Image Caption: This color picture is a computer representation of one of nearly 10 million modes of sound wave oscillations of the Sun as seen by the GONG network of telescopes. Areas of the solar surface moving away from us are shown in red tones and approaching regions are shown in blue. By monitoring these oscillation patterns on the solar surface, GONG allows astronomers to infer much about conditions in the solar core, leading to a greater understanding of our nearest star.

Download:
582 x 400 20 kb color JPEG
1600 x 1100 128 kb color JPEG
1600 x 1100 1.7 Mb 8-bit color TIFF
1600 x 1100 5.1 Mb 24-bit color TIFF

: :   : :   : :

Image Caption: These cutaway images show snapshots of the changing solar rotation at two different times about six months apart, on the surface (left side of images) and below the solar surface. Near the surface the rotation is faster than average in the red areas and slower in the green; deeper down red indicates faster than average rotation and blue indicates slower rotation.

Download:
1140 x 722 2.9 Mb 24-bit color TIFF

: :   : :   : :

Image Caption: The GONG network of telescopes consists of six observing stations around the world, positioned so the Sun never sets on GONG. The GONG instruments are housed in rectangular trailers as shown here. A world map of all GONG sites is found at http://www.gong.noao.edu/sites/sites.html

Download:
571 x 400 40 kb color JPEG

: :   : :   : :

Image Caption: Time variations of solar rotation, as derived from 4.5 years of GONG data, are shown in this graph of latitude versus date. Faster rotation is shown as red/yellow; slower rotation is shown as green/blue. Bands of faster and slower rotation are seen to be migrating toward the equator. These flow bands extend below the solar surface through the convenction zone.

Download:
496 x 367 216 Kb 8-bit color (adaptive pallete) GIF
1000 x 714 2 Mb 24-bitcolor TIFF
2500 x 1786 12.7 Mb 24-bit color TIFF

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

Page created and maintained by outreach@noao.edu