![]() Even with the modern-day host of spacecraft studying the Sun, taking the time to draw sunspots remains the chief way they’re counted. Humans have observed sunspots - dark blotches that arise from strong magnetic activity - for more than 1,000 years, and tracked them in detail since the invention of the telescope, for the past 400. This daily chore is the foundation of the sunspot number, our longest record of solar activity. ![]() Back on the ground, he uses an array of pencils, varying in graphite weight, to sketch the dark spots mottling the face of the Sun. “It can be a little scary on windy days,” Padilla said.Īt the top, Padilla adjusts a set of mirrors that projects an image of the Sun into an observing room far below. ![]() He clips himself to a safety harness, which is attached to the open-air cab, the same one used every day since the telescope went into operation in 1912 (the cables have since been replaced). Observers study the Sun closely, so we can better understand the life and activity of our star. Mount Wilson has several solar system sentinels the telescope perched at the top of this tower keeps constant watch on the Sun. Tucked in the San Gabriel Mountains, about an hour’s drive north from Los Angeles, the Mount Wilson Observatory has long been a home for space science - it’s Padilla’s home too, one of the perks to his work as Mount Wilson’s Sun observer. Every morning, astronomer Steve Padilla takes a short walk from his home to the base of a tower that soars 150 feet above the ground.
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