Calci-Yummy Closeup - 30th June

Despite being the hottest day of the year (so far!), the last day of june had some of the best seeing conditions i've come across this year, well certainly at 6.30am.  The live image was rock steady and etched on the screen with detail, a rare sight to see, especially at 393nm.  This shot was taken with the ED60 at 1950mm focal length with stacked barlows, the homebrew CaK filter and the PGR Blackfly GigE IMX249 camera.  Click on the image to view in the lightbox viewer as it looks much better when viewed full size!

CaK Full Disk 30th June

The sun is starting to come alive again as new active regions rotate into view as can be seen in this calcium disk taken with the 40mm scope at 650mm focal length using the PGR Blackfly GigE IMX249 camera.

AR12373 Ha Closeup! 30th June

A mosaic taken with the 100mm Tal and Daystar Quark, along with the PGR Blackfly GigE IMX249 camera.  Be sure to click the image to view in the light box as this is a large image and looks much better when viewed full size.

Ha Full Disks 30th June

A couple of full disks from early this morning, the first with the DS40 at 650mm focal length, the second with the Quark and the ED80 (showing a badly behaving interference pattern that I couldn't flat out) at 1950mm focal length.  Not much happening on the disk at the moment but this should improve as the active regions on the limb rotate to become geo-effective.  Imaged with the PGR Blackfly IMX249 camera.

New Active Region AR12373 in CaK - 28th june

The sun looked like it was going to be blank at the start of the weekend, however by the end of the weekend a new active region ar12374 had given us a small spot and emerging flux region mid disk, and over the limb several larger sunspots had appeared in the form of ar12373, which although apparently quiet has had some surge proms associated with it suggesting it is not dormant.  This shot was taken with the ED60 at 1500mm focal length with the homebrew CaK filter and the PGR Blackfly GigE IMX249 camera.

CaK Full Disk 28th June

There was a worry only 24 hours ago the sun would be nearly blank as the big active region departed, fortunately another has rounded the eastern limb, and potentially there is a region developing mid disk.  Taken with the 40mm scope at 650mm focal length with the homebrew CaK filter and the PGR Blackfly GigE IMX249 camera.

Ha Full Disk 28th June

A hazy day on sunday afternoon, but still time for a few pics in the bluer moments!  Taken with the DS40 at 650mm focal length with the PGR Blackfly GigE IMX249 camera.

Flying Over A Giant - AR12371 27th June

Couldn't resist a shot from this perspective of the departing giant active region AR12371 taken with the Tal100R refractor, Daystar Quark and the PGR Blackfly IMX249 camera.  Gives the impression of flying over the sun in a space ship!

Wall of Fire Prominence - 27th July

I don't normally do prom shots as they tend not to come out very well, but this one looked half decent with the live view on the screen yesterday so thought I would give it a try, it's better than my usual attempts!  Taken with the ED80, Daystar Quark, Baader Solar Telecompressor and the the PGR Blackfly GigE IMX249 camera.

Ha Full Disks - 27th July

A couple of full disks here; the first with the Daystar Quark on the ED80 scope, the second with the Coronado DS40.  Interesting to compare the subtle differences between the 2.  Camera used in both instances was the PGR Blackfly GigE IMX249.

Departing Active Regions 27th June

AR12371 has been putting on a show for us for the last 2 weeks, but now is time for it to pass over the limb as can be seen in this image taken with the ED80, homebrew CaK filter and the PGR Blackfly IMX249.

Something New On The Limb? 27th June

The first signs of a potentially new active region  can be seen here on the suns eastern limb.  ED80, homebrew CaK and PGR Blackfly IMX249.

CaK Full Disk 27th June

When the large spot group passes over the western limb the sun looks to be rather quiet, hopefully not for long.  Taken with the 40mm scope at 650mm fl with the homebrew CaK filter and the PGR Blackfly IMX249 camera.

AR12371 Closeup Animation 24th June

This is a 100% crop of the region of interest of wednesday mornings data, and to me this really does show that the sun is the most dynamic object in our solar system.  While there was no flaring that happened as this animation was captured the movement of plasma along the magnetic field lines is fascinating.  This animation represents 3 frames a minute over a period of 20 minutes, before the clouds came along!  Taken with the 100mm Tal refractor, Daystar Quark, the excellent Baader Solar Telecompressor and the PGR Blackfly GigE IMX249 camera.

AR12371 Wider Scale Animation - 24th June

I was hoping for some flaring, but just got the movement of the turbulent plasma, lots of subtle changes!  Taken with the 100mm Tal refractor, Daystar Quark, Baader Solar Telecompressor and PGR Blackfly gigE IMX249 camera. The flat I used on the image hasn't quite worked, but you get an idea of what is going on!

AR12371 Ha Closeup 24th June

I managed a quick closeup of this monster active region just before work with the 100mm Tal Refractor, Daystar Quark, Baader Solar Telecompressor and the PGR Blackfly GigE IMX249 camera.  Lots of detail visible - animation to follow, still working on it...

AR12371 in Ha - 23rd June

The skies were finally clear for long enough for me to get the scopes out for the first time in a week and get an image of this monster active region that has been throwing out solar flares.  This image was taken with the Skywatcher ED80, Daystar Quark, Baader Solar Telecompressor and the PGR Blackfly GigE IMX249 camera.

Ha Full Disk 23rd June

My double stacked 40mm Coronado etalons definitely perform better - ie onband, at temperatures around 20 celcius, and today was one of those days, with lots of detail visible.  Even with a couple of spots the sun still looked good.  Taken at 650mm focal length with the PGR Blackfly IMX249 camera.

CaK Full Disk 23rd June

The suns disk is pretty quiet bar the massive active region that is currently visible.  The proms were pretty bright in CaK wavelengths today.  Taken with the 40mm scope at 650mm focal length with the PGR Blackfly GigE IMX249 camera.

Ha Full Disk 18th June

Poor weather, being tired and just being too busy at work has meant it has been over a week since I managed to get any solar observing in.  However thursday morning promised to be clear so I was up and out early with a view of getting some sun.  I only managed to get a quick Ha full disk with the DS40 before the clouds rolled back in again, but it was nice to see the 2 monster active regions we have on show at the moment.

Ha Full Disk Comparisons - 10th June

I did a comparison of the Ha full disk with my 2 different setups; the first was taken with the Coronado DS40 at 650mm focal length, the second with the ED80 and the Daystar Quark.  Presented at this size there is little between the 2 disks, but the difference is the image size, the latter image is 3 times the size, and so when you 'zoom in' there is a lot more detail to be seen.  Of course there is a time and a place for each image - the first is a single capture and the little 40mm aperture is tolerant of poor seeing conditions, the latter being a mosaic is much more susceptible to variations in both transparency and seeing.  What it does show is that the Quark has a nice tight bandpass!

5 Minutes in Cak - 10th June

I took 7 frames over about 5 minutes with a view of picking out the best, but they were all pretty decent so I decided to just assemble them as an animation.  This was taken with the ED60 and shows how the sun boils away in CaK, even over a small timescale.

CaK Full Disk 10th June

Taken with the 40mm at 650mm focal length with the homebrew CaK filter and the PGR Blackfly GigE IMX249 camera.  Finally getting round to catching up on some of the images i've taken over the past couple of weeks!

CaK Shots From The 7th June

I was up early on the 7th June and imaging was in full swing by 7am with the 100mm scope to try to make the most of the better seeing first thing in the morning.  I took a lot of images, and not many came out, I should have backed off and tried imaging at 80mm aperture, but, i'm pleased with these 2 taken with the homebrew CaK filter and the PGR Blackfly IMX249 camera.

Ha Full Disk With The Quark - Double Stack Single Stack Comparison - 7th June

The seeing wasn't really up to it as there is variation in some of the panels in this mosaic, and, again hadn't got my flat sorted out properly, but did get a result in the end that kind of worked!  I also took the image below in double stack mode as a comparison, but, the seeing and the flat again weren't perfect.  Shows what can be potentially achieved though.

Both images were taken with the ED80 and the PGR Blackfly IMX249 camera.  Just for good measure, below is the full disk image taken at the same time with the much smaller aperture Coronado DS40 scope at 650mm.

There is obviously much less resolution here but I find it interesting the results these three different setups give of the same subject.

CaK Full Disk Animation 7th June

Even when solar activity is low, the surface never stops boiling away with endless plasma convection cells as can be seen in this image taken with the 40mm scope at 650mm focal length with the homebrew CaK filter and the PGR Blackfly GigE IMX249 camera.  The animation spans approximately 15 minutes with one frame every 3 minutes.

Ha Full Disk Animation 7th June

The skies were clear and I had time to kill, so I decided to do a run of images for an animation using the DS40, Hinode Solar Guider and PGR Blackfly IMX249 camera.  With all that activity I was hoping for a nice big flare, but, alas, other than a few dancing proms and filaments not much was happening in the half hour time span that this animation covers.  Oh well, better luck next time hopefully!

New Active Regions in CaK - 6th June

A quick capture of the active regions that rounded the limb at the start of the week,  quite a nice cluster.  Taken with the ED60 at 1300mm focal length with the homebrew CaK filter and the PGR Blackfly IMX249 camera.

CaK Full Disk 6th June

When there's an abundance of active regions the CaK full disk always looks great!  We've been lucky over the last week or so with this.  Taken with the 40mm scope at 650mm focal length with the homebrew CaK filter and PGR Blackfly GigE IMX249 camera.

AR12365 Ha 6th Jun

Another active region rounds the solar limb it looks a quiet one but is an active region non the less.  Taken with the 100mm scope, Daystar Quark and the PGR Blackfly GigE IMX249 camera.

AR12356 Ha Departing

The final shots of this departing active region taken with the 100mm, Quark and PGR Camera.

AR12360 Ha 6th June

Nice shot of this little active region with some nice loops of plasma taken with the 100mm scope and the Daystar Quark.

Ha Full Disk With The Quark 6th June

A full disk with the quark has always been of of my aims since owning the filter.  After doing a cling film flat I finally have a result that I am properly happy with.  The original image is over 3 times the size of those that I get with the DS40 and the larger it is viewed the better it looks.   Taken with the ED80, Daystar Quark and the PGR Blackfly GigE IMX249 camera.

Ha Full Disk 6th June

Taken with the Coronado DS40 at 650mm focal length using the PGR Blackfly GigE IMX249 camera.

CaK Full Disk 6th June

It's great when the sun has this much activity, gives so many opportunities for subjects to look at.  Taken with the 40mm scope at 650mm focal length with the homebrew CaK filter and the PGR Blackfly GigE IMX249 camera.

New Flurry of Active Regions in CaK 6th June

The seeing was shot when I took this image with the ED60 but it gives a good overview of them in relation to each other.  Using the homebrew CaK filter and the PGR Blackfly IMX249 camera.

New Active Regions in CaK - 4th June

A new cluster of active regions have finally rotated into view over the eastern limb of the sun as can be seen in this image taken with the ED60, homebrew CaK filter and PGR Blackfly GigE IMX249 camera.

AR12356 In CaK Light 4th June

The good seeing first thing in the morning was very helpful in getting the fine details that can be seen in CaK Light.  This shot was taken with the ED60, homebrew CaK filter and the PGR Blackfly GigE IMX249 camera.

CaK Full Disk 4th June

Focus was a bit off here, but still just about passable.  Taken with the 40mm scope at 650mm focal length with the homebrew CaK filter and the PGR Blackfly IMX249.

New Active Regions in Ha - 4th June

Some new active regions are on their way round to wake up an otherwise quiet sun.  Really pleased with the level of detail the 100mm scope is getting with the Quark - lots of fine texture!  The larger pixels of the PGR Blackfly IMX249 definitely help too.

AR12356 Ha 4th June

Not quite got the flat sorted here in this image taken with the Daystar Quark, Tal100R refractor and the PGR Blackfly GigE IMX249 camera.  Still very pleased with the level of detail i'm getting though!

New Active Regions in Ha 4th June

After a spell of drought on the solar disk finally some new active regions round the limb.  Taken with the ED80, daystar quark and PGR Blackfly IMX249.

Departing Active Regions in Ha 4th June

A rather quiet sunspot, but graced with a delicate little flame prom makes for a nice composition.  Taken with the ED80, Quark and PGR Blackfly.

Ha Full Disk 4th June

Just in time for the weekend the sun is finally picking up in terms of activity, with more spots and activity coming around the limb.  Taken with the Coronado DS40 and the PGR Blackfly IMX249 camera.