Hydrogen Alpha at 656.28nm was proving itself to be the wavelength of choice on this, my first imaging session of 2017. There were plenty of smaller scale features to be seen including a number of small but well defined prominences, some of which merged into filaproms. A small emerging flux region crackled with magnetic energy, however is unlikely to develop into much more, and on the disk a number of darker filaments, cooler clouds of solar plasma held aloft by magnetic fields could be well seen. The image was taken with a Coronado PST double stacked with a Lunt50 etalon along with a PGR Chameleon 3 camera and a Daystar Interference Eliminator to apply tilt to the optical plane to get rid of banding issues caused by Newtons Rings.
The eastern limb of the sun was the quietest today, with a very small area of inactive plage, however the limb offered a nice collection of small prominences, filaproms and filaments. Taken with a double stacked PST, PGR Chameleon 3 and a old and dirty 2x barlow that has graced the image with dust bunnies.
As I use this PST more and more i'm slowly starting to get a handle on how it works, and how the orientation of the double stacked Lunt 50mm etalon that i'm using on it manifests itself in the final image. Today was one of those days that was quiet in CaK wavelengths, but in Ha there was a whole host of interesting smaller scale features that could be seen. The proms and filaments were the star of the show, but there was a small and interesting emerging flux region passing towards the western limb. The bright plage towards the eastern limb doesn't seem to be doing much at all. Taken with the Double stacked PST and PGR Chameleon 3 camera.
When I saw this area of plage coming around the limb a few days ago I was optimistic there might be a few spots tucked away in there - alas no! Any activity is very small scale or deeply buried within our star. Taken with the 40mm scope, 2x barlow, homebrew CaK filter and the PGR Chameleon 3 camera.
A closer look at the small area of plage heading towards the western limb in Calcium light reveals a smittering of brighter white spots indicating possibly developing activity, maybe and emerging flux region? Taken with the 40mm scope and a dirty 2x barlow nosepiece which has given a shadow of dust bunnies on the image despite a good clean - a new barlow is in order for a new year I think! Taken with the PGR Chameleon 3 camera and Daystar Interference Eliminator.
The sun was quite blank in Calcium light today, a couple of brighter areas of plage towards either limb, possibly the one on the left will become an emerging flux region as seemed to be crackling away with a few brighter spots. The faintest hint of the proms visible too. Taken with the 40mm scope at 400mm focal length with the homebrew CaK filter and the PGR Chameleon 3 camera.
