1. Solar Astronomy Space Science Lab 2008 Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute

2. Sunspots in 2001 Solar Astronomy is the study of the Sun and how it affects Earth…

3. What's 1.4 million kilometers across, covered with magnetic spots? Prominences are loops of magnetic fields with hot gas trapped inside. Sometimes, as the fields become unstable, the they will erupt and rise off of the Sun in just a few minutes or hours. On January 18, 2000, SOHO spotted a spectacular prominence, shown here spanning a 24 hour period. At maximum, the prominence was about 100 times wider than the Earth. Earth for size comparison

4. Solar Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) Research: Optical and Radio Observations of Solar Activity Coronal mass ejections (or CMEs) are huge bubbles of gas (about 1.5 Solar Radii) threaded with magnetic field lines that are ejected from the Sun over the course of several hours. A CME leaves the Sun traveling at about 1000 km/s and can carry up to 10 billion tons of electrified gas. Coronal Mass Ejections disrupt the flow of the solar wind and produce disturbances that strike the Earth with sometimes catastrophic results. Only 8 minutes after being released: can alter the Earth's outer atmosphere, disrupting long-distance radio communications. An hour later: very energetic particles pushed along by the shock wave of the CME can endanger astronauts or fry satellite electronics. One to Four days later: The actual coronal mass ejection arrives at the Earth resulting in strong geomagnetic storms, aurorae and electrical power blackoutsaurorae

5. Radio Image of the Sun taken at 1.4 GHz which looks deep into the Sun’s atmosphere where hot dense regions known as active regions become visible. These are the sites of activity in the Sun's atmosphere.

6. Radio JOVE receiver picking up a 20 MHz solar flare…

7. Aurora from space…

10. Aurora seen from Earth…

12. Space Science Lab is a solar monitoring and research station. SSL shares its data with other solar astronomers around the world. Instruments include a 20.1 MHz radio receiver, a 1420 MHz radio receiver, two ground-based optical telescopes, and two space-based optical telescopes.