'I knew a transsexual guy whose only ambition is to eat, drink and be Mary.'
George Carlin(1937-2008)
Picture: AP
Richard Christopher CarringtonDied 27 Nov 1875 at age 49 (born 26 May 1826).English astronomer who, by observing the motionsp of sunspots, discovered the equatorial acceleration of the Sun; i.e., that it rotates faster at the equator than near the poles. He also discovered the movement of sunspot zones toward the Sun's equator as the solar cycle progresses. Carrington devoted himself to the study of sunspots and his work, extending from 1853 to 1861, was collected in Observation of the Spots of the Sun (1863). Carrington also was the first to observe a sun flare (1859). He was observing a prominent group of sunspots on 1 Sep 1859, when suddenly "two patches of intensely bright and white light broke out." which brightened rapidly and decayed. The flare he had seen was of the rare variety that is visible in white light.(Image: detail of a drawing by R.C. Carrington, showing the location of the flare he observed while making a drawing of an active region. Reproduced from his 1860 paper in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society) |
