Active region NOAA 0484

Active region NOAA 0484

Downloadable versions (see NOAO Conditions of Use):
201 x 200 12 kb color JPEG(on this page)
401 x 400 38 kb color JPEG
1026 x 1024 151 kb color JPEG
2874 x 2868 654 kb color JPEG
2874 x 2868 7.87 Mb 8-bit color TIFF
2874 x 2868 23.59 Mb 24-bit color TIFF

This G-band image of active solar region NOAA 0484 demonstrates the spectacular image quality now achieved with the high-order adaptive optics system at the Dunn Solar Telescope (DST) at Sacramento Peak, NM. Taken on the 24th of October, 2003, during a period of solar storms that drew worldwide interest, the image shows evidence for dark penumbral cores, which were also recently reported at the 1-meter Swedish Telescope in La Palma. Data taken simultaneously with the Diffraction-Limited Spectro-Polarimeter (DLSP) and the Universal Birefringent Filter (UBF) at the DST are likely to give more information about the physical origin of these newly discovered features.

The DLSP is a collaborative project between the National Solar Observatory and the High Altitude Observatory.

See the December 2003 NOAO Newsletter (currently only available in PDF format), for which this picture was the cover illustration.

Minimum credit line: NOAO/AURA/NSF (for details see Conditions of Use)

Return to: solar page.

NOAO is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc. under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation

Comments by e-mail to images@noao.edu