Ha Full Disk 8th August

When spaceweather.com says the sun is blank they need to look in Hydrogen Alpha wavelengths, there is plenty to see here; ex-active regions, plage, filaments and prominences.  The sun is rarely quiet in Ha!  Taken with a pair of double stacked 50mm Lunt etalons, a Coronado BF15 on a 60mm f6 scope with the PGR Chameleon 3 camera.

CaK Full Disk - 8th August

For whatever reason I seem to have been neglecting calcium wavelengths lately, and often as the case here when the sun is blank in whitelight there is still detail to see in CaK, here regions of plage associated with active regions from a couple of rotations ago are still clearly visible.  Taken with the 40mm scope and homebrew CaK filter with the PGR Chameleon 3 camera.

Closing in on Decayed Active Regions - 8th August

Transparency was great this morning alas the seeing had other ideas, and many gigabytes of data were shot in order to get one half decent image.  This active region that first showed itself in June has all but gone now, but there is still a small area of crackling plage, the dark area is not a sunspot but a small surging filament, it was gone minutes later.  Taken with the Airylab HaT with 0.7x reducer and the Daystar Quark and the IMX 249 camera to get this image.

Ha Full Disk - 6th August

The sun is free of spots at the moment but it is not free from activity, a pair of decaying active regions sit mid disk on the solar equator and a filament sits at more northerly latitudes.  There was also a number of small prominences.  This image was taken with the DS50 and PGR Chameleon 3 camera.

AR12717 With The Airylab HaT and Daystar Quark - 5th August

The seeing was far from perfect this morning with passing clouds, however using the Airlylab SSM along with the seeing plugin in Firecapture meant I was able to record only the best ones.  The Airylab HaT and 0.7x reducer was used with the Daystar Quark and PGR IMX249 camera.  This small active region seems to have diminished in activity since yesterday.

Granulation With the Airylab HaT and Daystar Sodium Quark - 5th August

The seeing was pretty rough when this image was taken and was a struggle to get enough decent frames to do something with.  The Airylab HaT, with 0.7x reducer was used along with the Daystar Sodium Quark and PGR IMX249 to give a focal length about 6m.  Just plain old granulation mid disk!

AR12717 With The Airylab HaT and Daystar Quark - 4th August

    Trying something a bit different this morning, I bought a Celestron 0.7x Edge HD reducer to bring the focal ratio back down to f7, something that i've found with my other scopes to offer a sweet spot with the Daystar Quark.  Immediately both visually and also on the laptop screen that contrast was favourable.  The seeing was also not too bad so I decided to rattle off some frames of AR12717.  Overall i'm pleased with this new configuration and look forward to trialling it further when sky conditions are better.  Taken with a PGR IMX249 camera.

AR12717 in Sodium Light

This animation spanning ten minutes shows the rise and fall of solar granules, while the small spot associated with this new active region remains relatively static.  There also appears to be a number of small pores in this active region.  Taken with the ED80, Daystar Sodium Quark and the PGR IMX249 camera.

Ha Full Disk 2nd August

You have to look carefully at the moment as we head towards solar minimum for details on the sun, but today we have a newly designated active region, AR12717.  This has a small single spot with some signs of pores around it.  It is Quite bright in Ha light.  Also visible is a small emerging flux region with signs of the magnetised plasma churning around.  The rest of the disk is essentially blank.  Taken with the double stacked Lunt50 etalons, BF15, PGR IMX249 camera.

New Sunspot - 1st August

This as yet undesignated active region appears to be having a bit of a surge in activity and has developed a small single sunspot.  Whether this will develop any more is anyones guess.  This was taken with the Skywatcher ED80, Beloptik Tri-band ERF, 2.5x barlow, homebrew CaK filter and the PGR IMX249 camera.

Departing Prominences - 31st July

Over the past week or so a region of filaments has slowly marched towards the suns limb, when they reached they put on a great display of prominences for a couple of days too before heading over the solar limb.  This shot was taken with the DS50 and PGR Ch3 camera.

Small Region of Plage Rounds The Limb - 31st July

Whilst still the sun is technically spotless, and as such this patch of plage visible in both Ha and CaK wavelengths shows signs of very small scale activity.  It is likely the remnants of previous active regions from last month completing another rotation, and, as such is more likely to diminish further in activity rather than increase.  This shot was taken with the Daystar Quark, Skywatcher ED80 and the PGR Chameleon 3 camera.

A Good Day For Prominences, A Bad Day For Clouds - 30th July

The last day of June has brought some of the nicest prominences for a while following filaments that passed over the limb days ago. Even through the cloud they looked great, sadly the cloud was not going to break all day, so the animation above represents a typical view.  Taken with a pair of Lunt 50 etalons, Coronado BF15 and a PGR Chameleon 3 camera.

CaK Closeup 28th July

Using the skywatcher ED80 and 2.5x barlow lens with the PGR Chameleon 3 camera to get a little closer on this region of decaying plage before it heads over the suns limb.  It's unlikely to make a successful rotation after this.

CaK Overview - 28th July

The sun is quiet even in CaK light, with a small patch of plage about to pass over the western limb.  Taken with the ED80, Beloptik tri-band ERF, homebrew CaK filter and the PGR Chameleon 3 camera.

Departing Filaments - 28th July

A double stacked setup is a great way to improve contrast when viewing in Hydrogen Alpha light, as the bandpass of the filter has steeper sides and lets through less continuum leakage, which has the effect of making the contrast of features greater.  These filaments show up really well and reflect where on previous rotations there were active regions.  Once these clouds of plasma have gone in the next day the sun will be completely blank.  Taken with the Daystar Quark on the 60mm f6 refractor double stacked with a Lunt 50 etalon.  Camera was the PGR Ch3.

Ha Full Disk - 28th July

The sun is very quiet at the moment, just a few filaments associated with long dead active regions at the boundaries of opposite magnetic fields.  There were a few small prominences visible too.  The image was taken with a pair of 50mm Lunt etalons on the Tecnosky 60mm f6 scope along with a Coronado BF15 and the PGR Chameleon 3 camera.

Sometimes the Seeing Just Isn't Up to it... 27th July

I did some more experimenting with the solar seeing monitor with the firecapture plugin on Friday.  However despite this clever and powerful piece of software if the seeing is just not there then it simply isn't possible to pull good data from it.  The graph below shows this well; from 10am it was cloudy until about 10.25am, and the yellow line on the graph wiggling away shows the transparency was variable with the high cloud and haze passing through.  The seeing was variable though jumping up and down in the unstable air and wasn't really suitable for the larger apertures as this soft image of granulation taken with the the Daystar Sodium Quark and Airylab HaT shows.  Camera was the PGR IMX249.

Solar Granulation with the Daystar Sodium Quark and Airylab HaT - 26th July

A hazy start to the day, but I was keen to see how my solar seeing monitor would behave in Firecapture using a plugin to get the software to record frames only when the seeing is below a certain value.  I initially very much like this option as the whole process is pretty much automated and judging by the quality graphs in AS3 it is indeed recording the moments of better seeing.  Whilst not perfect it is easy to see the solar granulation cells in this image.

Ha Full Disk - 25th July

Hazy skies and a quiet sun other than a filament associated with ex-active region.  Taken with a pair of double stacked Lunt 50 etalons, BF15 blocker and PGR Chameleon 3 camera on a Technosky 60mm f6 scope.

CaK Full Disk 23rd July

The sun is all but blank at the moment, with the only activity a patch of plage mid disk; the decayed remnants of AR12715 which was a small spot group this time in June.  Taken with the 40mm scope, homebrew CaK filter and the PGR Chameleon3 camera.

Ha Full Disk 23rd July

The sun and it's activity is quiet as we head closer to solar minimum, with a collection of filaments mid disk producing a smiley face emoji of sorts.  The filament that makes up the nose is all that now remains of AR12715 which was a small group of spots this time in June.  Taken with a pair of double stacked 50mm Lunt etalons on the Tecnosky ED60 f6 scope and a PGR Chameleon 3 camera.

Ha Full Disk - 15th July

Other than the bright plage that forms the remains of ar12713 that we saw on a previous rotation the sun is essentially blank.  Possibly the old remains of ar12715 has just rounded the eastern limb and shows itself as an area of turbulent plasma split with a hair line filament at the demarcation between the bipolar fields.  There are also some small filament towards the solar poles again which seems to have been a feature of the sun this summer.  Taken with the Lunt50 etalon, Daystar Quark and IMX249 chipped camera.

Second Rotation for Ex Active Region - AR12713 - 15th July

Currently spotless and un-named as an active region, this bipolar patch of plage on the suns disk is the remains of active region which was heading towards the western limb of the sun on the 21st June.  Then it had a number of sunspots and dark filaments associated with it, whereas now it is much quieter and calmer.  It may well see a third rotation, but by then is likely nothing but a small patch of plage visible in Calcium wavelengths.  Taken with a Lunt50 etalon, Daystar Quark and an IMX249 chipped PGR camera.

A Blank Sun? 14th July

Spaceweather says the sun is blank, there are no sunspots.  This is only partly true; it is blank in white light but in Hydrogen Alpha light there is a large active region mid disk, however there are no sunspots.  Why is this?  Well sunspots only form when the magnetic field strength is greater than 1500 gauss.  You can see in the image there are quite clear magnetic field lines in the plasma from a bipolar magnetic field with bright plage where the sunspots should be.  This is what we would expect given we are in a declining phase of the solar cycle, and scientists have been saying for some time the average magnetic field strength of the sun is also in decline.  Maybe these 'white sunspots' will be more common in the next solar cycle which is forecast to be less active than the current one.  Taken with the double stacked 50mm setup with a IMX249 chipped PGR camera.

Active Region and Prom - 14th July

A spotless active region shines brightly mid disk in this image taken with the 50mm double stack setup.  There was also a variety of nice small proms too.  The double stack cuts down continuum leakage and increases contrast making filaments and field lines pop out.

Ha Full Disk 11th July

A virtually blank disk on wednesday, there has been the relics of an old active region that has rounded the sun on the eastern limb, and despite a small flare a day or so before it came into view there are no sunspots visible, just a region of turbulent plage.  There were a few small prominences though which were interesting to look at.

Intergranular Regions With the Daystar Sodium Quark and the Airylab HaT - 7th July

Inverting a conventional image taken with the Daystar Sodium Quark and the Airylab HaT reveals a little seen view of the sun; inter-granular regions, as the name suggests is the area between the solar granulation.  The view with a sodium Quark has much more contrast and depth than the traditional white-light view, and when inverted the region in-between the granules really pops out.  Camera used was the IMX249 chipped PGR.

Solar Granulation with The Daystar Sodium Quark and Airylab HaT - 7th July

The 203mm aperture Airylab HaT makes a good combination with the Daystar Sodium Quark as it's ERF passes the 589nm wavelength of this filter.  I shot a large number of images and chose the sharpest presented here.  The view is subtly different than whitelight (IMHO) and the image has more depth than the flatter look that is achieved of granulation in whitelight.  Camera used was the IMX249 chipped PGR camera.

Blank Full Disks - 7th July

It's not very often the sun is completely blank at both Ha and CaK wavelengths, but it was on saturday!  Nothing to see at all as can be seen in both of these full disks!