Steve Wainwright's Solar Blog

AR1108, AR1109 and a prominence

sjwastronomer — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 16:44:07 +0000

A DMK21AS camera fitted with the lens assembly from a x2 Barlow was connected to a H-alpha PST fitted to a Merlin AZ mount. 3000 frames were captured in 1000 frame lots of each of the three subjects (only 1000 frames were captured for the disk part of the composite, disk/prominence image):

Prominence

Large, arching prominence

AR1108

AR1109

Prominences and a tiny sunspot

sjwastronomer — Sat, 22 May 2010 00:55:11 +0000

I first of all took an afocal shot through a 15mm eyepiece with a Fuji -F-450 compact camera in B/W mode with the H-alpha PST:

This showed the largest prominence which I then imaged with a DMK 21AS camera fitted with an ultra short nosepiece and the lens assembly from a 2x Coronado Cemax Barlow. Exposures were taken to show the prominence and disk separately and were then combined into a single image with Andrew Sprott’s Solar-Layers software:

Then the DMK was placed at the prime focus of a Ca K-line PST to image much of the solar disk and reveal the tiny sunspot that has recently emerged as well as some of the chromospheric network:

Looping prominence and an afocal image

sjwastronomer — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 13:07:45 +0000

A DMK21 camera was used with a 3x Meade Barlow lens and a H-alpha PST solar scope to capture AVIs exposed for the prominence and the disk separately.
The AVIs were stacked in Registax and combined into a single image using Andrew Sprott’s Solar Layers software:

An afocal image was taken through a 16.8mm orthoscopic eyepiece with a hend held Fujifilm F-450 compact camera. Both images were colourised to represent the colour of the H-alpha light being used:

This image captured solar disk structure as well as the prominences.

Steve Wainwright

Solar Prominences back to normal

sjwastronomer — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 15:37:32 +0000

Using a DMK21 camera fitted with a short nosepiece and the lens assembly from a Cemax 2x Barlow, a PST H-alpha solar scope was used to obtain these images. They have been colourised to represent the wavelength of light being used:

There was little activity on the solar disk with just a few small prominences on the limb.

A hand-held afocal image was taken with a Fujifilm F-450 compact camera in B/W mode. The image has been colourised after levels ajustments and unsharp masking in The Gimp to represent the red of H-alpha:

Filaments and surface granulation structure can be seen in this image. This shows that even simple equipment can be used to record images.

Huge Eruptive Prominence

sjwastronomer — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 11:48:07 +0000

Between 8-35 and 8-44am UT I imaged an enormous eruptive prominence that was about a quarter of the diameter of the Sun in size.
Within an hour it had largely dissipated.
I used a DMK21 camera fitted with a short nosepiece and the lens assembly from a Coronado Cemax x2 Barlow and a H-alpha PST solar scope:

Eruptive prominence

Here is the same image colourised to represent the wavelength of light being observed:

A simple compact Fujifilm F-450 compact camera in B/W mode was able to capture the prominence with an afocal shot through a 15mm eyepiece:

A virtual occultation disk has been placed over the Sun in the right hand image to facilitate viewing the prominence which is fainter than the disk of the Sun.

Hedgerow prominences with associated filaments

sjwastronomer — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 19:26:46 +0000

I used a x2 Barlow with the DMK camera and a H-alpha PST solar scope to capture this image of a hedgerow prominence.

The
image comprised 3000 frames exposed for the prominence stacked in
Registax and 2000 frames exposed to show the disk, stacked in registax
and combined to form a single image with Andrew Sprott’s Solar Layers
software.

This is the same prominence but the camera used was a ToUCam Pro webcam:

In both images filaments can be seen snaking towards the limb where they become prominences.

Solar Image in H-alpha light with a 1/2″ chip monochrome Mintron Video camera

sjwastronomer — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 17:32:17 +0000

A MTV-22S85HC-EX monochrome 1/2″ chip Mintron camera was used with a x2 Barlow lens assembly and a H-alpha PST solar scope. Video was captured at shutter speeds to reveal the disk and also to reveal the prominences.
There were numbers of dark filaments as well as some prominences:

The two levels of exposure were combined and the image was colourised to indicate the colour of H-alpha light

Towering Prominences and fading sunspots April 2

sjwastronomer — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 16:08:18 +0000

A Towering Prominence dominated the northern limb of the Sun

AR1057 on the right towards the western limb and AR11059 near the centre of the disk in H-alpha light

The same area of the Sun imaged in Ca K-line light:

AR1059 has a large filament associated with it:

Coronado H-alpha and Ca K-line PST solar scopes were used in conjunction with a DMK camera.
The images have been colourised to indicate the wavelength of light used for imaging

AR1057 in Green Continuum light on March 26

sjwastronomer — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 20:36:15 +0000

Green light is in the middle of the visible spectrum and is a very stable region in which do white light imaging.
An
f/5 6″ refractor was fitted with a photo grade Baader solar filter (not
safe for eyepiece work) and the DMK camera was fitted with a Baader
green continuum filter and a x2 Barlow.
The best 3000 frames out of a total of 5000 were stacked in Registax to produce the final image.

AR1057 in Green Continuum light

The umbras and penumbras were very clear and there were a number of pores around the spots and granulation was clearly visible