AR12356 Ha With PGR Blackfly IMX249 & Daystar Quark - 30th May

This is my favourite image from Saturdays observing session.  A close up of active region ar12356 with the 100mm Tal100R refractor, Daystar Quark, Baader Solar Telecompressor and the Point Grey Research Blackfly GigE IMX249 camera.  There was quite a bit of high level haze around when I took the shot which has dropped the contrast levels, but never the less i'm very pleased with the result.

AR12357 Ha 30th May

Rather a hazy sky was dropping contrast when I took this image with the 100mm Tal100R refractor, Daystar Quark and PGR Blackfly IMX249 camera.  A big image so be sure to click on it for a closer view!

AR12356 & AR12357 Ha 30th May

Quite pleased with this image taken with the Skywatcher ED80 and Daystar Quark, in conjunction with the Baader Solar Telecompressor and Point Grey Research GigE Blackfly IMX249 camera.  This is quite a large image so click in it for a larger view,  i'm especially pleased with the result given the sky was pretty hazy at the time the image was taken.

Ha Full Disk 30th May

The 'V' filament looks great in this full disk taken with the DS40 and PGR Blackfly IMX249 camera.

AR12356 & AR12357 CaK Closeup 30th May

A close up of the only 2 active regions on the sun at the moment. Taken with the ED60, homebrew CaK filter and PGR blackfly IMX249 camera.  The image has come out well and is quite large so definitely worth clicking on to see full size.

CaK Full Disk 30th May

A quick view of our Sun in CaK light taken with the 40mm OTA, homebrew CaK filter and the PGR blackfly IMX249.

AR12356 & AR12357 Ha 28th May

 

I took this image with the 80mm scope and Quark using no reduction with the Quark running at it's native focal.  It's a pretty big image so worth clicking on it to see it in a larger format.  Camera was the rather nice PGR Blackfly IMX249.

AR12356 With The Daystar Quark & Point Grey Research GigE Blackfly IMX249

This new little active region has just rounded the limb when I took this shot with the Tal100R refractor, Daystar Quark and Point Grey Research GigE Blackfly camera with the IMX249 sensor and 5.86um pixels.  Really pleased with the level of detail that is being pulled up here!

Ha Full Disk 28th May

A quick full disk taken about 6am just after dawn with the Coronado DS40 and PGR Blackfly IMX249.

AR12356: New Activity in CaK 28th May

A quick rough and ready close up of the new activity that came around the limb taken with the 40mm scope, homebrew CaK filter and the PGR blackfly IMX249 camera.

CaK Full Disk 28th May

A quick full disk taken at dawn with the 40mm scope and PGR blackfly IMX249 camera.

AR12353 CaK Closeup 26th May With The PGR Blackfly IMX249

This has got to be my favourite shot of all from Tuesday afternoons unexpected solar session.  This was taken with my new PGR Blackfly IMX249 camera and ED60 at 1050mm focal length, the fine detail is very impressive for a day when the jet stream was over the top of us.  I really am impressed with how the new camera performs down at 393nm.

CaK Full Disk 26th May

Very pleased with this full disk result from the ED60 with the homebrew cak filter and the new PGR Blackfly IMX249 camera.  This shot was taken at f10 and gives some quite sharp results.

The Never Ending Filament? 26th May

Way back in early January a large filament rounded onto the southern hemisphere on the sun, since then this feature has remained there in some shape or form, and I've been recording it for nearly 6 months now.  Admittedly it is getting fainter and more ill defined, but it is definitely still there and definitely the same feature.  This image was taken with the ED80, double stacked Quark and the PGR Blackfly IMX249. 

AR12353 & Surroundings in Ha 26th May

Taken with the skywatcher ED80 and double stacked Quark I needed to use a region of interest of 1600x1200 pixels to avoid vignetting in the corners of the field of view. I also need to take a flat as things aren't as even as I like, but, the PGR blackfly IMX249 is performing better than I anticipated it would.  Looking forward to more imaging with this camera!

AR12353 Ha Closeup 26th May

A closeup of one of the few active regions that are on the sun at the moment taken with the 100mm Tal, double stack Quark and the PGR Blackfly IMX249 camera.  There's virtually four times more image with the new camera compared to my old trusty DMk31, and as a result there is an unevenness in the field, I think I will need to start trying a flat field.  There's also a bit of vignetting too, so need to look at the spacing of the chip to the focal reducer to reduce this to a minimum.

Ha Full Disk 26th May

Still getting to grips with the settings on the new PGR Blackfly (IMX249) camera, I think the gamma is slightly higher than I would prefer on default setting, but, takes time to get used to these things!  It's certainly much quicker in both capturing and post processing without having to mosaic.  Little bit of banding on the disk caused by too much tilt on the etalon, will have to keep an eye out for that on future full disks.  Taken with the DS40 at somewhere around 700mm focal length.

Ha Full Disk 21st May With The PGR BlackFly (IMX249) Camera

First shots with my new camera here - the Point Grey Research Blackfly IMX249 GigE mono camera with 5.86um pixels.  This 1920x1200 pixel camera allows me to capture the full disk in one image - no more making mosaics!  using the Coronado DS40 and barlows with a 1200x1200 region of interest applied.  The resultant full disk is very even with none of the gradients that a mosaic can produce.  I'm really pleased with the levels of detail recorded, and also the lack of noise compared to my trusty DMk31.  I just need to explore the settings a little more on it to see what the camera is capable of producing.

CaK Full Disk 21st May

It's been nearly 3 weeks since I've been able to image, but finally early on Thursday morning the sun was out for long enough to get a few images, and try out my new camera - the PGR Blackfly GigE Camera (IMX249 Mono).  I can get the full disk in one pane with it using the 40mm ota and barlows.  Not sure of the exact focal length of this system yet, I hope to work this out at the weekend if the weather allows.

AR12335 - Angry Active Region 4th May

The 100mm Tal100R refractor really does work well with the Daystar Quark, producing some tight bandpass up close results.  This active region looks very angry with its swirls of plasma.  Shot with the Baader solar telecompressor and the Imaging Source DMK31 camera.

AR12338 On The Limb - 4th May

Running the quark in single stack mode gives a nice effect on the solar limb, but surface contrast is reduced considerably compared to double stacking.  Still, this produces a nice picture taken with the 100mm Tal refractor.

Filament Closeup 4th May

Taken with the Daystar Quark and the Skywatcher ED80 refractor this us a mosaic of 3 images taken with the Imaging Source DMK31 camera.  The seeing was very hit and miss yesterday, but I managed to get a reasonable bit with this image.

Million KM Filament 4th May

It may be segmented, but it stretches from limb to limb across the face of the sun!

Ha Full Disk 4th May

The suns southern hemisphere seems to be the one full of activity at the moment, especially with its million kilometre long filament that  is visible at the moment.  Taken with the DS40 at 560mm focal length with the Imaging  Source DMK31 camera.

AR12335 CaK 4th May

The seeing was briefly quite good in CaK wavelengths first thing this morning before clouds started to bubble up and blow in turning the atmosphere into boiling soup.  I took this image with the 100mm TaL100R refractor at 1600mm focal length with the homebrew CaK filter and the Imaging Source DMK31 camera.