Saiph - This is an interesting article - I wonder if AURA has a website that we could check out for more current information on the sun's interior rotational motions, etc.?<br /><br />Anyway, here is an excerpt from a 1990 article about the Sacramento Peak Observatory at Sunspot, near Cloudcroft, New Mexico: <br /><br />"Later, in 1957, a nonprofit organization, AURA (Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, <br />Inc.), was organized in connection with the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Tucson, Arizona; the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in La Serena, Chile; and the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. AURA felt that by sharing scientists and information, all could gain more understanding of the sun. We were beginning to see that this isolated observatory had connections in various parts of the earth.<br /><br />The Quivering Sun<br /><br />Dr. Bernard Durney, a research director, graciously offered to answer some questions about the sun. He explained that he is working in the field of solar seismology. We needed an explanation of what that meant. It seems that it was first studied there at Sacramento Peak. He explained: "The sun not only rotates on its axis but moves in many other ways that can be studied by viewing its surface constantly and seeing changes that occur. From these changes, we can formulate ideas about what may be occurring inside the sun and then plan studies to confirm or disprove our ideas."<br /><br />"About 1970," he continued, "a quivering, or shaking, of the sun was predicted. It is much like the shaking, or vibration, that occurs when a large bell is rung. One can also think of the illustration of a pebble thrown into a pond and how it causes the entire surface of the pond to be affected as the rings of waves cross the pond from the point of impact. The difference is that the waves in the sun go throughout the sun in all directions."<br /><br />It appeared that these vibrations originated at different level