|
Today,
scientists use cameras mounted on powerful
telescopes to take pictures of the sun's surface
magnified hundreds of times, revealing detail that
scientists of Galileo's time would have found
wonderful. But scientists are still trying to find
even better ways to study the sun, equipping
telescopes with various filters that capture
nonvisible parts of the sun's emission, such as
x-rays and magnetic fields. This section will look
at how these new methods for examining the sun are
changing our understanding of sunspots. In
addition, this section will explore the sunspot
cycle, and the known and possible effects sunspots
have on earth.
Today's Telescopes
The
modern development of the telescope has greatly
extended what astronomers can see. The scientists
in Galileo's time had instruments with less
resolution, less ability to see detail. They could
see clearly that there were dark regions on the
sun, but they couldn't see any of the fine
structure. Telescopes today operate in different
wavelengths, so the scientists in Galileo's time
had to just use the eye, and just use visible
light. Today, people are using instruments to
measure the light more precisely than the eye can,
and measure it in colors beyond the visible,
extending to
ultraviolet,
infrared,
and even
x-rays
and gamma
rays
Viewing the nonvisible light that the sun emits not
only gives scientists new ways to examine the sun
but new ways to contrast and compare results. With
these new tools, scientists have begun to unravel
the mystery of sunspots.
|
