HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GALILEO

[Wenz Frieder]

interessanter Artikel, heute, 15. Febr. 2006 bei:

http://www.spaceweather.com/ :



"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GALILEO: On February 15, 1564, Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa, Italy. If he were alive today he would be 442 years old. Galileo is an important person in the history of space weather. Contrary to popular belief, he didn't discover sunspots, but he was one of the first to observe them using a telescope.

In Galileo's day, many people believed sunspots were satellites of the sun. Galileo proved otherwise. By drawing sunspots every day, he discovered that the sun spins and that sunspots are located on (or very near) the sun's surface. Galileo thought sunspots might be clouds.

Sunspots drawn by Galileo in June 1612: more. http://galileo.rice.edu/sci/observation ... wings.html

Now we know what sunspots really are: great islands of magnetism. Sunspots consist of magnetic force-fields poking through the sun's surface. These fields block the flow of heat from below, cooling the sun in their vicinity. This cooling action is what makes a sunspot appear dark. It glows less brightly than the surrounding inferno. If you stuck a thermometer in a sunspot, it would register a few thousand degrees C. By sun-standards, that's cool!

If Galileo looked at the sun today, he wouldn't be impressed. There are only two small sunspots, each slightly smaller than Earth, nothing like the Jupiter-sized behemoths he drew in 1612. The reason: 2006 is a year of solar minimum.... "


....also: Happy Birthday, Galileo!!!


herzlichst grüßt

frieder

[Wolfgang Dzieran]

Hallo Frieder,

danke für den Hinweis!

Vor einiger Zeit habe ich das Buch "Galileos Tochter" gelesen, nicht immer ganz einfach (und auch kein "spannender Krimi"), aber trotzdem sehr lesenswert, denke ich, um sich in die Gedankenwelt der damaligen Zeit einzufinden. Eine kleine Beschreibung gibt es hier:

http://www.astroinfo.com/de/h/h0209/3-442-72296-9.htm

Und auf das große Schauspiel von Bert Brecht "Leben des Galilei" braucht man hier ja hoffentlich niemanden hinweisen.

Lesenwert - und mit interessanten Links zum Weiterclicken - ist meines Erachtens auch der Beitrag zu Galilei in wikipedia:

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galilei

Clear Skies!

Wolfgang