Running Difference Imaging

The Gas Model Crumbles!

When it comes to compelling evidence of a solid surface on the sun, seeing is believing.  The TRACE and SOHO programs use very sophisticated software to create what are called "running difference" images like the top image from TRACE and the chronologically ordered examples from SOHO shown on the right.  These images were created by NASA at the frequency of various iron ions, using software that essentially compares sequential snapshots, subtracting one set of images from the other, and thereby isolating only the more consistent and "stronger" features from each image.  This image processing technique creates a very detailed "snapshot" of the stronger, more obvious features of the iron calcium ferrite surface of the sun that lies below the photosphere. 

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words.  If that is true, then the sequential photos on the right and these types of high resolution running difference SOHO images speak volumes.  These movies were created by "stringing together" a series of these running difference images from many consecutive days, and they show persisted rigid surface features.

The SOHO satellite took a remarkable series of these running difference images from October 5th 2004 through October 15th 2004 which I have put together into movie form.  You'll notice as you watch these movies and view the chronological images on the right, that the surface features are consistent from image to image and the surface features rotate uniformly from left to right in the same direction and at the same speed as the sun's rotation.

SOHO created a newer, more  complete, and more methodical series of these images starting on May 26th of 2005.  I have created a second movie from a series of these images collected from late May through early June of 2005.

As you can see from the series of snapshots on the right, and from the movies, we can make out more than just a single random pattern emerging from just one composite image.  Instead we can see a CONSISTENT set of surface features in these images that MOVE from left to right as the sun rotates.  These features are completely consistent and move UNIFORMLY across the surface.  In other words, they do not move at different rates near the equator than than they move at the poles like the photosphere.   Whatever this "structure" is, it absolutely cannot be the photosphere or the chromosphere because of it's consistency.  This photographic evidence stands in direct opposition to present theories of the sun which claim that the sun is a giant ball of gas and has no solid surface below the photosphere. 

If Galileo assumed that the sun was not solid simply because it's OUTER "surface" layer (really just a liquid-like photosphere) did not move uniformly, then this uniformity of movement and rigidly defined surface definition turns the tables 180 degrees!  The foundational pillar of the gas model theory is laid to waste in these uniformly moving images.  We now need a new model of the sun.  The old one doesn't work.

Such a remarkably consistent set of discernable features could only be possible if the sun has a solid surface to create such consistent surface patterns.  A close-up of this surface is provided by the TRACE satellite as well using the 171 angstrom (Fe IX,X) filter.  The photosphere is far to "liquid-like" to explain these images.   We must note that these outlined features do not change much from frame to frame as the sun rotates, and do not follow the same patterns of rotation as the photosphere above it.  No part of this surface image moves at a different rate speed from any other part.  I "morphed" one still shot to the next to simulate movement and show the consistency from one still frame to the next.  I did not alter the still shots in any way.  They are exactly as you will find them on SOHO'S website.

IMO, this series of "running difference" images represents the best and most compelling scientific evidence that we have available to us to demonstrate a solid surface on the sun.  Seeing is certainly believing!  These images not only only reveal the surface details with remarkable precision, they reveal these features with great REPETITION and complete consistency.  It's the repetitive nature of these features that is most intriguing. The consistency of these images prove that there must be a solid surface on the sun to create them and prove that the sun does not rotate at different speeds at the equator than it does at it's poles.  The frequencies of these filters suggest this surface is made of ferrite iron, and ferrite ions flow from the surface due to electrical activity.

NASA is using a very clever combination of sophisticated software imaging techniques taken at a very specific frequency (195 angstroms).  This energy spectrum combined with this imaging technique isolates the sun's surface making it clearly visible in these images.   That particularly frequency, using this specific imaging technique brings the actual surface of the sun into view, just as helium filters reveal the surface of the chromosphere that sits above it.  In essence, that specific frequency is the key to looking beneath the chromosphere and beneath the photosphere to view the surface itself much as a radar image can look beneath cloud cover to reveal the surface below.  The SOHO software that enhances and produces these "running difference" images is simply amazing!   The detail of the surface that is revealed in these images is incredible.

Keep in mind however that the sun experiences a  powerful electrical flow which erodes the surface very dynamically causing bursts of heat, and MASSIVE surface erosion patterns.  The surface of sun can change significantly from one rotation to the next, particularly during the suns "active" cycles, where it's magnetic poles point toward the equator.  The whole surface is "percolating" and oozing energy flows from the core, making the whole surface "energized" and active as it changes over time due to electrical erosion.

I would like to thank to Stein Vidar Hagfors Haugan at NASA for patiently, and I do mean patiently, explaining these images and how they were created. 


This image of FE IX/X (iron ion) emission from TRACE shows increased electrical activity on the surfaces that face toward the cosmic wind.  The cosmic wind blows through the upper plasma layers resulting in differential rotation in the upper plasma layers, while the iron surface below rotates uniformly.

SOHO images the sun using a 195 angstrom filter that are sensitive to iron FE XII emissions.  The photons are emitted in the electrical arcs and reflect off surface "structures" that are consistent over many days.  These structures influence the energy release patterns in the upper plasma atmospheres.

SOHO images the surface on May 27th, 2005 at 7:13 in the morning using a 195 angstrom filter that "sees" iron FE XII emissions.   A series of structures can be seen on surface.  There are mountains and valleys and flat plains as well that are clearly visible in these images of the surface.

 

SOHO images the surface 6 hours later.   The same series of structures can be seen on surface even after 6 hours.  There are mountains and valleys and flat plains as well that are clearly visible in these images of the surface even six hours later.

After 12 hours, the same series of structures is still very visible and shows evidence of uniform rotation patterns from pole to equator.  This uniform rotation patters is quite unlike the differential rotation patterns seen in the upper plasma layers.

After a full day, the same ridges and valleys and plains are all visible on the surface as it rotates uniformly from left to right.

After 30 hours we see a series of large valleys all line up.  The surface features are "lit up" of the right side more than the left since the right side faces the cosmic wind.  This wind causes friction as it passes over the surface features and results in increased activity on the side facing the cosmic wind as it blows from right to left in this image.

After 36 hours, the same surface features are all still visible in nearly the same patterns.

The surface has definitely rotated over the past 60 hours, but all the same surface features are visible and all these features rotate uniformly from pole to equator.

 



The Surface Of The Sun
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