Lots of Filaments - 2nd April

busy square colour, a photo by Mark Townley on Flickr.

There was lots going on in the central part of the suns disk today!

CaK Closeup - 2nd April

CaK closeup colour, a photo by Mark Townley on Flickr.

There is lots to see in this closeup of the active northeast quadrant of the sun taken with the 100mm frac at 1600mm focal length. My homebrew CaK filter seems to really like working at these longer focal ratios - maybe time to start consider operating it in a collimated beam?

CaK Full Disk - Monster Mosaic - 2nd April

cak-colour-s, a photo by Mark Townley on Flickr.

I took this full disk shot in the form of a mosaic using the 100mm frac at f10. The original image is huge and well worth a look at on Flickr if your monitor is big enough...

AR11711 in White Light - 2nd April

ar11711 wl, a photo by Mark Townley on Flickr.

Monster sunspot AR11711 is the star of the show on the solar disk at the moment. This was taken with the 100mm frac at 2000mm focal length, Lunt wedge, continuum filter and DMK31. The spot has developed a light bridge as it slowly decays...

White Light Full Disk 2nd April

wl full disk, a photo by Mark Townley on Flickr.

One of my first for a while: taken with the 100mm @ f6 with the DMK31, Lunt wedge and baader continuum filter.

Solar Maximum Been & Gone? No April Fools Joke?

The latest update to the solar cycle sunspot number progression from NOAA/SWPC makes somber reading.  We should be moving towards solar maximum with sunspot numbers twice what we are observing if the prediction is correct, but observed empirical evidence shows if anything sunspot numbers are falling away with maximum occurring last year.  Maybe there is a glimmer of hope though as some scientists are forecasting a double peak to the current solar cycle.  Whatever might happen, the only thing for sure at the moment is solar activity is not as much as we would like!

A Quick Disk From The End of March - 31st march

Well nearly a full disk!  Taken with the PST and DMK31 from the 31st march.  New monster spot AR11711 is just starting to round the solar limb, just over a week a go it was hurling coronal mass ejections out at Venus, however now it seems alot quieter, with high resolution images showing the spot is sporting a light bridge, a sign that it is slowly dying down in activity. NOAA forecasters estimate a slim 10% chance of M-class flares from this active region in the next 24 hours.