As we move towards the end of february my solar viewing window has increased significantly from the 45 minutes of mid winter to well over several hours as the sun finally clears the trees and rooftops as we head into spring.
There was a whole host of interesting proms visible today, although the poor seeing and still relatively low solar altitude meant teasing out the finer details was difficult.
This was my first image taken with the mini - ERF removed from the coronado BF10 blocking filter. This is essentially just an IR filter and is surplus to requirements as my new replacement Baader ERF is fully blocked at IR and UV wavelengths. The effect of removing this as viewed through the eyepeice was a much brighter and contrastier image, with the DMK camera, the exposure time has reduced from 1/38s previouslly to 1/120s now - this represents a significant increase in light throughput. Visually this means shorter focal length eyepeices and higher magnification a now possible, which is a definite improvement!
Despite the sun still being pretty quiet, there is plenty going on for a solar astronomer!
