[meteorite-list] A Meteor impacted the Sun?

From: Chris Peterson <clp_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 08 Jun 2011 10:09:03 -0600
Message-ID: <4DEF9E9F.8020103_at_alumni.caltech.edu>

All prominences are dim compared with the surface of the Sun. If the
surface is occluded by the Moon, prominences are visible to the naked
eye. Outside of rather exotic optical systems, there is no way to block
the surface of the Sun from the ground well enough to see prominences,
so the only way pre-technological people would have seen prominences
would have been during total solar eclipses.

We see prominence images made through narrow band filters, typically
H-alpha, where the prominence is bright compared with the surface (or
more accurately, nearly all of the prominence light is passed, and
nearly all of the surface light is blocked).

Chris

*******************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

On 6/8/2011 1:33 AM, Robert A. Juhl wrote:
> To: Sterling K. Webb, Count, List
>
> Would a flare of that size have been visible to ancient naked-eye
> observers if it had occurred during totality of an eclipse or if they
> had been observing its reflection in a pan of water, etc.?
>
> Regards
>
> Robert A. Juhl, Tokyo
Received on Wed 08 Jun 2011 12:09:03 PM PDT