Sonnet XXXVII

Solar Activity Impacts Earth's Magnetic Field

Powerful magnetic forces tangled
in the solar wind, fracture and shatter
then rejoin with vengeance till flares, mangled
and twisted in bits of stellar matter,
pop-off on the solar surface. It’s jazz
played with frenzied brutality. It’s twitching
epileptically toward the poles. Viewed as
dynamic motions, it keeps enriching
catastrophic solar events. The sun
is miasmic. It is a complex beast.
It churns and quivers. It stops for no one.
A ball of hydrogen, to say the least!
Fluids ebb and flow on a disc shaped star,
materials suddenly fling out far.

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 The Sun is a seething ball of ionized gas, called plasma, and has very complex magnetic fields that interact with this plasma.  The Solar activity impacts the magnetic fields of the Earth. It also has significant influence on Earth’s weather.

The picture comes from:

http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/

http://mblogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/06/14/the-sun-may-be-headed-for-a-little-quiet-time/

Sonnet XXXV

Newly Discovered Supernova in the Whirlpool Galaxy

A superstar stellar celebrity
has appeared in the evening sky. Among
the worldwide observing community,
no one ever saw a starburst this young.
The inner clockwork of this titanic
event, was ranked as a universal
episode of intensity. Cosmic
explosions were seen by professional
digital astroimagers. They prepared
very large aperture telescopes,
then witnessed what the precursor star dared
to do before bursting. Everyone hopes
to glimpse the event with reinforced eyes:
that brilliant whirlpool that lives in dark skies.

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Posted on:

Open Link Night ~ Week 34

This is a hubble space telescope picture. It’s just gorgeous.