My humble attempt at todays sun

[spaceboy]

Hi All

I have been able to get a lot more solar observing in now I have a dedicated and simple solar set up. Over the past few days the white light views have been great (when skies permit). I thought I would share todays A-Focal efforts of the huge sun spots. No where near as good as other members images but I'm still happy to have something to look back on.

IMAGE: The image is a single A-focal 3 MP digital camera frame with contrast, brightness, hue and saturation adjusted in PS to try and compensate for the pee poor optics of the barlow.

SET UP: Meade 26 mm super plossl, SW standard 2x barlow, Celestron 60 mm SLT Refractor, Totally rubbish Celestron AZ mount, Baader solar film and Fuji Compact digital camera.

SPACEBOY

[g0ibi]

Good clear picture, well done!

[spaceboy]

Thank you g0ibi. Have you had much chance to get any solar observing in? The trouble I found is often in white light nothing is going on so I was reluctant to go through the hassle of setting up. Now I have such a simple setup I am out 4 or 5 times a day.

I had another go this morning 31st July 2011. Was surprised to see that not much had changed from yesterday in the way of sun spots and position. Again the same A-Focal kit as yesterday but had ago with my Tal Plossls to try and get more detail with magnification. Not as impressive as Ha but still more impressive than some of the tiny sun spots I've seen.

[markt]

They're very good images! You should be pleased

[Bizibilder]

Good images and well focussed - well done!

[spaceboy]

Thanks for the support guys. I think the focus could probably be better but it's hard to make out anything on the small camera screen in the glare of direct sun light. As I only have a Mickey Mouse set up I'm wasn't expecting anything mind blowing in detail so I'm happy with the results given all the kit was once destined to be sat in a corner never to be used.

[Adz]

I like it, great set of images from the set up. Nice focus, I really want to try this sometime

[spaceboy]

Thanks Adam. All the gear I used was surplus to requirement but I have been using this set up more than most my other stuff lately. Only problem is I keep on getting sun burnt. Not bad if I'd get a bronze tan from it that impresses all the ladies but I just go red, suffer the pain for days, peel and then back to white

[Adz]

Thanks Adam. All the gear I used was surplus to requirement but I have been using this set up more than most my other stuff lately. Only problem is I keep on getting sun burnt. Not bad if I'd get a bronze tan from it that impresses all the ladies but I just go red, suffer the pain for days, peel and then back to white

Ha, sounds like my recent adventures on holiday in Cornwall

[Photosbykev]

Good effort with the equipment used You might like to try taking a number of single images and then pushing the image stack through Registax to get more detail from the images.

If you are getting sun burnt you are definitely doing it wrong, you should be buried under a black cloth lol

[Damo636]

Great job Spaceboy. I had the Sol-Vue out for a test drive earlier today for the first time. I had some great views and would love to have a go at capturing it on camera. Is there some sort of adapter i need to attach the camera to the eyepiece? I don't own a Barlow but i do have a rather ancient 4mp Cybershot compact that it is capable of decent shots.

[spaceboy]

I have a simple thing from scope'n'skies Astro Engineering PH047 Ultra Afocal Digital Camera Support that clamps to the ep but it's not something you would use on anything other than cheap ep's. I think baader do a more respectable clamp but cheap it's not First Light Optics - Baader Microstage Clickstop digital camera adapter

If you have cheap ep's you can use then take a look in astroboot as there are usually some like mine going cheap in there. Of course there is always a webcam but to capture the whole sun will involve a great deal of work stitching several images together. OK if in HA with plenty of detail going on but some what pointless in white light I would think.

[Damo636]

Thanks for the links. The Baader job definately looks the sturdier affair.

[spaceboy]

The Baader job definately looks the sturdier affair.

Even so I would still pop on astroboot for a couple of cheap ep's. You wouldn't catch me clamping anything other than my eye to my TV's so I would't advise anyone else to either.

[spaceboy]

Sorry to drag this thread out using the same images but there has not been a great deal going on in white light and I have seen other threads adding a little colour to the image so in my boredom thought I would have a go.

[RogerTheDodger]

The colour really improves it.

[smerral]

I like it - nice natural colour.

[spaceboy]

Thanks guys! Looks like this is the way to go in the future

[AndyH]

Nothing to be humble about !!

Very nice pics.

Andy.

[Bizibilder]

I like the subtle colour that you have used - I have been colourising my own images with an orange hue as it seems to improve the contrast quite a bit over the "true" white colour which seems a bit "washed out" to me. I did dither about for a while as colourising is "false" but in the end the improved contrast seemed to win the day.

[spaceboy]

I did dither about for a while as colourising is "false" but in the end the improved contrast seemed to win the day.

This is why I originally went with the captured images as they are. White light is the suns natural "colour" so it seemed odd to add a false colour to the image but a lot of other members have done it and I have to admit it is a lot more pleasing to the eye. Lately I have been using a stacked #11 & #12 filter for visual observing and it has made no end of difference. It has a lot more contrast at higher magnifications than with out the filters and an orange peel effect is just visible over the surface at lower magnifications. The image doesn't seem to have so much glare either so I can spend a lot more time searching for subtle details.

[MjrTom]

A very nice image Nick, Its great fun to have a go at this with simple kit that you have to hand