AR12390 in Ha 29th July

A nice little active region getting closer to the solar limb taken with the Daystar Quark, Skywatcher ED80, Baader Solar Telecompressor and the PGR Blackfly GigE IMX249 camera.  Nice detail given the poor seeing conditions that were seen on the morning the picture was taken.

AR12391 in Ha 29th July

Whether I just got lucky with the seeing with yesterdays Quarks shots I don't know, but I really didn't expect them to turn out at all, and, in fact they turned out to be the best shots of yesterday.  Weird, I know!  Anyway, this was taken with the ED80, Baader solar telecompressor and the PGR Blackfly GiGE IMX249 camera.

Ha Full Disk 29th July

I really struggled with low transparency and poor seeing with this full disk taken with the DS40 at 650mm focal length.

CaK Active Regions 29th July

The seeing was awful under the unstable air we have at the moment, and would not allow me to use my usual 1900mm focal length with the 60mm scope, so, had to back off to 1050mm instead.  This image taken with the homebrew CaK filter and PGR Blackfly gigE IMX249 camera.

CaK Full Disk 29th July

Finally a bit of activity on the nearside of the sun, taken with the 40mm at 650mm snf the homebrew CaK filter.

Ha Full Disk 23rd July

This has to be one of the blankest solar disks i've seen for sometime, not much happening at all on there!  A hazy sky resulted in background light levels being a bit higher than I like in the photo, but, given the lack of real solar observing sessions this July i'll go with this image!  Taken with the Coronado DS40 at 650mm focal length using a PGR Blackfly GigE IMX249 camera.

CaK Full Disk 23rd July

A quick CaK shot of our star through the early morning haze taken with the 40mm scope at 650mm focal length.

AR12386 & AR12387 In CaK 22nd July

This is the only real activity on the sun at the moment, and even these active regions are decaying and not really doing much.  This shot was taken with the ED60 at 1900mm focal length with the homebrew CaK filter and the PGR Blackfly GigE IMX249 camera.

CaK Full Disk 22nd July

Unless something rounds the suns eastern limb in the next couple of days, the suns disk is going to be virtually blank.  This shot taken with the 40mm scope at 650mm focal length with the homebrew CaK filter and the PGR Blackfly IMX249 camera.

Ha Full Disk 22nd July

Our star was looking very quiet today, not much happening at all in this view taken with the Coronado DS40 at 650mm focal length with the PGR Blackfly GigE IMX249 camera.

AR12388 Spitting on the Limb & Animation - 19th July

AR12388 was just sitting right on the limb, and looking at the GONG website could see it was spitting with plasma jets as it retreated out of view.  The top image was taken with the Daystar Quark on the Skywatcher ED80, the bottom animation with the Tal100R and Quark, and spans about half an hours worth of time.  While there were no great fireworks it certainly crackled away.

AR12386 Ha Close Up - 19th July

Taken with the Skywatcher ED80 and Daystar Quark there is lots to see around this active region, including a curious brightening around the penumbra of the main spot.

AR12384 & Filament in Ha - 19th July

This active region was just heading towards the limb along with it's accompanying filaments, alas seeing in the mid afternoon was not great, but inverting the image makes the detail pop out.  Taken with the Skywatcher ED80, Daystar Quark and the PGR Blackfly GigE IMX249 camera.

AR12387 Ha 19th July

This little active region looks like it could show some promise of flaring, but, to date, sadly nothing!  Taken with the ED80, Daystar Quark and the PGR Blackfly IMX249 camera.

Ha Full Disks 19th July

A pair of full disks from Sunday; the first taken with the DS40 at 650mm focal length, and the second taken with the ED80 and Daystar Quark.  The image was taken just after midday and the seeing conditions were not conducive to the larger scope as several of the panels are no where near as sharp as I would like, still, presented at this scale the outcome is just about acceptable!

AR12386 in CaK 19th July

The seeing just about held up in this image taken with the ED60 at 1900mm focal length with the homebrew CaK filter and the PGR Blackfly GigE IMX249 camera.

CaK Full Disk 19th July

A bit of playing around with yesterdays full disks in CaK, the disk at the top is my regular image - 40mm scope 650mm focal length, the image underneath with the Ed60 at 975mm focal length, a central swathe of the regions of interest.  I wondered which would work best; well, to my surprise the smaller scope showed the better clarity.  Maybe the seeing wasn't as good with the ED60?  I don't know, but for now I think i'll stick with the regular 40mm instrument.

AR12386 Ha 18th July

This shot of the active region turned out quite well with plenty of detail.  An interesting brightening around the penumbra of the spot too.  Taken with the 100mm Tal100R refractor, Daystar Quark and the PGR Blackfly GigE IMX249 camera.

AR12387 Ha 18th July

This active region looks like it has the most potential for a bit of activity at the moment.  Taken with the ED80 with the Daystar Quark, the PGR Blackfly IMX249 and the Baader solar telecompressor.

AR12384 Approaching The Limb - 18th July

Another one of those shots that just looked a little flat in regular positive view, but, inverting it really gives the surface a sense of relief.  Taken with the Tal100R refractor, Daystar Quark, PGR Blackfly GigE IMX249 camera and Baader Solar telecompressor.

AR12388 Ha 18th July

Sometimes when the seeing is dawg awful, and the shot you've taken looks like it should be for the recycle bin, applying an invert and a bit of false colour can be all that is needed to perk the shot back up and make it presentable again.  This was taken with the 100mm Tal refractor, Daystar Quark, PGR Blackfly IMX249 GigE camera and the Baader solar telecompressor. 

A Duo of Disks - Ha 18th July

A pair of Ha full disks here, both taken with different setups, and both processed quite differently.  The top disk was taken with the trusty Coronado DS40 scope, at 650mm focal length with the PGR Blackfly IMX249 GigE camera.  This is a positive image with false colour added.  The second was taken with the ED80 scope and Daystar Quark at around 1950mm focal length, again with the same camera.  This image has been inverted and false colour applied.  It is interesting how the different presentations make the different features on the sun stand out more.

AR12386 & Departing Active Regions in CaK - 18th July

This region of our star was looking quite frothy in CaK wavelengths on Saturday, with the ED60 at 1900mm focal length with the PGR Blackfly IMX249 and the homebrew CaK filter.  

AR12387 CaK 18th July

A closeup of the new active regions in CaK, hopefully it will develop a little more.  Taken with the ED60 with 'new' Baader Blue ERF, homebrew CaK filter and PGR Blackfly IMX249 at 1900mm focal length.

CaK Full Disk July 18th

Transparency wasn't great when I took this image, but the PGR Blackfly has low noise when using gain so it is easy to compensate for.  Not a lot going on, but at least the disk isn't blank!  Taken with the 40mm at 650mm focal length with the home brew CaK filter.

New Active Regions In CaK - 3rd July

The PGR Blackfly GigE IMX249 allows these great closeups in CaK using the ED60 at 1900mm focal length showing oodles of detail, especially when you click on the image to view it in full size.

CaK Full Disk 3rd July

There is a lot of plage activity again on the sun as a new set of active regions rounded the limb this weekend.  Taken with the 40mm scope at 650mm focal length with the homebrew CaK filter and the PGR Blackfly GigE IMX249 camera.

Active Regions Closeup - 3rd July

A closeup of the active regions that have been rounding the suns limb in the past week or so.  Taken with the Quark and ED80 using the PGR Blackfly IMX249 camera.  Pleased with how this result turned out.

Ha Full Disks 3rd July

Fridays full disks in Ha; first off taken with the Coronado DS40 at 650mm focal length, second disk with the Quark, ED80 at 1900mm focal length, both images were shot using the PGR Blackfly GigE IMX249 camera.