(08-13-2012, 07:12 PM)Parsons Wrote: Actually, I hate to disagree with you so completely, but we have been monitoring the sun for more than a handful of years. If we can notice small-ish sunspots with telescopes since 1766, IMHO we would have noticed a gigantic filament if it appeared on the sun since then.
According to Wikipedia, this IS the largest filament in history. But I would prefer a different source to corroborate this.
Perhaps someone can prove me wrong and tell me this is a common occurrence since we started monitoring the sun?
Ok, point taken...but what is 300 years taken in the context of 4.5 billion years (est age of our sun) ? At that ratio, I'm pretty sure 300 years is quite a bit less than....a handful. If this is a cycled event...and its never been seen before? That still doesn't mean its never happened before. Its just that its the first time we've seen it.
Most of the images we see nowadays are result of the "STEREO" Satellite launches from back in 2009.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STEREO
There are more planned apparently. Still kind of makes you wonder at the timing though. This almost...intense interest all of a sudden.
Richard
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