Here comes the sun (the Beatles)

A huge American telescope at the top of a volcanic island in the Pacific has photographed the Sun with unprecedented resolution, making it possible to see plasma bubbles the size of France. These images have the highest resolution ever obtained, said Thomas Rimmele, director of the $ 344 million telescope, from Boulder, where the National Solar Observatory, a US public institution, is based. On the images and videos published on Wednesday, we see bubbles grow and rise to the surface before changing color.


These are plasma bubbles that are heating and cooling. Each cell in the image is about the size of France. The largest published plan represents a part of the Sun of 5000 miles by 5000 miles.



After nine years of construction, the telescope was turned on last December 10th. The telescope is launched at an exciting time for astronomers: the Sun is about to enter a new 11-year cycle and is starting to produce new sunspots.

Please watch this incredible video :


Now to celebrate our own star the Sun, please post your coins featuring Sol, the personification and god of the Sun. Here are some of mine I think I've never posted before.
SEVERUS ALEXANDER
Sol raising hand & holding whip

PROBUS
Providentia & Sol raising hand and holding globe

GORDIAN III
Sol raising hand& holding globe

GALLIENUS
Draped figure of Sol, holding globe

 

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Here's two Seljuk sunface dirhams glaring at you! guarded by lions! dating from 1241AD. 22 mm, about 2.9 gr. Minted by king Kaikhusraw III in Konya. GRRRR!

 

My all-time favorite Beatles song!

 

@Pellinore : Magnifique example!
@furryfrog02 : this one is just for you:

 

Amazing solar closeup. Here's a sun - beating a captive with a bow and olive branch? I guess that's one way to broker peace.

Aurelianus, AE Antoninianus, Rome, Issue 11, early - September 275
Obv: IMP AVRELIANVS AVG, Bust B1 right, radiate, cuirassed
Rev: ORIENS AVG, Sol walking right, holding olive branch in right hand and bow in left hand, left foot resting on a captive in oriental dress kneeling on the ground to right, head turned left, right hand raised. Δ/–//XXIR, Sol 8
Ref: LV 1204-358
Aurelian didn't make it to Persia. The Praetorian Guard, misled, murdered him in September 275, in Caenophrurium, Thrace.

 

Man, I love your astrologically awesome threads! Very intense. Like massive chunks of gold.
Here here! Comes, the sun:

 

I forgot to add a coin earlier. D'oh!
While listening to the song, I found this (poorly photographed) Aurelian. I need to go back and take new pictures.

Aurelian
AE Antoninianus
Serdica mint
Obverse: IMP AVRELIANVS AVG, radiate, cuirassed bust right
Reverse: ORIENS AVG Sol standing left between two captives, holding globe, right hand raised
Mintmark XXI dot S

 

That puts my solar telescope to shame.



With mine all I can resolve is sunspots, large filaments, and solar flares (though very faint), and it all requires a lot of patience. People don't realize it because of the brightness, but the sun is a very small target. With my 45mm telescope the sun only comes across the size of a golf ball in the eyepiece. Any smaller and I wouldn't be able to observe the flares or filaments...which makes my telescope an entry level H-Alpha solar telescope. But don't be fooled, entry level is still expensive. My whole kit, with the extra filter and all, is a $1,300+ package. Proper solar astronomy is expensive because the filters are expensive.


This extra filter alone is $500. And you can't use it for anything else other than solar observations.

The sun is not an easy thing to view in high details because of the brightness which can blind you in an instance without proper equipment. You could do it on the cheap with a mylar filter on a regular telescope, but all you'd see is visible light (ie. a gray disk and any sunspots if there even happen to be any). If you want the real detailed surface view, and see flares and filaments, you got to pony up for H-Alpha capable telescope like mine.

I definitely am properly jealous of what that large solar telescope can do.



Anyway, here is a Sol Invictus on a coin

 

I took this pic of Sol in his chariot by the light by the annular solar eclipse this past December.

PROBUS
AE Antoninianus. 3.31g, 22mm. Rome mint, circa AD 276-282. RIC 202; Cohen 644. O: IMP PROBVS AVG, Bust radiate left, almost half-length, seen from front, wearing consular robes and holding eagle-tipped scepter. R: SOLI INVICTO, Sol raising right hand and holding globe and whip in left, in quadriga of horses leaping left; in exergue, crescent flanked by R and B (officina 2).
Ex Phillip Davis Collection


MAXIMINUS II DAIA
AE Follis. 6.24g, 23mm. Antioch mint, circa AD 310-11. RIC VI Antioch 154c. O: IMP C GAL VAL MAXIMINVS P F AVG, laureate head right. R: SOLE IN-VICTO, Sol standing left, extending arm and holding bust of Serapis; crescent over A in left field, ANT in exergue.
Ex Giovanni Dattari Collection (1853-1923)

CARIA, Rhodos. Rhodes.
AE29. 17.59g, 28.6mm. CARIA, Rhodos, Rhodes, circa 88-85 BC. HN Online 1274.2 (this coin, illustrated); HGC 6, 1467. O: Radiate head of Helios right. R: Rose in profile; winged thunderbolt to left, Isis crown to right.
Ex CNG Auction 88 (28 April 2004), lot 57; ex Lakeview Collection

 

Everybody know that Sol drives across the sky in a chariot:



Maximinus II, 305-310-313.
24 mm. 8.42 grams.
Helmeted bust left holding spear over far shoulder and shield with elaborate decoration.
SOLI INVICTAE
RIC VI Antioch 145b variety. Struck as Caesar, c. May 310
Sear IV 14766

 

Me on pilgrimage this summer:
Now here comes the sun. Constantine's Sol coinage is common, but this eBay grab is not. A rare "Sol Facing" issue struck only at Ticinum. (Sol typically faces left, not forward.) The reverse is not sharp, but it's unmistakably a Sol Facing reverse. RIC VI Ticinum 133.

 

Just in case anyone is wondering why anyone would want an H-Alpha solar telescope, here is what you'd see on a calm day with no sunspots using a regular telescope with a mylar filter (the sun on the top) vs. a dedicated solar telescope capable of viewing the sun in the H-Alpha .50A (0.05nm) range (the sun at the bottom).



As you can see, the regular astronomy telescope with a mylar filter on a day with no sunspots would only show a boring featureless sphere.

But the H-Alpha shows flares, filaments, and might even show some granularity around the edges on a good day. So even on a boring day with no sun spots, your efforts at setting up the telescope are still rewarded with something to look at, vs. the regular telescope with a mylar filter which won't show anything unless there are sunspots.

 

Here's Sol Invictus:



Aurelian AD 270-275.
Roman silvered billon Antoninianus, 3.60 gm; 21.7 mm, 6 h.
Rome mint, officina 9, issue 11, early – September AD 275.
Obv: IMP AVRELIANVS AVG, radiate, cuirassed bust, right.
Rev: ORIE-N-S AVG, Sol walking r., holding olive branch in r. hand and bow in l. hand, l. foot resting on a captive in oriental dress kneeling on the ground to r., head turned l., r. hand raised; * in left field, XXIR in exergue.
Refs: RIC 64; MER/RIC temp 1834; RCV 11569; Hunter 23; Cohen 159; La Venera 1321-32.

 

RR den. Lucretia with Sol obverse.

 

RIC VI 153 - LMCC 7.03.006
CONSTANTINVS PF AVG / COMITI AVGG NN /
PLN, * in right field, London Mint
23mm, 3,45g, 311-12 AD



LMCC 6.02.014
IMP CONSTANTINVS P AVG / SOLI INVICTO COMITI
PLN, T F in fields, London Mint
22mm, 3.74g, 309-311 AD

 

SUN


Carthage Zeugitania AR ½ Shekel 17mm 3.8g 2nd Punic War 218-202 BC Sicily mint 216-211 BC Tanit l Horse r sun as double uraeus SNG COP 359



SELJUQ OF RUM Kaykhusraw II 1236-1245 AR dirham Siwas AH 639 A-1218 lion sun face star L
Ex: @Sallent

 

SOL

Republic

RR Mussidius Longus 42 BCE AR Den Rad Sol Platform CLOACIN S 494 Cr494-42


Empire

RI Maximinus II Daia 305-308 CE AE20 GENIO POPVLI Genius stndg bust of Sol cornu star H RIC IV 164b

 

Athens New Style c 138/7 BC Facing bust of Helios- Looks a bit like Jesus-but only in a non-sacrilegious way ( Hungry Homer).

 

I have only one Sol coin: Probus, 276-282 AD, silvered billon Antoninianus, Cyzicus Mint 280 AD. Obv. Radiate bust left wearing imperial mantle and holding eagle-tipped sceptre, IMP C M AVR PROBVS P F AVG / Rev. Sol standing facing in spread quadriga, with right hand raised, holding globe and whip in left hand, the horses spread, two on l. and two on r., SOLI INVICTO; CM in lower center above XXI Q in exergue (Officina 4 - Quarto). RIC V-2 Cyzicus 911, Sear RCV III 12041 (ill.), Cohen 682, Pink [Karl Pink 1949], p. 44, series 3. 23 mm., 4.1 g.