Day: September 21, 2021

Sun Spot Hill

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Is this giant orange ball about to roll down that tree-lined hill? No, because the giant orange ball is actually the Sun. Our Solar System’s central star was captured rising beyond a hill on Earth twelve days ago complete with a delightfully detailed foreground. The Sun’s disk showed five sunspots, quite a lot considering that during the solar minimum in solar activity of the past few years, most days showed no spots. A close look at the hill — Sierra del Cid in Perter, Spain — reveals not only silhouetted pine trees, but silhouetted people — by coincidence three brothers of the photographer. The trees and brothers were about 3.5-kilometers away during the morning of the well-planned, single-exposure image. A dark filter muted the usually brilliant Sun and brought up great detail on the lower sunspots. Within a few minutes, the Sun rose far above the hill, while within a week, the sunspots rotated around the Sun, out of view. The captured scene, however, is now frozen in time for all to enjoy. via NASA https://ift.tt/3EF3m3Q

Wikipedia article of the day for September 21, 2021

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Wikipedia article of the day is Banksia sceptrum. Check it out: Article-Link Summary: Banksia sceptrum, the sceptre banksia, is a plant that grows in Western Australia near the central west coast from Geraldton north through Kalbarri to Hamelin Pool, extending inland almost to Mullewa. It is generally a shrub up to 4 m (13 ft) in diameter and 2–4 m (7–13 ft) high, sometimes reaching 5 m (16 ft). First collected and grown by early settler James Drummond in Western Australia, it was described by Swiss botanist Carl Meissner in 1855. In nature, B. sceptrum grows in deep yellow or pale red sand in tall shrubland, commonly on dunes. It is killed in bushfires and regenerates by seed, the woody follicles opening with fire. B. sceptrum is one of the most striking yellow-flowered banksias, with tall bright flower spikes (inflorescences) that are well displayed on the ends of branches. Flowering is in summer, mainly December and January, though flowers are occasionally seen at other times.