At Last! (April 27, 2007)
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After waiting for around three weeks, the Sun has finally gotten over its doldrums and produced a fairly sizeable active region (AR953). That is probably the longest stretch of time without an active region (or sunspot) since the last solar minimum about 11 years ago. We decided to show you the quiet rotation of the Sun in extreme ultraviolet light from April 8 - April 27, 2007.
The active region appears as the much brighter area that rotates into view around April 25th. There even seems to be another active region trailing behind it. Well, it had to happen sometime, but we were getting a little impatient. A spotless Sun just isn't as exciting to observe (although there are still polar plumes, coronal holes, and eruptive prominences to see).
SOHO began its Weekly Pick some time after sending a weekly image or video clip to the American Museum of Natural History (Rose Center) in New York City. There, the SOHO Weekly Pick is displayed with some annotations on a large plasma display.
If your institution would also like to receive the same Weekly Pick from us for display (usually in Photoshop or QuickTime format), please send your inquiry to steele.hill@gsfc.nasa.gov.