AdeKing

Unfortunately we're all clouded out in Bridport where I am today so I've got no chance of seeing anything 😞. Nice to know what's going on up there though. Ade

There was a lovely prom visible through the Coronado PST at about the one o'clock position at about 10:30 this morning. I didn't see any of these proms though.

Clouded out down here in Poole too , keeping my fingers crossed for later. Ade

Super sequence of sketches Shane, they really show how it's evolved. I pulled a video off Helioviewer earlier today to see how it's changed as I've not has the chance to view and sketch it this week. Thanks for sharing, Ade

Thanks for getting it back up and running Mel. Its an excellent resource and I've missed it since its been gone as the Wayback Machine hasn't done a particularly good job of archiving it. Regards, Ade

Nice capture Charl. I caught this just before I left for work this morning, its the first prom that I've managed to see with a Coronado PST that I've borrowed from my local astro group, so I was well pleased. Found it easy to see with a 32mm plossl, but it vanished when I swapped for a 12mm which I assume is down to seeing conditions as there was quite a bit of light hazy cloud. Thats definitely what I saw, though in nowhere as much detail. Thanks for sharing, Ade

I managed to get a peek at this through a borrowed Coronado PST as the sun rose over the neighbours roof this morning. My view of the prom was nowhere as clear as your image though, nice capture. Ade

I'm rather envious Charl, this AR is looking great but I've been unable to do any viewing due to work hours. I'm really hoping for clear skies or at least clear patches over the weekend. Great images as always by the way. Ade

Helioviewer.org is showing something visible in white light on the oncoming limb at just above the 9 o'clock position. There are some links to nice animations of the activity on the right hand side of Helioviewer as well.

PM sent.

I'm afraid that I don't have one to spare, but if you're desperate an M10 threaded rod with a couple of large repair washers and M10 wing nuts will do a satisfactory job.

PM sent about 2" extension tubes

Mark - I have in the past imported small and relatively cheap items from the US in order to get a better deal. I was also tempted to do this when I got seriously into photography as the Canon gear was much more attractively priced on the other side of the pond. However, a friend of mine did just that and then faced high repair bills, when the shutter unit failed within the warranty period. Because it was a grey import from the US Canon wouldn't honour the warranty in the UK and so he had to fork out from his own pocket. Even after the repair, it still worked out marginally cheaper than buying it here, but I decided that I'd rather have UK support for expensive items. Regarding the wedge, in the end I opted for the 2" Lacerta version that John has shown above. Although I only use 1.25" eyepieces and a 2" to 1.25" reducer it gives me the opportunity to upgrade to a larger diameter Frac without having to upgrade the wedge as it shouldn't suffer from overheating and was much more affordable at only about £40 more than the 1.25" Lunt, and I'm chuffed to bits with it . I still cannot really understand the £233 price difference between the 1.25" and 2" Lunt when its only a $70 difference in the US though. But I guess that at the end of the day it is a fairly specialist piece of optical equipment that not every astronomer will want or even think about purchasing resulting in far fewer 2" wedges being imported so the economies of scale are smaller.

I viewed this in white light yesterday morning (10:00) and got some cracking views, and what looked like the start of a light bridge across the umbra of the main spot and the second small spot to the north-east(?) was clearly visible, though the seeing came and went as others have commented. I looked again at about 18:00 and could see no trace of the small second spot. This is why I'm enjoying Solar, things change so quickly. Ade

PM sent. Ade