SOHO images - a few questions

Status
Not open for further replies.
A

ace5

Guest
http://soho.no.sapo.pt/SOHO/OMelhor/1999/1999.htm<br /><br />These are images taken by SOHO, and there are some strange bright spots elsewere;<br /><br />Are them derived from transmission glitches, equipment false images before calibration, or just normal features of the Sun´s corona?<br /><br />It is part of a ridiculous ufo-conspiracy site, but I found these shots intriguing, in the strict sense of Astronomy.<br /><br />Thanks.
 
D

doubletruncation

Guest
I don't know the answer, but they look like saturated stars to me.<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
3

3488

Guest
Obviously, bright planets (Venus & Jupiter being good examples) & bright stars will pass behind the Sun at certain times, undergoing Superior Conjunction. These events are 'Blooming' when the CCD becomes saturated & more pixels become temporarily 'hot'.<br /><br />This is what these images show, nothing else, no ufos, etc. <br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>
 
D

doubletruncation

Guest
I suppose they could also be cosmic ray hits (though the particularly symmetric ones look like blooming, so probably stars/planets). Cameras in space tend to be blasted with them. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
M

MeteorWayne

Guest
Having looked at lots of SOHO images of the years...<br /><br />The top one appears to be a bright star (causing the horizontal "blooming" combined with a cosmic ray (or energetic particle from the sun) streak at an angle. The star nearest to that position was mu Cancri.<br /><br />The others are simply bright stars.<br /><br />Note that the images on this site have been highly processed to reveal (or create) brightness variations that may be as small as a 1 bit brightness difference being shown as contours.<br /><br />BTW, here's todays full spectrum shot of the sun, showing the huge sunspot. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>
 
C

CalliArcale

Guest
It's interesting to see the ones with a downward component to the blooming. That's less common. "Blooming" tends to be mostly horizontal due to the physical geometry of SOHO's CCD imagers. (But it's not unheard of for this to occur in other directions. Just more common for it to be left-right.) There's some interesting physics behind this; if a pixels is oversaturated, electrons will literally spill over into adjacent pixels, causing those pixels to be read by the camera's computer as detecting light when in fact they're just being energized by their over-saturated neighbors.<br /><br />If you have a digital camera, you can duplicate the effect yourself by finding a bright light source and aiming the camera at it. It'll show best with artificial light sources in a dark room -- Christmas lights on a tree in a dark living room may produce the effect, depending on your camera. I've noticed it most when taking pictures with bright lights in a dark room. My camera gets mostly top-down spillage. In extreme situations, I get streaks all the way across the image! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>
 
3

3488

Guest
Another good example was when MER B Opportunity imaged the crashed inverted heat shield, with bright sunshine on it, in Meridiani Planum. There was much blooming in many of the images. Most was in an up / down direction.<br /><br />The artifacts in the SOHO images is definately 'Blooming' by bright planets & stars. The Sun near Mu Cancri, image in mid to late July?? It is interesting in late May early June when the Sun passes above the Hyades & Aldebaran in the SOHO images. Aldebaran definately blooms in the SOHO images.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>
 
M

MeteorWayne

Guest
And of course all the planets are bloomin' bright. <br /><br />Mercury reaches superior conjunction (behind the sun) on January 7th so should be vsisible in one or both of the LASCO images near then. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>
 
W

witgenestone

Guest
I fear some nasty X-flares are around the corner. Does anyone know if it's likely that our Sun releases a megaflare?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts