This image took some getting, I took 30 seperate 3000 frame avis and from that determined the best set of raw data, from these 3000 frames 128 were stacked using Autostakkert to produce the image above. This was taken with the 100mm Tal100R refractor, 3x revelation barlow, home brew CaK filter and the FLIR IMX174 camera.
Taken with the Skywacther ED80 stopped down to 60mm and using a 1.4x magninmate to get a frame filling full disk on the chip of the FLIR GH3 U3 916M camera. Really surprised me how bright this little active region was in comparison to the surrounding chromospheric network. The small plage are nicely visible.
The seeing was behaving this morning so I decided to try the 100mm Tal100R refractor along with the Airylab 2.7x telecentric, Daystar Quark and the FKIR IMX174 camera. Really pleased how this has come out and looking forward to the potential this setup has in the forthcoming new solar cycle 25.
Tried a new technique i've been wanting to do for the first time today. Normally I do my full disks using the Lunt 50 etalon, Daystar Quark and Baader 0.7x solar telecompressor to get the full disk on the chip of the FLIR GH3 U3 916M camera. I have thought this gives a slightly less contrasty view to when the the telecompressor is not used. Todays disk is a mosaic, taken without the telecompressor, I do think there is more contrast and this is something I will be exploring in the coming days. Pretty pleased with this outcome from today though!
A crop and a slightly closer look at the main area of interest in saturdays sun in Ha. Taken with the Lunt 50 etalon, ED60/f6 double stacked with the Daystar Quark.
Not sure I got the tuning right for this one, on reflection I should have just taken off and remounted the external etalon on this setup, still a nice overview of our suns disk from today.
Using the Skywatcher ED80 stopped down to 60mm and the 3x Revelation ED barlow makes a real system synergy at this scale, and along with the homebrew CaK filter and the FLIR IMX174 camera gets nice detail even when the seeing isn't being as obliging as you might want.
The little area of plage that passed over the eastern limb seems to be picking up a bit in terms of activiry. Taken with the 80mm Skywatcher stopped down to 60mm using a 1.4x magnimate barlow, homebrew CaK filter and the FLIR GH3 U3 916M camera.
This is where all the activity was, and nice to see a decent polar crown for a change. Trying a new configuration with the double stack here...
Nice to get the 60mm with 3x barlow and get a closer look at the activity we have at the moment. Came out quite well, a lot of synergy with this setup.
The disk is very quiet apart from a region of plage that cam round the approaching limb, not much activity with it. Taken with the ED80 stopped down to 60mm, home brew CaK filter, 1.4x magnimate barlow and the FLIR Grasshopper 3 camera.
The best views of wednesdays sun was of the prominences. These images were taken with the Skywatcher ED80, Daystar Quark and FLIR GH3 U3 23S6 camera.
Other than a few filaments and bright points, the disk of the sun is very quiet, however it is the prominences that were the star of the show on Wednesdays sun. Taken with the Lunt 50 etalon double stacked with a Daystar Quark, all mounted on a 60mm f6 scope and using the FLIR GH3 U3 916M camera.
For a week or so the chatter online has been there was a new active region on the far side of the sun as seen with the STEREO spacecraft. This got smaller and fainter as it approached the near side limb, and indeed, when it came around there was very little to see other than a patch of plage. There have been a few very small pores over the past couple of days that have come and gone, and has shown brightening in Ha now and then, but this is unlikely to develop into anything. It's equatorial position and magnetogram data tells us it is cycle 24 activity; there can't be much left in cycle 24 now surely?
A quiet day on the sun in CaK, not much to see at all! Taken with the ED80 stopped down to 60mm, homebrew CaK filter, 1.4x magnimax barlow lens and the FLIR GH3 U3 916M camera.
The seeing was the best it has been all week today, so, I decided to give it a try with the Airylab HaT, lots of files later and there's always a best one, and this is it. Etalon was the Daystar Quark and the FLIR IMX174 camera.
A shot from early this morning of the prominence on the approaching limb, sadly by mid afternoon it had lifted off! Taken with the Coronado SM90 double stacked with the Daystar Quark.
This bright point is about the only activity on the face of the sun today, and sadly in a day or so time will be gone. Hopefully something will replace it on the eastern linb soon! Taken with the Coronado SM90 double stacked with the Daystar Quark and the FLIR GH3 U3 916M camera.
Wednesdays star of the show was easily this lovely hedgerow prom on the approaching limb of the sun. Taken with the double stacked Coronado SM90 this should turn into a nice filaprom and then filament in the days ahead as it gradually rotates onto the disk, assuming of course it does not lift off beforehand!
This delicate small flame prom sat on the suns departing limb, and in frame one of the small bright points associated with a flux region. Taken with the Coronado 90 double stacked.
The suns disk is pretty blank all bar a few bright points, however todays highlight was the prominences. Looking good!
Glorious weather but abysmal seeing meant that the only solar that really came out today was the Ha full disk. Taken with the Lunt 50 etalon on the Tecnosky 60mm f6 scope, double stacked with the Daystar Quark and using the FLIR GH3 U3 916M camera. Clear skies forecast for Wednesday, I really hope the seeing is better so I can use a few more scopes and wavelengths.
This was the only other usable image from today, the same setup as the one used for the full disks apart from the Baader Solar Telecompressor was not used, hence the slightly larger image scale.
Todays seeing conditions were some of the worst have come across for a while and despite trying different scopes and setups the only one that really worked was the Ha full disk, taken with the Lunt 50 double stacked with the Daystar Quark. Despite at first sight the disk looking blank there is quite a bit going on, there were subtle prominences, a whole host of small filaments, bright points and turbulent plage where the bright points from a couple of days ago came over the limb. When the sun presents features like this a double stack setup is by far the best way to view them.
After so much uptick in cycle 25 activity over the past couple of weeks the last thing I expected to see was cycle 24 activity, as indicated by the magnetogram. Yes, it is very small scale, just a pair of bright points associated with flux regions, but they have hung around for the past 24 hours. I'm also pleased as I was able to record them with a setup i've put together on it's maiden outing. I wondered if I rigged together my 100mm f10 Tal refractor with the 2.7x Airylab telecentric designed to work with the f10 HaT, along with the Daystar Quark if the system would jell. Well it did, and with the 0.7x solar telecompressor gives a very nice f19 which is a perfect match for the pixels of the FLIR GH3 IMX174 camera. Exposure time was also pleasingly short. I used a cut out of 1600x1200 pixels in the above image, where there is slight vignetting in the corners, this should flat out along with the slightly uneven illumination of the camera chip. Conditions were far from ideal when the image was taken, with the sky covered in a very thick haze, given the image I got out have got quite a bit of hope for this setup, it should also be able to be used with my 118mm f10 scope too... Below are pictures of the new setup.
Things are quiet, even in CaK at the monent other than the usual bright points, but pleased with how this disk came out given the hazy conditions we are getting at the moment with southerly air stream. Taken with the Skywatcher ED80 stopped down to 60mm, 1.4x magnimax barlow lens, home brew CaK filter and the FLIR GH3 U3 916M camera. Click on the image for a larger view.
All the activity of the past 2 weeks has died down on the Sun now, on the departing limb AR12759 has gone, and on the approaching limb the excitement of possible new active regions was not happening, and these are just brighter patches of very small plage. A cycle 24 emerging flux region was the star of the show and developed a couple of small pores at various parts of the day, although now, the following morning the area seems quieter. The shots were taken as usual with the Skywatcher ED80 stopped down to 60mm, revelation 3x ED barlow lens, the home brew CaK filter and the FLIR IMX174 chipped camera.
Trying something subtly different here, the usual 50mm setup but without the 0.7x Baader solar telecompressor to give the full disk. The image above is hugely over sampled, but next time I have a go at this will rectify using the 2x2 binning function on the camera which will tame the scale a bit and improve the sharpness. I think i'm going to like this as an alternative when the seeing just isn't up to using the Coronado SM90 and will be exploring its potential in the days ahead.
With such a quiet sun at the moment it is always interesting to do a double stack (top) single stack (bottom) comparison. Tuning was really difficult today because of continuous and variable haze plaguing observations. However, for me, the double stack is the winner revealing the brighter points and filaments so much easier. The double stack was taken with my Lunt50 etalon on the 60mm f6 scope, double stacked with the Daystar Quark, the single stack was taken with the Coronado SM90ii, in both cases the camera used was the FLIR GH3 U3 916M.
This interesting active region is no more than a region of plage as it approaches the departing limb, but has put on quite a pleasing show over the past 10 days or so. Nice to see cycle 25 activity slowly hotting up. Taken with the Skywatcher ED80 stopped down to 60mm with the Revelation ED 3x barlow lens, the home brew CaK filter and the FLIR IMX174 chipped camera.
Much talk of the incoming active region so far shows it to be a bit of a let down, with no signs of pores, let alone sun spots, it may develop in the days ahead, but at the moment is looking rather quiescent.
Going for the same areas as in the previous Ha shots. Taken with the Skywatcher ED80 stopped down the 60mm, 3x revelation barlow, home brew CaK filter and the FLIR IMX174 camera.
The CaK full disk shows the 2 areas of plage on the approaching and departing limb clearer than Ha. The disk was taken with the Skywatcher ED80 stopped down to 60mm, 1.4x magnimax barlow, home brew CaK filter and the FLIR GH3 U3 916M camera. The image came out surprisingly well given the sky was covered in quite a thick haze with the southerly airflow coming off the continent and raising the temperatures to unseasonally warm levels.
Was struggling with the haze a bit with the full disk and ended up having to push processing just a little bit further than I normally would or like to, but, this gives a nice overview of what was going on. I thought the small round filament towards the south pole was a dust bunnie at first and tried to clean both the camera chip and the quark, doh! Taken with the 50mm Lunt etalon on the 60mm f6 OTA double stacked with the Daystar Quark to increase the contrast.
This active region has been with us for over a week now, sporting spots, flares and filaments on it's journey across the face of the sun. It is cycle 25 activity and is a sign of activity slowly picking up on our star. Taken with the Coronado SM90 double stacked with the Daystar Quark.
Lots and buzz and excitement on the forums about this small area of cycle 25 activity that rounded the limb. Certainly when this image was taken there was no sign of any pores and looks like it might be a bit of a damp firework, still, nice to see that the sun is slowly waking up! There is another region following it so will be interested to see what that one is like, certainly at the moment the one above is unlikely to be given active region designation if it stays as it is.
Less than perfect condition but nice to have a look around the smaller scale features on the sun with the Double stacked 90 setup.
A busy day for me meant I didn't get chance to image today until late afternoon by which time the seeing the seeing was boiling on what is the hottest day of the year so far, so, I just stuck with the full disk in Ha today taken with the double stack 50mm scope. Ar12759 is not far rotating off the disk, but on the opposite limb a small cycle 25 bright spot has rotated into view, whether this will yield as an active region and will bear sunspots remains to be seen. Any prominences that were visible today were both small and faint.
This active region has been keeping us sun watchers happy for a while now, and while it is slowly rotating away from us should put on a good prom show on the limb. There may be no sunspots associated with it anymore but it is still active, and even this morning was crackling away with very small scale flare activity. Notice ahead of it and towards the limb small patches of brighter plage that are associated with the cycle 25 jet stream just below the solar surace. This image was taken with the Coronado SM90ii double stacked with a Daystar Quark and using the PGR GH3 U3 916M camera.
Tiltle says it all really! Just some random bits of sun! Taken with the Coronado SM90ii double stacked with a Daystar Quark and using the PGR GH3 U3 916M camera.
