SOLAR NEPHELOCOCCYGIA: It's a noun. Nephelococcygia: The act of seeking and finding shapes in clouds. On April 10th in Selsey, UK, Pete Lawrence set up his solar telescope and performed nephelococcygia on the sun. "I think I found a fish," he says.
The fish-shaped form at the base of the image is a cloud of plasma held above the stellar surface by magnetic fields. It looks dark because it is cooler than the inferno below. Readers with solar telescopes are encouraged to monitor this fishy form--and learn to pronounce nephelococcygia.
UPDATE: The fish is gone. As sometimes happens to sea creatures on the sun, it erupted. Amateur astronomer Michael Buxton of Ocean Beach, California, filmed the event. The movie is not as gruesome as it sounds.
More images: from Karzaman Ahmad of Langkawi National Observatory, Malaysia;from Steve Riegel of Albuquerque, NM; from N. Pommeville and J. Stetson of South Portland, Maine
Provided by Space Weather News
