all round the Sun

it seems to me that vague feelings about the world and how it works become more firmly held and acted on as one gets older. So I find myself at last turning into a Guardian reader. It has to be admitted there are many sorts of entertainment on the Guardian's website particularly, such as today's article on Isabella Rossellini's series of animal sex short films. Also catching my more professional eye is this item on the first 360° view of the Sun's surface. Will we learn something uniquely new form this? Of course not: no dragons or UFO's or day-glo sunspots have been lurking in the unseen parts of the Sun's surface, always furtively avoiding our cameras and telescopes. It's a symbolic moment, a point where our monitoring of the Sun and its outputs can attain a new level of sophistication; a small step for routine science, the kind that eventually and unspectacularly leads to changes in thinking. It's certainly a media friendly step, however, even if there is no media-friendly huge new discovery,and the Guardian's article is only one of many all over the internet. That incremental process will lead to new things - or not - in its own sweet time, and in the meantime everybody can enjoy the continually improving view of our nearest star.