Painting by Cosmas Damian Asam, 1735. Photo ©Jay Pasachoff.

In honor of this weekend’s annular solar eclipse (going right over far-northern California! WOO!), I present something from the archives, possibly the first realistic depiction of a solar eclipse in art. Enjoy watching the eclipse, and remember kids, DO NOT LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN without a proper solar filter or eclipse-rated eyewear.

Credit: E.L. Trouvelot, New York Public Library

These Victorian-era illustrations of astronomical subjects by E.L. Trouvelot are beautifully detailed. Check out the whole set here.

Credit: E.L. Trouvelot, New York Public Library

A group of sunspots and veiled spots observed on June 17, 1875 at 7:30 a.m. Sunspots are magnetic regions on the sun, which appear in images as dark spots and whose magnetic field strengths thousands of times stronger than Earth’s magnetic field.

Why not say “I love you, space nerd” with a set of Rihga Royal Hotel Planetary Chocolates?

Combining astronomy and good eats sounds too good to be true. But in their celestial collection of planetary chocolates, chocolatier L’éclat of the Righa Royal Hotel Japan have done just that. The chocolaty solar system includes Mercury (coconut mango), Venus (cream lemon), Earth (cacao), Mars (orange praline), Jupiter (vanilla), Saturn (rum raisin), Uranus (milk tea) and Neptune (capuccino) – sorry, Pluto is no longer considered a planet.

Each are sold individually (400 yen) but if you order the set (3,800 yen) they’ll throw in the Sun – a flaring delicacy of criollo chocolate and pineapple. You can order online (3,200 yen; Sun not included)or you can use a forwarding service.
— Spoon & Tamago

Image Credit & Copyright: Alan Friedman (avertedimagination.com)

It has not been a very sunny time in southern California for me this week (literally or figuratively), so I’m posting a little extra sunshine, courtesy of APOD. Enjoy!

Our Sun is becoming a busy place. Taken just last week, the Sun was captured sporting numerous interesting features including one of the larger sunspot groups yet recorded: AR 1339 visible on the image right. Only last year, the Sun was emerging from an unusually quiet Solar Minimum that lasted for years. The above image was recorded in a single color of light called Hydrogen Alpha, inverted, and false colored. Spicules cover much of the Sun’s face. The gradual brightening towards the Sun’s edges is caused by increased absorption of relatively cool solar gas and called limb darkening. Just over the Sun’s edges, several scintillating prominences protrude, while prominences on the Sun’s face are seen as light streaks. Possibly the most visually interesting of all are the magnetically tangled active regions containing cool sunspots. As our Sun’s magnetic field winds toward Solar Maximum over the next few years, increased activity will likely create times when the Sun’s face is even more complex.

Image Credit & Copyright: Thierry Legault, astrophoto.fr

The past few weeks have been particularly eclipse-y. Eclipse-ful? Ecliptic? And while I’m asking questions, how does Thierry Legault do it? He’s the KING of transit photos. (This photo of the January 4 partial solar eclipse, plus ISS transit, was featured on APOD yesterday. As it should be.)

I’ve had gemstones on the brain today (more so than normal, I mean), after reading about the $45.6M sale of this Fancy Intense Pink diamond at Sotheby’s on Tuesday (if you like sparkly things, watch the video. SPARK. LY. THINGS.) Annnnnyway, I keep going back to Etsy to visit this stunning planetary ring, so I might as well post it so I can continue to admire it long after it sells. Really, it merits going to the listing and looking through all the photos, as every angle has lovely and interesting detail.

This ring is the penultimate in the evolution of a ten year design process. In order to achieve a “Celestial” look, I must make this ring the hard way. Each dot or “star” is actually a small hole bored through the Ti ring itself and then riveted with Fine Silver. Silver, being the whitest of all metals, is a great stand-in for stars as well as the perfect contrast to the gunmetal gray of Titanium. The Yellow Diamond Sun and the White Diamond Moon are each set into metals of opposing colors to reflect the yin/yang nature of the universe as I see it. The planets are each represented by historically corresponding metals; 14K Pink Gold stands for the planets of Mercury and Mars; Fine Silver stands for Venus and Jupiter, and 18K yellow Gold represents Saturn. This ring is the best example, to date, of what I have been striving for, a subdued astronomical look of many small and even smaller dots punctuated by different metals as planets in a sea of stars.

Kudos to Patrick Burt for his stunning creation!

Credit: NASA/SDO/AIA

How is it I’ve never used this title before? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought it while posting. Maybe the lyrics work themselves into the blog in more subtle ways. Anyway, presented for your approval, the Sun, circa August 1, 2010.

Photo by Thierry Legault.

Thierry Legault has done it again: a beautifully sharp solar transit image of the ISS with Atlantis attached (on the left side.) Above is a crop at full resolution; below is the full frame (with a sunspot for… scale?)

Solar Transit of ISS and Atlantis on May 22, 2010. Photo by Thierry Legault.

Credit & Copyright: Chris Kotsiopoulos & Anthony Ayiomamitis (perseus.gr; TWAN, twanight.org)

Here are some of my favorite photos from last week’s solar eclipse: the above image was featured on APOD, the rest come from Spaceweather’s Solar Eclipse Gallery.

Credit: Albert Kong, Lijiang, China

I love the framing of the next shot:

Credit: Mahdi Zamani, Kouhe-Sorkh (Red Mountain), Shiraz, Iran

24 percent of January Solar eclipse and seagulls over the north of Shiraz city. You can see the sunspot 1040 in top of the eclipsed disc. Sunspot 1040 is a member of new Solar Cycle 24.

Solar Transit of ISS/Shuttle, July 26, 2009. Photos by Thierry Legault (astrophoto.fr)

Another fantastic solar transit image by Thierry Legault, taken on July 26. (Hat tip to OnOrbit; found via Twitter.)