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27th March: Solar sketch & Observation


Qualia

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As most of you will know, there was a huge prominence in action this morning.

With a Baader Micro Guide I made a rough estimate that the main prominence was about 300,000 km in length with an estimated average height of between 160,000 km to 175,000km.

When I began the sketch, the main prominence was clearly rooted at two places along the limb forming a very bright arch at about 1 o'clock on the sketch, but by the time I had packed up it had become uprooted on the lower support and was clearly lifting and dissipating into the darkness of space. 

There was also another glorious prominence at about 3 o'clock on the solar limb. As you can see, it was significantly smaller but no less beautiful, like a burning bush. This was some 95,000 km in length, reaching to a maximum height of about 60,000 km.

The sketch was made using chalk on black paper and either brushed or smudged in with my little finger. Needless to say, the sketch is not a faithful rendition of the detail and complexity witnessed but more an interpretation of a very active and extemely fetching Sun this morning :smiley:

post-21324-0-99779000-1427490196_thumb.j

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Oh yes! It was THAT large. Lots of clouds around today but I was lucky enough to get a couple of reasonable glimpses.

Not at all surprised to learn 300,000 km - I did think 200,000 was understated. There was a detached wisp so far off the limb I didn't even see it at all at first. Only when moving around the FOV did I pick it up.

Wonderful. Simply wonderful.

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Solar_Observer: I'm a bit out of practice with the Micro Guide, so will need to work on it again. If you fancied understanding the kind of thing it can do, you might find this link of use.

Dave, I'd say from start to finish the sketch will take a good hour. I've had a look about the web, but so far can't find anything to show me how I might be able to do h-alpha with the chalks. As such, it's pretty much a game of improvisation.

It takes a while to blend in the disc, trying to get that 'orange peel' effect. As you can see from the sketch above, I'm experimenting with different colours, perhaps a bit of yellow, then a smear of red, then a smidge of blue etc.

The prominences are like complex nebulae, so rather than attempting to sketch them accurately which I am incapable of doing, I dab a brush into chalk dust and touch them in. The filaments and sun spots are the easier bits. I rub away the chalk with a blending stub to reveal the black paper for the sunspots, and a lighter use of the blending stub to aim for the most prominent filaments.

Needless to say, this is not the work of an artist, nor of one with any kind of training at all. I can't for the life of me draw. I say this not to blow my own trumpet, but hopefully to inspire others to try their hand as well.

Anyone can do it.

Sketching really does slow down the eye. It helps train one to see better. Moreover, it helps relax the body and you have a nice record of what you've seen. There's a kind of zen thing going on which I think is very conducive in countering this topsy turvy, get up and go world  :grin:   

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Lets hope so Rob :smiley: I for one am really looking forward to the summer sunshine. I am even contemplating buying a camper van so I can follow the sunshine at weekends :laugh:

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The company I work for has offered me a 1 year secondment in Spain Rob and I may well take them up on it. If not a nice little excursion around the Med sounds ideal :grin:

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