AR12715 & Filaments - 22nd June

This active region has developed rapidly over the past few days and has had some c class flaring taking place.  Darker filaments around the sunspots show the magnetic field lines well.  Taken with the DS50 etalons on the Tal 100R refractor.  A 1.25x barlow was used along the PGR Chameleon 3 camera to give a effective focal ratio somewhere around f25.  

AR12713 in Ha - 22nd June

I also had a second adaptor plate made up so that I could use the 50mm etalon pair on my other refractors.  Here on the Tal100 to give about a f25 image scale which would be better suited to a 5.86um imx174 chipped camera rather than the 3.45um pixels of the PGR Chameleon 3 that was used.  There was plenty to see as this active region heads over the limb and as we head to solar minimum.

Ha Full Disk - 22nd June

Very much pleased with this new setup i'm using, it gives a very nice and even full disk that is easy to tune, importantly it is ready to use as soon as it is pointed at the sun, unlike the lunt50 I have which seems to take some time to get to thermal acclimation.  I've been keen to get a double stack full disk setup up and running as we head into solar minimum and features become smaller scale and fewer in frequency, the extra contrast a double stack gives will be good at showing features.  Taken with the the 60mm f6 ED APO scope, which I am also very pleased with.  Camera was the PGR Chameleon 3 and the etalons are a pair of Lunt 50s.

Double Stack Disk - 21st June

Taken a while to get to this point; I decided a while ago to return to double stacked front mounted etalons as a quick grab and go setup - the Lunt50 scope took too long to acclimate, which was no good for my early morning imaging sessions and especially for imaging in the cloud breaks here in the UK.  I double stacked a pair of Lunt 50 etalons on the front of my Tecnosky ED60 f6 APO refractor along with a Coronado BF15 blocking filter.  Camera used was the PGR Chameleon 3.  Given this is the very first light with the setup I think there is great potential as the etalons were not clocked with respect to each other, something I know from experience can improve results considerably.  I look forward to exploring using this setup more in the days ahead.

Surface Granulation with the Daystar Sodium Quark - 3rd June

Pointing the 100mm Tal refractor straight mid disk on the sun revealed the granulation cells.  These convection cells are traditionally likened size wise to the size of the US state of Texas.  The Daystar Sodium Quark showed this well and my initial impressions of this are quite favourable.  Camera used was the PGR Chameleon 3.

AR12712 With the Daystar Sodium Quark - 3rd June

This small active region has been putting on quite a show this past week, but this is the first time i've been able to image it.  Using a Daystar Sodium Quark on a Tal 100R refractor along the PGR Chameleon 3 camera the brighter plage that marks this active region was clearly visible.  Looking closely there is a peppering of small dark spots and pores that can also be seen.  

Solar Full Disk in Sodium Light - 3rd June

The transparency was consistent for long enough so I could take the individual panes needed to complete this full disk taken with a Daystar Sodium Quark.  Despite being taken with the 60mm f6 scope the granulation is easily seen when the image is double clicked full size.  Visually and on the screen the view is very contrasty with Sodium.  Camera used was the PGR Chameleon 3.

Plage in Sodium Light - 3rd June

The day started clear so I wanted to have a play around with the Sodium Quark.  Seeing was too poor for the 200mm HaT so I settled with the 100mm Tal refractor.  This region of relic plage has rotated onto the suns north eastern limb and is easily seen being brighter than the surrounding granules.  The PGR Chameleon 3 camera was used.