A Typical Sun Spot
1 2016-06-04T17:25:44-07:00 Alex Moore 6cd84a9f7efd71803c15562e48a509db9e0bb5a6 9184 2 Sketch by S.P. Langley of a typical sun spot, 1873. plain 2016-06-04T17:29:06-07:00 Alex Moore 6cd84a9f7efd71803c15562e48a509db9e0bb5a6This page has paths:
- 1 2016-06-07T19:53:33-07:00 Christine Turk b279a3dcf419860f915007f04f08e6fc0f8662ce Astronomical Illustrations in the Lick Observatory Archives Christine Turk 8 gallery 2016-06-08T14:20:04-07:00 Christine Turk b279a3dcf419860f915007f04f08e6fc0f8662ce
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- 1 2016-06-04T10:01:39-07:00 Alex Moore 6cd84a9f7efd71803c15562e48a509db9e0bb5a6 Understanding the Sun Alex Moore 21 This group of illustrations and photographs traces the struggle of astronomers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century to understand the sun, particularly the nature of sun spots and the solar corona. plain 2016-06-08T08:50:16-07:00 Alex Moore 6cd84a9f7efd71803c15562e48a509db9e0bb5a6
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1
2016-06-04T10:01:39-07:00
Understanding the Sun
21
This group of illustrations and photographs traces the struggle of astronomers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century to understand the sun, particularly the nature of sun spots and the solar corona.
plain
2016-06-08T08:50:16-07:00
The Lick Observatory eclipse expeditions strove to answer the following questions:
- What is the solar corona?
- Why does the sun have a corona?
- Can General Relativity be proved?
- Are there other planets or unknown bodies revolving around the sun?
Though sun spots were first observed by Galileo in 1610, the nature of both sunspots and the solar corona fascinated and mystified astronomers through the early nineteenth century. With the advent of astrophotography, astronomers could carefully observe and record these phenomena. In the carefully observed drawing by Langley the sun spot looks like a dark opening in a dense wall of foliage-like fibers. In Trouvelot's illustration, the sun spots resemble holes surrounded by muscle tissues. In both images we see careful observation of the visually available information: an interruption of the surface; a darker center surrounded by areas of movement. In nth cases the image is interpreted based on observable forms on earth. These images reflected and informed Lick Director Edward Holden's thinking about the sun: both Trouvelot and Langley were in correspondence with the astronomers at the Lick, sharing sketches of their observations, and Holden pasted a copy of Langley's Sun Spot engraving into his scrapbook.
Similarly, the sketches astronomers made of the corona at this point in time accurately record the shapes of the corona, but fail to understand the forces behind it. Edward Holden, the founding Director of the Lick, hypothesized that the "coronal filaments were produced by streams of meteorites falling into the sun." John Schaeberle, the astronomer who designed the 40ft camera used on the majority of the eclipse expeditions, proposed that the coronal forms were "produced by volcanic forces emanating from the sun spots."
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2016-06-07T13:46:02-07:00
Case 4: Understanding the Sun
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Key theme in Case 4
plain
2016-06-07T13:46:02-07:00
The Lick Observatory eclipse expeditions strove to answer the following questions:
- What is the solar corona?
- Why does the sun have a corona?
- Can General Relativity be proved?
- Are there other planets or unknown bodies revolving around the sun?
Though sun spots were first observed by Galileo in 1610, the nature of both sunspots and the solar corona fascinated and mystified astronomers through the early nineteenth century. With the advent of astrophotography, astronomers could carefully observe and record these phenomena. In the carefully observed drawing by Langley the sun spot looks like a dark opening in a dense set of fibers. In Trouvelot's illustration, the sun spots resemble holes surrounded by muscle tissues. In both images we see careful observation of the visually available information: an interruption of the surface; a darker center surrounded by areas of movement. These images reflected and informed Edward Holden's thinking about the sun: both Trouvelot and Langley were in correspondence with the astronomers at the Lick, sharing sketches of their observations, and Holden pasted a copy of Langley's Sun Spot engraving into his scrapbook.
Similarly, the sketches astronomers made of the corona at this point in time accurately record the shapes of the corona, but fail to understand the forces behind it. Edward Holden, the founding Director of the Lick, hypothesized that the "coronal filaments were produced by streams of meteorites falling into the sun." John Schaeberle, the astronomer who designed the 40ft camera used on the majority of the eclipse expeditions, proposed that the coronal forms were "produced by volcanic forces emanating from the sun spots."