A new active region coming around the limb with plenty of small flaring activity. The 203mm Airylab HaT was used but a mobile westerly air stream meant the seeing was never going to be the best. I took a number of images and this one was the best of the bunch. I was out early to observe and was surprised how much later the sun was now starting to rise as I realised we are closer to the autumn equinox than the summer solstice - seasons a changing!
It's getting near that time of year when only the best days are suitable for the large aperture of the 8" Airylab HaT here in Brierley Hills. Despite taking some number of images this is the best one of the bunch and shows this decaying active region. It should be on the limb this weekend so fingers crossed will put on more of a show. Taken with the double stacked Quark at ~6m focal length with the PGR Chameleon 3 camera.
A clear if somewhat hazy morning today meant any solar imaging was going to be limited to the shorter focal lengths. In the end it was a flat battery on the mount that brought an abrupt end to the session - a timely lesson in preparation! Still, despite no power I was able to let the solar disk drift across the chip of the PGR Chameleon 3 camera to get this full disk in Calcium light with the 40mm scope at 560mm focal length and the home brew CaK filter. The large spot associated with AR12670 should still be around for next weekend when it is the annual Solarsphere festival in Builth Wells.
Been away for a week or so, excuse being late in posting this up here, but finally got round to getting this animation processed. Following a 2 week journey around the sun old active region AR12265 announced its return with a bright but dynamic prominence structure on the eastern limb as magnetic fields swirled around great waves of plasma. For once this summer the sky had some clear breaks and I was able to get a view in. The seeing was falling, but the view through the 8" Airylab HaT revealed the subtle changes in structure over the period of this 8 minute animation. The double stacked Daystar Quark was used with the PGR Chameleon 3 recording a cadence of 4 frames a minute for the animation. Fingers crossed some clear skies return soon so that I can see what remains of it on the face of the sun.
