Tuesday, 31 July 2012
AR11532 - C8 Flare Animation 30th July
Monday, 30 July 2012
ar11532 - 30th July
AR11532 has two magnetic delta structures, one in the leading penumbra, another in a central penumbra. Further M class flaring is possible. Flare: M2.3/1N at 06:22 UTC.
Taken with the 127mm @ 1900mm DMK31
ar11528 Second Wind
After writing this little spot off yesterday it seems to have had a second wind of activity...
Sunday, 29 July 2012
AR11532 Sun Spot Genesis - 29th July
AR11532 has a magnetic delta structure in the largest leading penumbra and many spots spread out over a large area. Further M class flaring is possible. Flare: M6.1/2N at 20:56 UTC. A partial halo CME was observed after this event, the CME could have a minor Earth directed component. NOAA forecasters estimate a 25% chance of additional M-flares during the next 24 hours, although the actual odds seem higher.
Taken with the 127mm SS @ 1900mm fl DMK31.
ar11529 ar11530 29th July
These 2 spots are now slowly decaying away, demonstrated by the light bridges that cross their umbrae.
New Active Region? 29th July
Taken at over 3 metres focal length, way more than the seeing conditions would allow me to get away with, however it does show that whatever is coming around the limb has a bit of life in it.
ar11534 29th July
Another quiet but interesting active region, with the new active region rounding the limb.
A Fiery Strip Of Sun - 28th July
Lots happening on our star at the moment as this strip shows. This represents a 4 pane mosaic taken with the 127mm PST mod @ 1900mm fl DMK31. This is quite an achievement as have been doing quite a lot of work lately to minimise the effects of sweetspotting in the humble PST etalon. Judging by how even this is I would say is a success. Next stage of modding the PST mod is to replace the collimating lens in the etalon assembly with one more suited to the focal ratio of the 127mm scope (f9.3). This will negate slight vignetting in the system and will mean this PST mod is operating at full 127mm aperture. The replacement lens has been purchased from Edmund Optical.
Wednesday, 25 July 2012
Ha Full Disk 24th July
Finally the sun is starting to show signs of increased activity again!
Taken with DS40 @ f20 DMK31
ar11529 24th July
The latest new active region looks like could hold some nice views in the days ahead!
ar11528 24th July
A turbulent region of sun around this new (old?) active region. Possible hints of lightbridge formation?
Monday, 23 July 2012
Flowing Rivers of Plasma: 23rd July
Ha full disk - Promtastic! 23rd July
Proms have returned a plenty today as the sun starts to wake up again! Lovely blue skies all day here in the UK. DS40 @ f20 DMK31.
CaK full disk 23rd July
Whilst still pretty quiet, new active regions in the northern and southern solar hemispheres on the the solar limb are set to change that. Taken with homebrew CaK filter 70mm f9 DMK31
New Active Region? AR11513 Returns? 23rd July
Whilst still quite indistinct on the limb our new (?) spot shows the depressed crater like appearance that is the Wilson Effect. There is a very good chance that this is AR11513 making a full return around the sun.
ar11525 23rd July
Taken with the 127mm PST mod @ 1900mm fl, whilst an relatively inactive active region is none the less full of intricate little details...
CaK Full Disk - 22nd July
Been a while since I took one of these shots, but even at CaK wavelengths the sun is relatively sparse in activity lately. Taken with homebrew CaK filter 70mm f9 DMK31.
Triple Stacked Full disk 22nd July
Taken with a pair of SM40 externally mounted etalons and a PST etalon mounted internally in the focuser. Lots more detail visible at these narrower bandwidths - looks quite different to double stacked!
Sunday, 22 July 2012
AR11526 & Detatched Flame Prom - 22nd july
The flame prom that was visible yesterday is slowly detaching and hovvers above the sun like a big plasma cloud, held in place by magnetic field lines. AR11526 is a quiet active region and poses little threat for solar flares. Taken with the 127mm SS @ 1900mm fl DMK31.
New Active Region Enroute?
Whatever is about to come around the limb is certainly already showing signs of turbulence in the solar plasma...
ar11525 - 22nd july
Taken with the 127mm pst mod @ 1900mm DMK31, this active region is hardly a source for solar fireworks on a pretty much quiet sun...
Saturday, 21 July 2012
AR11526 - Jet Stream Seeing - 21st July
An incredibly brief window this saturday morning before high level cloud raced in and jet stream seeing reduced the view through the eyepeice to jelly. Still new active region AR11526 was graced with a lovely flame prom. Hopefully sunday will offer better conditions for solar astronomy!
Monday, 16 July 2012
ar11520 - 15th July
Taken with the 127mm PST mod @ 1900mm fl this image represents a 2 pane mosaic from the DMK31. Since previous results alot of work has gone into the PST mod itself; the etalon has been collimated with respect to the optical axis, the refractor has been collimated with a cheshire eyepeice, in addition extra baffles have been placeed in the refractor tube. There are hopefully further improvements to be had - its should be possible to further refine the etalon housing and also have plans to increase the number of baffles in the refractor tube.
All in all a good sunday morning!
ar11520 @ 2250mm fl 15th July
Taken with the 127mm frac used for the PST mod with the Baader ERF in place and the Lunt wedge. This is a setup that looks like it has some good potential to work well!
Ha Full Disk - 15th July
Sunday 15th July dawned with rare clear, deep blue skies and provided the first opportunity since May to get a full disk. Glad I did!
Thursday, 12 July 2012
AR11520 - Solar Seas of Plasma - 11th july
Only the briefest of cloud gaps this afternoon allowed me to setup and then record this image: Monster active region AR11520 still has a delta class magnetic field and is more than capable of producing x-class flares, however has remained fairly quiet in the last 24 hours. In the mean time rivers of solar plasma readily flow like rivers in and around its component spots. Any flare activity now is squarely geo-effective as this maelstrom sits mid disk on our star, and so the risk of a storm is considerably higher...
Taken with the 127mm PST mod at 1900mm fl DMK31.
Sunday, 8 July 2012
Monster Active Region AR11520 - 8th July
As new active region AR11520 rounds the limb it is crackling with a complex Beta - Gamma magnetic field that harbours an 80% chance of M-class solar flares over the next 24 hours. The bright white areas in the photo are much smaller C-class flares that are continuosly crackling away. At over 127,000km in length it is over 10 times the size of Earth. Definitely worth keeping an eye on this one over the coming days as it gradually becomes more geo-effective and the risk from solar storms to Earth increases.
Taken with the 127mm PST mod @ 1900mm fl DMK31.
AR11514 8th july
Departing active region 11514 displays a small C class flare as it heads over the limb...
AR11518 8th July
Not the most active area on the sun, but never the less an interesting region... 127mm 1900mmfl DMK31
Wednesday, 4 July 2012
Assembling / Disassembling a PST Etalon
Well with all the poor weather we have been having this summer, and real lack of opportunity to get any imaging / observing in I decided following seeing the patent drawings to take a look at how the PST etalon assembly was made. For some time now I have thought that misalignment of the etalon within its housing is the likely cause of uneven illumination and bandpass across the field of view when in use, and looking inside at the rubber compression system that tunes the etalon my thoughts were reinforced.
This video shows how to disassemble and reassemble a PST etalon housing - usual rules apply - don't blame me if it goes wrong for you!
This video shows how to disassemble and reassemble a PST etalon housing - usual rules apply - don't blame me if it goes wrong for you!
Sunday, 1 July 2012
AR11513 & AR11516 1st July
I didn't think I would get to image today, grey skies and my thermometer was reading 12c at 11.00am (yes it is July!), however by late afternoon the skies were breaking and despite the 'haze' of the next batch of weather encroaching I managed to get this one frame of active regions AR11513 & AR11516, despite NASAs verdict that these are decaying they have been crackling with C class flares throughout the day.
This is second light with the 127mm PST mod - i thought I was wasting my time with imaging today, the seeing in the cloud gaps really wasn't very good, however i'm really quite pleased as to what Avistack has recovered from the raw data. It really does hold promise for if we actually get any decent sunny weather anytime soon here in the UK.
I'm also looking to modify the etalon holding cell from the PST - there is some lateral 'slack' in it, that causes the image to grade from being on band to slightly off band across the frame. It is possible to tweak this to an 'ideal', but is fiddly. More cloud and rain is forecast in the coming week so this will be my project!
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