Subj : Daily APOD Report To : All From : Ben Ritchey Date : Mon Aug 20 2018 09:10:22 Astronomy Picture of the Day Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! [1] Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2018 August 20 [2] Active Prominences on a Quiet Sun Image Credit & Copyright [3] : Alan Friedman [4] (Averted Imagination [5] ) Explanation: Why is the Sun so quiet? As the Sun [6] enters into a period of time known as a Solar Minimum [7] , it is, as expected, showing fewer sunspots [8] and active regions [9] than usual. The quietness is somewhat unsettling [10] , though, as so far this year, most days show no sunspots at all. In contrast, from 2011 - 2015, during Solar Maximum [11] , the Sun displayed spots just about every day. Maxima and minima occur on an 11-year cycle [12] , with the last Solar Minimum [13] being the most quiet in a century. Will this current Solar Minimum go even deeper [14] ? Even though the Sun's activity [15] affects the Earth and its surroundings, no one knows for sure what the Sun will do next [16] , and the physics behind the processes remain an active topic of research [17] . The featured image [18] was taken three weeks ago [19] and shows that our Sun is busy even on a quiet day. Prominences [20] of hot plasma [21] , some larger than the Earth [22] , dance continually and are most easily visible over the edge. Tomorrow's picture: elements of soul ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- < [23] | Archive [24] | Submissions [25] | Index [26] | Search [27] | Calendar [28] | RSS [29] | Education [30] | About APOD [31] | Discuss [32] | > [33] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff [34] (MTU [35] ) & Jerry Bonnell [36] (UMCP [37] ) NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply [38] . NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices [39] A service of: ASD [40] at NASA [41] / GSFC [42] & Michigan Tech. U. [43] ---------- Site notes: [1] archivepix.html [2] image/1808/SolarProminences_Friedman_821.jpg [3] lib/about_apod.html#srapply [4] mailto: alan at greatarrow dot com [5] http://www.avertedimagination.com/ [6] https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/sun/overview/ [7] https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/news-articles/solar-minimum-is-coming [8] ap020718.html [9] ap150629.html [10] https://www.barkbusters.co.uk/images/articles/ 7a4120f095480e9f2a2ad2a165d90313.jpg [11] ap140312.html [12] ap071203.html [13] https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2009/ 01apr_deepsolarminimum/ [14] https://www.universetoday.com/139189/ are-we-headed-towards-another-deep-solar-minimum/ [15] https://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/images/Cycle22Cycle23Cycle24big.gif [16] https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/news/ solar-cycle-24-status-and-solar-cycle-25-upcoming-forecast [17] http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015LRSP...12....4H [18] http://www.avertedimagination.com/img_pages/alittlefireworks.html [19] http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=29&month=07&year=2018 [20] ap140720.html [21] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_(physics) [22] ap160919.html [23] ap180819.html [24] archivepix.html [25] lib/apsubmit2015.html [26] lib/aptree.html [27] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search [28] calendar/allyears.html [29] /apod.rss [30] lib/edlinks.html [31] lib/about_apod.html [32] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=180820 [33] ap180821.html [34] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html [35] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ [36] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html [37] http://www.astro.umd.edu/ [38] lib/about_apod.html#srapply [39] https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html [40] https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ [41] https://www.nasa.gov/ [42] https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ [43] http://www.mtu.edu/ --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A39 (Windows/32) * Origin: FIDONet - The Positronium Repository (1:393/68) .