Taken a while to get to this point; I decided a while ago to return to double stacked front mounted etalons as a quick grab and go setup - the Lunt50 scope took too long to acclimate, which was no good for my early morning imaging sessions and especially for imaging in the cloud breaks here in the UK. I double stacked a pair of Lunt 50 etalons on the front of my Tecnosky ED60 f6 APO refractor along with a Coronado BF15 blocking filter. Camera used was the PGR Chameleon 3. Given this is the very first light with the setup I think there is great potential as the etalons were not clocked with respect to each other, something I know from experience can improve results considerably. I look forward to exploring using this setup more in the days ahead.
Pointing the 100mm Tal refractor straight mid disk on the sun revealed the granulation cells. These convection cells are traditionally likened size wise to the size of the US state of Texas. The Daystar Sodium Quark showed this well and my initial impressions of this are quite favourable. Camera used was the PGR Chameleon 3.
This small active region has been putting on quite a show this past week, but this is the first time i've been able to image it. Using a Daystar Sodium Quark on a Tal 100R refractor along the PGR Chameleon 3 camera the brighter plage that marks this active region was clearly visible. Looking closely there is a peppering of small dark spots and pores that can also be seen.
The transparency was consistent for long enough so I could take the individual panes needed to complete this full disk taken with a Daystar Sodium Quark. Despite being taken with the 60mm f6 scope the granulation is easily seen when the image is double clicked full size. Visually and on the screen the view is very contrasty with Sodium. Camera used was the PGR Chameleon 3.
The day started clear so I wanted to have a play around with the Sodium Quark. Seeing was too poor for the 200mm HaT so I settled with the 100mm Tal refractor. This region of relic plage has rotated onto the suns north eastern limb and is easily seen being brighter than the surrounding granules. The PGR Chameleon 3 camera was used.
This new active region rounded the suns limb a few days ago, and while it is small has a timely appearance with my new Daystar sodium Quark arriving also. The view through sodium is quite different to whitelight, both from the camera and also with the eye at an eyepiece. The granules are much sharper in whitelight but these in sodium seem to be less distinct but have a more obvious depth to them. Plage is very obvious in sodium as are bright points and pores. This image was taken with the 60mm f6 scope, Daystar Sodium Quark and the PGR Chameleon 3 camera. Very impressed initially with this filter, and looking forward to trying some closer in shots with the larger apertures.
Whilst superficially similar to the white light image this mid disk shot taken in sodium light is quite different. White light with a narrowband filter shows the edges of granules well, it is like desiccation cracks in a dried lake bed. In sodium the view has more depth, like you are looking into the chromosphere more. It is more reminiscent of mammatus clouds. I need to clean the dust bunnies for the next time, but i'm pretty pleased with the view through the 60mm f6 scope. Looking carefully in the middle of the field of view are some small dark pores; in CaK and Ha there is a region of turbulent plage, from relic active regions from rotations past. This was taken with my new Daystar Sodium Quark and the PGR Chameleon 3 camera.
Messing around triple stacking with the 50mm Lunt, brings out nice contrast but also highlights uneveness in the image. a Nice take on what is a very quiet sun with just a single stacked etalon. Camera used was the PGR Chameleon 3.
First view with the Daystar sodium Quark this afternoon using the 60mm f6 scope. Conditions couldn't be worse, a large part of the sky was covered in unstable cumulo nimbus clouds apart from a thin strip in the low western sky. I snapped this image through passing cloud. The view on the screen and through the eyepeice is quite different than white light despite at first being seemingly similar. Camera was the PGR Chameleon 3. Hoping for clear skies first thing in the morning!
The sun is certainly quiet, and you have to look hard for details however they are there. A filament graces the suns north east quadrant and close to the western limb some areas of relic plage from active regions long gone. However the most interesting feature was the 2 quiescent proms on the western limb. Taken with the 60mm f6 scope and daystar Quark with the PGR Chameleon 3 camera.
The seeing conditions were surprisingly good for so late in the afternoon on what was a very warm day. I used the 80mm skywatcher scope along with a Daystar Quark and Baader solar telecompressor to reduce the image scale. The active region has since died down very quickly but was showing some nice activity when this image was taken. The PGR Chameleon 3 camera was used.
Using the Skywatcher ED80 and Daystar Chromosphere Quark I was able to get a nice view of a prominence that was visible on the suns south western limb. This is a nice contrasty setup that is good for this level of detail on the suns surface. As usual the PGR Chameleon 3 was used.
Using my new 2.5x barlow lens stacked with a 1.3x barlow to bring the setup to somewhere around f25 I quite like the scale that comes with this setup. Lunt DS50 used along with PGR Chameleon 3 camera. In the days ahead the active regions that have been with us since the start of May will pass over the suns western limb. Hopefully there will be more in the weeks ahead, but more likely is that they will be active regions of plage rather than being pierced with sunspots.
I'm still not 100% happy with the results I get with the double stack setup because of the gradients it creates across the disk; i'm looking at other solutions. I do like the increase in scale over the 40mm setup I was using though. Taken at ~f10 with the PGR Chameleon 3 camera.
Taken with the 40mm scope, 2.5x barlow and additional 1.3x barlow this closeup must be around f30 and is pushing the boundaries of image scale with the little scope. Taken using the homebrew CaK filter and the PGR Chameleon 3 camera.
Once the little Lunt50 has acclimated once it has been setup it produces some nice full disks with decent Ha detail. Taken at ~f10 with the PGR Chameleon 3 camera I'm pleased with the results!
The sunny skies continue in the UK and with it the opportunity to see what the face of our star presents. While the sunspot activity has all but died away there is still the large area of plage. Taken with the 40mm scope at f13 with the homebrew CaK filter and the PGR Chameleon 3 camera.
Adding a second etalon to the Lunt LS50 solar telescope through 'double stacking' has the effect of increasing contrast on the solar disk as a result of reduced continuum leakage in the wings of the Hydroge Alpha centreline. It gives an alternative take on the single stack view. Taken with the PGR Chameleon 3 camera.
Todays sun has all the hallmarks of our star heading into solar minimum. Active regions are sparse, with AR12709 sitting very much geoeffective. Flare activity is likely to be negligible from this region. All the main active regions are now focused very much towards the solar equator, with filaments at polar latitudes in both hemispheres indicating a boundary of magnetic fields. The 2 prominences looked very nice visually through the 80mm scope and the Quark. This image was taken with the Lunt LS50 (single stack) at ~f13 using the PGR Chameleon 3 camera.
As we head towards solar minimum activity on our Sun will get less and less. Imaging in CaK light is a good way to show up activity that can be difficult to see in white light views. Three active regions are currently on the suns earthward face, with the largest of these closer to the eastern limb showing a couple of small pores where magnetic field loops break the solar surface. This image was taken at 393nm in Calcium light with the homebrew CaK filter, 40mm scope at ~f13 with the PGR Chameleon 3 camera and then coloured to mirror the AIA1700 image.
A trio of active regions are currently transiting the earthward face of the sun. Visible as bright plage in CaK wavelengths where there is higher magnetic field strength. Taken at 80mm aperture fl 1000mm with the homebrew CaK filter and the PGR Chameleon 3 camera.
Nice to see some active regions and their associated white plage visible on the sun. There seems to have been a slight uptick in solar activity in recent weeks going against the longer downward trend as we head towards solar minimum. Taken with the 40mm f10 scope somewhere around f13 with the homebrew CaK filter and the PGR Chameleon 3 USB3 camera.
There were clear(ish!) skies after work today and so decided to get the scope out to see what was happening on our star. Things are quiet but a trio of active regions were visible. Taken with the single stacked LuntLS50 and the PGR Chameleon 3 camera. I quite like the way this scope performs in single stack mode.
First real run this year with the 203mm Airylab HaT, and on one of the hottest days of the year the seeing was boiling away. Took several images with the Daystar Quark to get one that wasn't mush, and this one came out best. The sunspot was quite active at this scale. Camera was the PGR Chameleon 3.
I have been perplexed with the way my Lunt50 has been behaving lately however hoping that on Sunday this has been fixed. I decided to do a full disk animation and see how it held on band. This animation represents 2 1/2 hours on the face of our star. It is very quiet but looking at the full size version of the image shows some quite subtle changes over time.
The seeing was reasonably steady on sunday afternoon and I managed a nice closeup using the 40mm scope barlowed up to shy of 1000mm focal length, double clicking the image zooms quite a bit further in. Using the homebrew CaK filter and the PGR Chameleon 3 usb camera.
Calcium wavelengths are great for spotting solar activity as it shows up white, and despite a virtually empty disk in whitelight there were 2 active regions easily seen at 393nm. This shot was taken with the 40mm scope at somewhere near 500mm focal length. The homebrew CaK filter and the PGR Chameleon were used.
The sun is all but blank at the moment, all bar a very small active region that contains a couple of pores, nearer the north eastern limb there is a small region of plage associated with a decaying active region. This image is the first proper white light full disk image I have got with my 60mm f6 scope I bought earlier this year. With it's short focal length it is easy to get the full disk in one on the frame with room to spare. The 2" Lunt solar wedge was used along with a 656nm Ha filter. I need to replace my solar continuum filter and try that for greater resolution.
One of those first thing in the morning shots, it's that time of year! The seeing was awful especially considering the apparently clear blue skies, still, nice to get some sun. It never ceases to amaze me what stacking software can do with what seems like very poor data. Taken with the 40mm f10 somewhere around 500m fl with the homebrew CaK filter and the PGR Chameleon 3 camera.
The skies cleared in a fashion late this afternoon so I decided to get home quick from work and go for an image of the sun. Compared to a few days ago the face of our star is virtually blank. It was nice to be able to get an image though and this one was taken with the Lunt DS50 with the PGR Chameleon 3 camera.
