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Plasma falling to the surface of the sun. (i.imgur.com)

submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by Wilshire@sh.itjust.works to c/space@lemmy.world

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Another cloud free day in Scotland let me catch almost 9 hours of this huge and lively prom. Taken with my home made 90mm modded Coronado PST and DMK21 camera. Software: CdC, Eqmod, DSSR, AutoStakkert!, Wavesharp, DVS, Shotcut and Gimp.

David Wilson on April 8, 2025 @ Inverness, Scotland

https://spaceweathergallery2.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=221951

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[-] leverage@sh.itjust.works 186 points 8 months ago

The "earth to scale" really boggles my mind 🫨

[-] jared@mander.xyz 56 points 8 months ago

Thank you, I didn't even see that.

[-] snipon@feddit.dk 19 points 8 months ago

Needs banana

[-] MelodiousFunk@slrpnk.net 31 points 8 months ago

It's there, you just gotta zoom in a bit.

[-] illi@lemm.ee 9 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

There is banana on the Earth

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[-] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 77 points 8 months ago

All that energy and here we are burning oil like cavemen in the dark.

[-] GenosseFlosse@feddit.org 25 points 8 months ago

Caveman didn't burn oil 🤓

[-] Schmoo@slrpnk.net 12 points 8 months ago

They might have soaked fabric or some other material in animal fat (which is just oil that's solid at room temperature), wrapped it around the end of a stick, and lit it on fire. 🤓🤓

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[-] BaroqueInMind@lemmy.one 10 points 8 months ago

You know any efficient way to harness that energy?

[-] Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 36 points 8 months ago

Solar panels?

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[-] fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com 26 points 8 months ago

Yeah just grab a handful.

[-] dtrain@lemmy.world 22 points 8 months ago

Doesn’t take a genius: Dyson Sphere

[-] Wilshire@sh.itjust.works 14 points 8 months ago

Doesn’t take a genius

Dyson Sphere

I assume that's sarcasm 😂

[-] Flemmy@lemm.ee 15 points 8 months ago

Roughly you need at least 906.000 km² of 1x1m solar panelling.

[-] dtrain@lemmy.world 14 points 8 months ago

I know a guy.

[-] SkyeStarfall 7 points 8 months ago

That's actually not the worst. It seems doable to produce that much square area of solar panels, even for a civilization like us. We need about 500 000 square kilometers of solar panels on the Earth's surface to power our global electrical needs. This is within the realm of possibility

The more tricky part is to actually position it around the sun, that part is what makes it impossible for our current tech level and space infrastructure

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[-] wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world 7 points 8 months ago

It never loses suction

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[-] trotfox@lemmy.world 62 points 8 months ago

It's crazy this guy is just doing this on his own. Looks like something from NASA to me.

[-] nexguy@lemmy.world 61 points 8 months ago

Looks like the video is about 20 minutes of real time per 1 second of video. There are dops of plasma that fall further than the diameter of Earth in less than one in video second... which means the plasma is falling the more than the diameter of Earth in less than 20 minutes. That's close to 100,000 mph or 160,000 kph. Dang

[-] andros_rex@lemmy.world 21 points 8 months ago

About 0.01% of the speed of light. I got a Lorentz factor of 1.00000001 so not quite fast enough for relativistic stuff.

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[-] 1luv8008135@lemmy.world 55 points 8 months ago

So dumb question, but what’s causing the gap between the plasma cloud(?) and the surface? And is that gap filled with something that is invisible?

[-] crapwittyname@lemm.ee 84 points 8 months ago

Plasma is electrically charged, so it interacts with magnetic lines.
The sun has magnetic field lines just as the earth does. It also rotates. But- since it's not solid, it doesn't have to rotate all at the same speed. The plasma in fast-rotating regions drags the field lines further than the plasma in slow rotating areas, creating weird loops, breaks and reconnections in the field lines. I'm almost certain that what we're seeing in this lovely bit of photography is a cloud of plasma travelling across, or trapped by one of those rogue field lines which has been pushed upwards from the surface by differential rotation.

[-] 1luv8008135@lemmy.world 18 points 8 months ago

That’s fascinating. Thank you for sharing!

[-] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 6 points 8 months ago

Nuh-uh, come on, that can't be real. So cool.

[-] crapwittyname@lemm.ee 16 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Even cooler: solar flares and mass ejections come about when one of the lines snaps like a whip and hurls billions of tonnes of plasma into space. Search: solar magnetic reconnection.

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[-] niktemadur@lemmy.world 35 points 8 months ago

The dynamics there due to sheer gravity, magnetism and levels of energy/radiation that are utterly alien to our daily experience.

[-] NikkiDimes@lemmy.world 21 points 8 months ago

I get some of the basic underlying mechanics, but I absolutely cannot comprehend it. Incredible.

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[-] BaroqueInMind@lemmy.one 43 points 8 months ago

This image is cool as fuck. No! Wait. This image is hot as fuck.

[-] badcommandorfilename@lemmy.world 7 points 8 months ago

It's both!

[-] slampisko@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[-] gcheliotis@lemmy.world 35 points 8 months ago

Absolutely amazing that you could capture that with “amateur” equipment, although it is clear from your post that a lot went into this. Bravo!

[-] andyburke@fedia.io 30 points 8 months ago

fuckin love the fediverse

[-] voodooattack@lemmy.world 25 points 8 months ago

God damned KDE devs at it again /s

[-] Sgarcnl@lemmy.world 18 points 8 months ago

If the earth to scale is accurate, the drops coming to the surface might be approximately close to the land mass of a large continent.

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[-] Ghyste@sh.itjust.works 17 points 8 months ago

Amazing capture! Easily one of the best I've ever seen.

[-] jaxxed@lemmy.ml 15 points 8 months ago

That is mezmerizing. Is there any way to know how big this thing is?

[-] CmdrUlle@feddit.org 28 points 8 months ago

See ~Banana~ Earth for scale, top left?

[-] jaxxed@lemmy.ml 14 points 8 months ago

Totally missed that. Thx.

That thing is massive!

[-] CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.world 12 points 8 months ago

It’s like raiiiiiiiaaaaaiiiiiiiin…

Cool shot!

[-] higgsboson@dubvee.org 11 points 8 months ago

Another cloud free day in Scotland let me catch almost 9 hours of this huge and lively prom.

As soon as I read the word "Scotland", my brain went back and revised this to be read in Scott Manley's voice.

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[-] Sgarcnl@lemmy.world 9 points 8 months ago

This is beautiful

[-] Suck_on_my_Presence@lemmy.world 7 points 8 months ago

How are you using Gimp with this?

[-] NikkiDimes@lemmy.world 7 points 8 months ago

I'm assuming, like the other response said, overlay graphics, but also possibly to animate it.

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[-] dependencyinjection@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 8 months ago

I need details on how you homemade some stuff.

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[-] TerranFenrir@lemmy.ca 5 points 8 months ago

So beautiful!

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this post was submitted on 10 Apr 2025

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