To call a prominence Rosebud is far from a scientific description. Before joining Slooh, I never really paid much attention to the Sun except during eclipses and transits (obviously) During periods of hightened sunspot activity, I also gave sunspots more flowery names than Active Region 12192 (AR 2192). King Kong of 2014 was no Hollywood special effect. It produced 6 X-class flares. An X3.1-class flare erupted from the lower half of the sun on 24 Oct 2014.
So what is it with me that I always look for familiar patterns in the sky? I can hear myself telling an audience that these perceptions of the vast universe started way back in antiquity when there was little entertainment other than looking at the sky. Knowledge of celestial objects was limited. Every evening a huge crocodile lurked in the west, waiting for the Sun. The crocodile swallowed the Sun, carried it through the night and every morning he released it in the east. Oh yes, we inherited this unscientific balderdash from our ancestors, but was it all balderdash?
What initially makes us want to look at the night sky. Is it HD 37128, HD 37742, HD 36486 or rather the Three Kings with the added touch of drama, the mighty hunter and his sword? Would I remember what AR2192 looked like for years to come if I had not nicknamed it King Kong?
To see the unknown, I look at the obvious
and make it my own.
I saw a rosebud and watched it unfold
to reveal, layer by layer, what this story told
