Electric suns, solar flares and coronal mass ejections.

[RealityCheck01]

FYI, after reviewing SDO images for the past couple of years, it's pretty clear to me (now at least) that the visual process in question was most likely related to a dark filament eruption.

Other readers of the thread may be puzzled by Michael's usage of "dark filament" as if the relative darkness of the filament had any effect on its properties (such as the likelihood of an eruption).

A filament is a prominence that is viewed against the Sun's body. A dark filament is a filament that is viewed in a passband that makes it look dark against the body of the Sun.

So a filament can be a dark filament, a 'bright' filament or a prominence depending on the viewing angle and passband.

 

[RealityCheck01]

Solar Moss: The Smoking Gun

Solar Moss activity turns out to be the smoking gun that demonstrates conclusively that the sun is electrically active. The solar moss activity occurs at the sun's surface.
...
NASA and Lockheed-Martin announced in December of 1999 that they had discovered a new phenomenon near the sun’s surface, which they termed “solar moss”.

More like "Solar Moss: The Smoking Gnu "
What does "near the sun’s surface" mean? It means thousands of kilometers above the photosphere !
Moss on the sun found by NASA's Trace probe

The moss consists of hot gas at about two million degrees Fahrenheit which emits extreme ultraviolet light observed by the TRACE instrument. It occurs in large patches, about 6,000 - 12,000 miles in extent, and appears between 1,000 - 1,500 miles above the Sun's visible surface, sometimes reaching more than 3,000 miles high.

 

[RealityCheck01]

Solar Moss: The Smoking Gun

This ”mysterious transition region” becomes a lot less mysterious if we simply recognize that this layer is a solid surface that is being eaten away by the electrical flow passing through it. The electrical current heats up ferrite pieces of the surface to millions of degrees as they are torn away and carried into the particle stream from the core emitting photons in the ferrite ion spectrum as they go.

Wow - Michael is even ignorant about his own fantasy .
The quote above implies that the transition region which is thousands of kilometers above the photosphere is his "solid surface" that is at some imaginary distance below the photosphere.

The delusion that any image of of the Sun can contain light emitted from below the photosphere persists.
Errors in Michael's site IV (below? the photosphere)
Errors in Michael's site V (transition region is above photosphere)!!
Errors in Michael's site XXI: iron ferrite ions do not exist!

 

[RealityCheck01]

Solar Moss: The Smoking Gun

To remove the mystery, all we need do is accept that this transition layer is a solid and electrically conductive surface.

Wow - now Michael is definitely ignorant about his own fantasy .
The quote above states that the transition region which is thousands of kilometers above the photosphere is his "solid surface" that is at some imaginary distance below the photosphere.

That is a quite idiotic statement because we can see through the transition region. It is a thin plasma, not a solid.

Errors in Michael's site IV (below? the photosphere)
Errors in Michael's site V (transition region is above photosphere)!!
Errors in Michael's site XXI: iron ferrite ions do not exist![/quote]

 

[RealityCheck01]

Solar Moss: The Smoking Gun

As you watch this video of a solar flare,
...
Once you accept this premise, it’s easy to see the arc eat away at both ends of a solid surface.
...
Regardless of the spectrum in question, the solid and sharp features of the rigid and angular surface structures are clearly visible
...

The rest of the page is Michael spinning fantasies about what he imagines in solar images.

The x-rays detected by the Yohkoh spacecraft (and several other spacecraft) are emitted from solar flares well above the photosphere. Why Study Solar Flares in Hard X-Rays? gives an overview of the generation of these x-rays.

Once again, Michael repeats the delusion that the 171, 195 and 284 angstrom passbands magically reveal his physically impossible iron surface. These are all emitted from ions above the photosphere at temperature greater then 160,000 K.

 

[RealityCheck01]

Solar Moss: The Smoking Gun

Yohkoh demonstrates that the bulk of the soft x-ray emissions originate from iron ions that are flowing in the electrical arcs.

A total fantasy that displays ignorance about the generation of x-rays in solar flares. All of the x-ray emissions originate from electrons, not ions and not specifically Fe ions.
These electrons do interact with protons (hydrogen ions) and other ions to produce the x-rays. It would be correct to state "Yohkoh demonstrates that the bulk of the soft x-ray emissions originate from hydrogen ions in plasma."
Why Study Solar Flares in Hard X-Rays?

 

[RealityCheck01]

The Sun - Assumptions, Observations And Early Interpretations

From the many conversations I've had with people at NASA and Stanford and Lockheed Martin, and from the pictures I've downloaded at Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory, I believe I can explain why a few simple misconceptions have hampered recent research into the sun's many layers.

The only misconceptions here are those of Michael.
He thinks that the transition regions is an assumption. It is not - it is the observation that there is a UV emitting region between the chromosphere and corona - Solar transition region.
He thinks that observations of the transition region started with the TRACE spacecraft. Observations of the transition region were done by Skylab in 1971 (e.g. Google Books: The Solar Transition Region). This was 27 years before the TRACE spacecraft.

This ignorance leads Michael to go on about NASA and Lockheed Martin scientists making a mistake about the location of the solar transition region.

There are the usual fantasies and unsupported assertions about electrical stuff.

 

[RealityCheck01]

The Sun - Assumptions, Observations And Early Interpretations

Recent heliosiesmology evidence from Stanford now confirms that a stratified layer exists at .995R UNDERNEATH of the visible photosphere

Wrong: Recent heliosiesmology evidence from Stanford now confirms that stratification of plasma exists around .995R UNDERNEATH of the visible photosphere. Big wow, Michael!
There is no solid iron surface reported in the paper.

Errors in Michael's site XII (Kosovichev (2005) shows no iron surface)!

 

[RealityCheck01]

The Sun - Assumptions, Observations And Early Interpretations

Since this layer is both lighter and warmer than the photosphere, it sits above the photosphere.

So the chromosphere is "both lighter and warmer than the photosphere" according to you means that it "floats" above the photosphere.

Guess what, Michael: The solar transition region is both lighter and warmer than the chromosphere! So it 'floats' above the chromosphere.

 

[RealityCheck01]

The Sun - Assumptions, Observations And Early Interpretations

Only in the past month has heliosiesmology demonstrated a "transitional layer" that sits beneath the visible photosphere.

Oh dear, Michael - an actual delusion .
The stratification in Errors in Michael's site XII (Kosovichev (2005) shows no iron surface)! is nothing to do with the solar transition region which is the subject of this page.

 

[RealityCheck01]

The Sun - Assumptions, Observations And Early Interpretations

If atoms of iron are being ripped from the surface in solar moss activity and ionized in the electrical arc, then gravity alone would suggest such a heavy iron layer would simply SINK to the bottom, not float ABOVE lighter plasma layers.

This displays ignorance about what is actually in solar images.
There is no electrical arc so it is not ionizing anything.
There is no heavy iron layer to SINK to the bottom.
Hotter plasma is lighter than cooler plasma and so will 'float ABOVE lighter plasma layers'.

A overly simple way to look this is to consider a column of plasma extending outward. The plasma has the same composition throughout the column, i.e. mostly H and He with traces of O, Si, Ne, Fe, Mg, etc. The temperature of the plasma increases with height (roughly corresponding to the chromosphere, transition region and corona). The density of the plasma reduces with height and each part of it 'floats' above the rest.

 

[RealityCheck01]

The Sun - Assumptions, Observations And Early Interpretations

It's also rather difficult to imagine how visible light travels from the photosphere could somehow manage to travel THROUGH a structured layer of calcium ferrite material (think refrigerator magnet) to somehow reach us here on earth.

It may be difficult for you but the reason is totally easy for everyone else - there is no calcium ferrite layer and so no problem for light traveling from the photosphere to the Earth !

 

[RealityCheck01]

The Sun - Assumptions, Observations And Early Interpretations

Lockheed Martin suggests...
A quick reality check here also reveals that if the dark surface was truly a million degrees, black body mathematics ...

An actual reality check reveals that the dark surface in the 171 A images are not anything with a temperature of a million degrees.
The dark regions are where there is no plasma heated to a temperature of > 160,000 K. The dark regions are where there is no light deteted at all.

The bright regions are where solar activity has heated plasma to > 160,000 K.

Lockheed Martin do not suggest anything. Decades of observations show that the corona is hot (millions of degrees). Decades of observations show that coronal loops contain plasma that is heated up to millions of degrees. In such a scenario, we would expect to see the area around the coronal loops to be COOLER than the coronal loops themselves and much hotter than the photosphere. That is what we see.

 

[RealityCheck01]

The Sun - Assumptions, Observations And Early Interpretations

Evidently Lockheed Martin does not fully appreciate the physics and implications of black body radiation. The brightest areas of any black body represent the hottest temperatures. The fact the surface is dark in both Trace and Yohkoh satellites means the surface is cool.

There are no bright areas on a black body. A black body is .... black !

Evidently you have no appreciation at all that a plasma need not be a black body. The spectrum from the photosphere is quite close to a black body spectrum. Light from the transition region, e.t.c. though is dominated by emission lines.

The fact the background is dark in most images in both Trace and Yohkoh satellites means the background is not emitting light that the specific passband used for those images is allowing through.
The Yohkoh images will have dark backgrounds because Yohkoh detects x-rays.
The TRACE white light images have bright backgrounds. Ditto for the 1216 A passband.

 

[Michael]

The Sun - Assumptions, Observations And Early Interpretations

There are no bright areas on a black body. A black body is .... black

There are however bright areas in any high energy image of the sun (even lower energy images), so forget your claim about the sun being a "black body". Honestly RC, why are you even engaged in this conversation? You are not interested in an *honest* scientific debate or you would have picked up a book on plasma physics over the past 7 years while you've played "PC hater"! In the two years you've stalked me around the internet you've never bothered to do it. You certainly are not interested in *learning* anything about the topic of solar physics or plasma physics.

Evidently you have no appreciation at all that a plasma need not be a black body.

It's not a "black body" in any true sense of the word. It's "treated" that way in overly simplistic math formulas as such, but the sun definitely does not act like a "black body". What LMSAL 'should be' noticing is that the sun's coronal loops come up and through the surface of the photosphere, leaving "bright points" at it's "footprints" on that particular surface. It also leaves N/S magnetic field alignments that directly relate to the flow of current through those loops. Only the *largest* loops go up through the photosphere, which is why only the largest loops leave "footprints" on the surface of the photosphere in 1700A and to a lesser extent, 1600A images.

The spectrum from the photosphere is quite close to a black body spectrum.

No, it's not. "Roughly" an average temperature, but the coronal loops leave bright regions on that surface and the convection process itself does generate *some* amount of temperature variation. Sunspots are areas of *extreme* variation in temperatures, sometimes *thousands* of degrees Kelvin.

Light from the transition region, e.t.c. though is dominated by emission lines.

It's dominated by emission lines in the Neon +4 spectrum. It's dominated by "white light" due to impurities in that Neon, and the amount of current flowing trough that layer.

The fact the background is dark in most images in both Trace and Yohkoh satellites means the background is not emitting light that the specific passband used for those images is allowing through.

True. The bright regions are plasma loops in the *millions* of degree range that are sustained that those temperatures by powerful currents.

The Yohkoh images will have dark backgrounds because Yohkoh detects x-rays.

True again. Yohkoh was more sensitive to the *higher* energy spectrum (than SOHO). There are overlay images on my website showing where the loops come up and through the photosphere and "light up' in the Yohkoh images.

The yellow part of that images is the Yohkoh view of the sun, and the blue areas are from Trace in 171A. The loops are visible to Yohkoh only after they exit the photosphere, whereas the 171A images descend considerably further into the solar atmosphere.

The TRACE white light images have bright backgrounds. Ditto for the 1216 A passband.

Those are both "lower" energy wavelengths and are not related to the electrical discharges that generate coronal loops and million degree plasma.

 

[Michael]

The Sun - Assumptions, Observations And Early Interpretations

An actual reality check reveals that the dark surface in the 171 A images are not anything with a temperature of a million degrees.

True. It's a solid crust. Only the coronal loops are "lit up" in 171A. The coronal loops are in fact the "light source" of all ion ion wavelength and x-ray images. Pretty much *all* million degree plasma is a direct result of powerful currents inside the 'circuit'.

The dark regions are where there is no plasma heated to a temperature of > 160,000 K. The dark regions are where there is no light deteted at all.

Correct. Most of the surface crust isn't visible in 171A or 193A. It's "dark" against an atmosphere that contains many "electrical discharges" occurring in it's atmosphere.

The bright regions are where solar activity has heated plasma to > 160,000 K.

Correct again. The "bright points" are where the "most powerful" electrical currents are flowing, typically inside coronal loops and in some extreme cases, full 'current sheets'.

Lockheed Martin do not suggest anything. Decades of observations show that the corona is hot (millions of degrees). Decades of observations show that coronal loops contain plasma that is heated up to millions of degrees. In such a scenario, we would expect to see the area around the coronal loops to be COOLER than the coronal loops themselves and much hotter than the photosphere. That is what we see.

We see "more" than that now, particularly in SDO images. We see the "bright exit/entry" points of the coronal loops on the surface of the photosphere. We see plasma from flares blowing *up and through* the surface of the photosphere, ripping materials into space as it goes. We observe magnetic field alignments at the footprints of those large coronal loops too as they exit and reenter the surface of the photosphere.

LMSAL completely missed the location of the 'transition region'. It's not located 1200KM *above* the surface of the photosphere as they claimed. It's located a full 4800KM *under* the photosphere as the very first SDO "first light" images clearly demonstrated, as Kosovichev's "subsurface stratification layer' is located.

 

[Michael]

The Sun - Assumptions, Observations And Early Interpretations

This displays ignorance about what is actually in solar images.

Actually it demonstrates *your* basic ignorance of plasma physics due to the fact you refuse to educate yourself on that topic.

There is no electrical arc so it is not ionizing anything.

Absolutely false. There are countless electrical discharges 'loops' observed in the solar atmosphere. They operate somewhere between 600 million and a billion volts according to Birkeland and Alfven. You wouldn't know however because you haven't read Alfven's book either.

There is no heavy iron layer to SINK to the bottom.

The fat lady has sung RC. Convection is only 1 percent of the required speed necessary to keep elements 'mixed together' in the solar atmosphere. SDO has *destroyed* convection claims of mainstream theory.

Research | Research news | Unexpectedly slow motions below the Sun’s surface

Hotter plasma is lighter than cooler plasma and so will 'float ABOVE lighter plasma layers'.

Not all the heavy elements are inside coronal loops. Only the small amount 'ripped from the surface' is inside coronal loops. When the current stops flowing, that material "cools off" and rains back to the surface as 'coronal rain".

A overly simple way to look this is to consider a column of plasma extending outward. The plasma has the same composition throughout the column, i.e. mostly H and He with traces of O, Si, Ne, Fe, Mg, etc. The temperature of the plasma increases with height (roughly corresponding to the chromosphere, transition region and corona). The density of the plasma reduces with height and each part of it 'floats' above the rest.

That doesn't have anything at all to do with "coronal loops" RC. The coronal loops are driven by "discharge currents" that run through each "circuit" in the solar atmosphere. They operate at a billion volts according to Alfven. The currents sustain those million degree loops at such high temperatures, sometimes for hours and days on end. Occasionally they can even 'short circuit' in the solar atmosphere.

 

[Michael]

The stratification in Errors in Michael's site XII (Kosovichev (2005) shows no iron surface)! is nothing to do with the solar transition region which is the subject of this page.

False. In fact the location of the transition regions as seen in green in the SDO very first light images correlate *perfectly* to Kosovichev's figures. The base of the coronal loops begin 4800KM *under* the orange ring that shows the photosphere/chromosphere boundary:

 

[Michael]

Guess what, Michael: The solar transition region is both lighter and warmer than the chromosphere! So it 'floats' above the chromosphere.

Nope. The green iron ion wavelengths are clearly originating 4800KM *under* the photosphere/chromosphere boundary seen in orange in each of those images.

 

[Michael]

Solar Moss: The Smoking Gun

Yep. It's the smoking gun alright.