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Looks like naugahyde

Behold, the highest-resolution images of the sun ever taken. Each of those knobbles is about the size of Texas. These are the first pictures from the brand new 12-foot Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope at the the National Solar Observatory in Hawaii.

But that’s just the beginning. NASA launched a probe in August of 2018 and the European Space Agency has another one going in February, both intended as long-term solar observatories. Among the questions: why is the atmosphere of the sun a million degrees hotter than the surface? They also hope to observe the sun’s magnetic poles flip, a thing it does every eleven years.

I’m personally hoping they can find some sun spots. I don’t want to eek out my old age in record cold.

Coronavirus update: numbers continue to climb in China while remaining curiously flat in other affected countries. One theory (observation, really) is that Asians are more susceptible. And men more than women, by about four to one. No, I don’t have any citations for that. It came across my Twitter feed and made me go hmmmm.

January 29, 2020 — 9:11 pm
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