibly hot rocks, 'cause the interior of the earth is extremely hot, several million degrees, and the crust of the earth is hot ...

[Me] The geothermal gradient is usually quoted as 25-50 degrees Celsius per mile of depth in normal terrain (not, e.g., in the crater of Kilauea). Two kilometers down, therefore, (that's a mile and a quarter if you're not as science-y as Al) you'll have an average gain of 30-60 degrees -- exploitable for things like home heating, though not hot enough to make a nice pot of tea. The temperature at the earth's core, 4,000 miles down, is usually quoted as 5,000 degrees Celsius, though these guys claim it's much less, while some contrarian geophysicists have posted claims up to 9,000 degrees. The temperature at the surface of the Sun is around 6,000 degrees Celsius, while at the center, where nuclear fusion is going on bigtime, things get up over 10 million degrees.
If the temperature anywhere inside the earth was "several million degrees," we'd be a star.

It is a remarkable fact that Al Gore has had a significant influence on public policy relating to science when he is, in fact, utterly uneducated in scientific matters and is of very limited intelligence.

On the other hand, he's gotten rich, so I guess the joke is on us.

We got one sunspot lately, according to Solarcycle24.com (excellent site for people who want to keep track of such, I highly recommend it):

Updated 2009 Nov 17 2201 UTC
Joint USAF/NOAA Report of Solar and Geophysical Activity
SDF Number 321 Issued at 2200Z on 17 Nov 2009
Analysis of Solar Active Regions and Activity from 16/2100Z to 17/2100Z: Solar activity was very low. A B1.5 flare occurred at 17/1259Z, most likely originating from the new emerging flux region near N19E68.
Solar Activity Forecast: Solar activity is expected to be very low.
Geophysical Activity Summary 16/2100Z to 17/2100Z: The geomagnetic field was quiet.
Geophysical Activity Forecast: The geomagnetic field is expected to be predominantly quiet for days one and two (18-19 November). Quiet to unsettled levels, with a chance for isolated active periods, are expected late on day three (20 November). The increase in activity is expected as a recurrent coronal hole high-speed stream becomes geoeffective.

If negligible sun-spot activity is maintained into January, then NASA's models are officially broken and we are in for a cold time.

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