AR11808 only joined us a few days ago and is already showing itself having some interesting activity. However on the limb another spot has just rounded onto the disk announcing itself arrival with a crown prominence as it spits small jets of plasma outwards from the sun. All todays shots are rather soft as I was being greedy with the focal length - i was shooting at 3200mm with the 100mm PST mod, with the heat of the late afternoon I should have really backed off to 2000mm or 1600mm fl really. Oh well! These have come out!
Tuesday, 30 July 2013
ar11805 Wilson effect 30th July
AR11805 shows the foreshortening depression of the famous Wilson Effect as it nears the limb. Taken with the 100mm PST mod at 3200mm fl with the DMK31 camera.
ar11801 30th July
A rather soft shot of the rather quiet active region. 100mm pst mod at 3200mm fl DMK31.
Monday, 29 July 2013
AR11793 Departing - 27th July
This active region had already passed over the nortwestern limb of the sun, however it left a legacy; the spot had a spiralling filament wrapping around it, which manifested itself on the limb as a bright and dense prominence. The solar surface looks very choppy and 3D in appearance in this closeup shot taken with the 100mm PST mod at 3200mm focal length with the DMK31 camera.
Western Swathe 27th July
Ha Full Disk 27th July
ar11801 ha closeup 27th July
Taken with the 100mm PST mod at 3200mm fl with the DMK31 camera, this lone sunspot has an unusual bright aureole around the penumbra of the spot.
ar11806 27th July
This new active region has slowly rotated onto the visible side of the sun, hidden under plasma in this shot it should become easier to see in the days ahead.
Sunday, 28 July 2013
Detached Prominence 26th July
Like a strange alien craft, for some considerable time solar magnetic fields held aloft this massive detached prominence suspending it over the limb of the sun. Eventually the field lines snapped and this huge cloud of plasma drifted off into inter planetary space. This shot was taken with the 70mm PST mod, 2x barlow and DMK31 camera.
Departing Active Regions and Detached Prominences - 26th July
A plethora of departing active regions including AR11800 shows some minor B-class flaring and a host of filaments twisted by the solar magnetic field lines. Meanwhile over the limb a huge detached prominence hovers majestically. Taken with the 70mm PST mod with 1.6x barlow and DMK31.
Saturday, 27 July 2013
Ha Full Disk 26th July
This is the first image taken with new 'pre-Meade' Coronado PST etalon. I have to say i'm pretty pleased! It does seem to have a slightly tighter bandpass than my existing 'made in Mexico' PST etalon which is what I was hoping for. This full disk is a mosaic taken with the 70mm PST mod, 2x barlow and DMK31 camera. The original image is huge, and i'm really pleased how the spicule layer has come out on this, well worth a click on the image to see it full size!
Friday, 26 July 2013
Solar Cycle 24 Underwhelming...
Solar Cycle 24 is shaping up to be the weakest solar cycle in more than 50 years. In 2009, a panel of forecasters led by NOAA predicted a below-average peak. Now that Solar Max has arrived, however, it is even weaker than they expected. Look inside the yellow circle to see the shortfall:
It may be premature to declare Solar Cycle 24 underwhelming. Solar physicist Dean Pesnell of the Goddard Space Flight Center thinks Solar Cycle 24 is double peaked--and the second peak is yet to come. Also, weak solar cycles have been known to produce very strong flares. The strongest solar storm in recorded history, the Carrington Event of 1859, occurred during a relatively weak solar cycle like this one.
Stay tuned for flares? Maybe, but not this week. Solar activity remains very low.
Saturday, 20 July 2013
Pareidolia Proms - 19th july
Pareidolia is a psychological phenomenon involving seeing familiar patterns in random data - examples include clouds that look like animals, the face of the man in the moon, listening to records backwards and hearing hidden messages etc. Prominences on the limb of the sun are a great place where this happens, and friday provided a great example of this!
north west prom ha 19th July
This prom was sufficiently bright to get a decent one shot of it and the surrounding disk. 70mm PST mod at 1050mm fl with DMK31.
ar11793 19th July
Taken at f25 with the 70mm PST mod this is the major active region on the disk at the moment!
Fridays Full Disk 19th July
Lovely blue skies this friday so a great opportunity to get a full disk with the DS40. Lots to see!
Thursday, 18 July 2013
Eastern swathe Ha14th July
Still working through a backlog of images here; one from the 14th, a mosaic of the eastern swathe of the sun with all these new active regions rotating into view. Taken with the 100mm pst mod at 1600mm fl DMK31 camera.
Wednesday, 17 July 2013
AR11787 - The Living Breathing Monster
Working through a bit of the backlog of data I had: This is a shot of AR11787 from the 7th July and represents an animation of 20 minutes in the life of this active region. NASA at the time was giving out a >50% chance of M-class flares, and I was optimistic of catching something happening. However this part of the sun just sat there, bubbling away but never did any flaring. A shame, but I do like the way this animation shows the continuous flow of plasma around the surface of our star - it is never static! This was taken with the 100mm PST mod @ 3200mm focal length using a DMK31 camera.
Sunday, 14 July 2013
Spitting Prominences - 14th July
Ha Full Disk 14th July
The heatwave continues in the UK and as a result seeing and transparency just aren't as good as in cooler weather. While this is a hinderance for larger aperture scopes, this makes no difference to the Coronado double stacked 40mm. What it loses out in terms of aperture it makes up for with it's tight bandpass in terms of the detail it produces. This shot was taken at f20 (800mm fl) and is a 6 pane mosaic taken with the DMK31.
ar11789 ha closeup 13th July
Not really much left of this active region now, but it is putting on an interesting display of small scale proms as it passes over the suns limb. Taken with the 100mm PST mod at 1600mm fl with the DMK31 camera.
ar111791 Ha closeup 13th July
Twisting arcs of plasma indicate there is some activity in the new active region, but just how much? This shot was taken with the 100mm pst mod at 1600mm fl with the DMK31 camera.
Saturday, 13 July 2013
DS40 Ha 13th July
When the suns disk is quiet the only thing to do is bring out the double stacked 40mm scope. The tighter bandpass of this scope can tease out the surface details quite well! Taken with the ds40 @ f20 DMK31.
ar111791 Ha 13th july
A few small B-class flares crackle away in this new active region, but no fireworks yet with it...
ar11789 ha 13th July
All quiet in Ha apart from a very small B - class flare as this active region passes over the limb. 70mm PST mod @ f11 DMK31.
ar11791 cak closeup 13th july
Zooming in close to our new active region in CaK shows it sporting a light bridge, and a few ellerman bombs can be seen in the shot, but on the whole things look pretty quiet here and are likely decaying...
ar11791 CaK 13th July
Maybe our new active region will show a bit more flare activity that the one that is currently departing?
ar11789 cak 13th july
Dropping back the focal length to 2000mm with the 100mm frac really does show how things have quietened down on our star with regards to the monster active region of the past 2 weeks!
ar11789 cak closeup 13th july
Not really much left here now with these active regions apart from some plage. Taken with the 100mm @ f32 DMK31.
cak full disk 13th July
Things are even looking quiet in CaK at the moment, not a huge amount happening on our star! Passing haze and high cloud played havoc in getting even frame brightness for this mosaic. 100mm f5 DMK31.
ar11791 WL 13th july
This is the latest active region to appear on the scene, though, I have to say doesn't look very busy at the moment. Maybe it will grow in the days ahead? 100mm @ 2000mm fl DMK31.
ar11789 WL - 13th July
This group of active regions are certainly a shadow of their former selves as they quietly slip over the western limb of the sun. Taken with the 100mm frac @ 2000mm fl with a DMK31 camera.
Ha full disk 11th July
The sun looks picturesque during this july heatwave we are having in the UK at the moment, but the sun is relatively sparse when it comes to activity. This was taken with the 70mm pst mod at f11 using a DMK31 camera.
Departing Active Regions 11th July
This group of active regions has been putting on a show for us for nearly 2 weeks now, but despite NASA giving a >50% chance of M-class flares nothing has happened. Hopefully it should put on a decent display of prominences as it passes over the limb at the weekend.
Southern Proms 11th July
Towards the southern polar regions there was a lovely prominence on the sun on thursday.
New Active Regions - 11th July
New activity appearing on the eastern limb of our star on an otherwise quiet sun. Taken with the 70mm PST mod @ f11 with DMK31 camera.
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