First light, H-beta

[solarastro]

Hi Everyone,

I own a H-beta filter from Daystar and got to use it for the first time today.

It was windy and light haze effected the observation at times as well as the tree at the start. Periods of good seeing this Sunday at 1045UT.

The detail on the surface is very good the filaments are well seen and there is a mottled effect over the whole surface of the Sun. The plages are much harder to see the ones I did see where good but I did struggle to see them. The Sunspots are clearly visable, on a height focus you see structure clearly linked to them during good seeing.

Prominences are so easy to see, even with very height power. They show so much structure and are very bright, overall they are just so great to see in this wavelenght.

The Sun is so very bright at the start of observation so it takes about 2-3 minutes for me to see anything then it was just there and very good.

Regards,

Anthony

[E621Keith]

I never realise people make H-beta filter for solar observations. I'd love to see what that looks like and how it compares to h-alpha and CaK?

I guess cyan will be easier for the eye than deep red or deep violet.

[solarastro]

Yes it is easier to see H-beta than the H-alpha and Ca-k. The Ca-k is right on the end of the visual spectrum. I can not see Sun in Ca-k thats one reason I got the Ca-h line I can see that visually. The H-beta shows detail similar to H-alpha, they do not show up as very dark I saw the filaments as a gray colour. Prominences are a lot brighter and show a lot of detail than in H-alpha. This is the first I have used the filter so as time goes on I will tell a little more about what I can see.

Anthony.

[Ags]

I understand that the k line should never be observed visually, its only for imaging. You're basically staring at pure near-UV which isn't good for the eyes.

[Merlin66]

Ags,

The amount of UV that actually gets through a CaK filter is minimal....

If you're eyes are young enough, enjoy the view...BoF like me can only image and even then with modded DSLR's or CCD's.

[E621Keith]

Just out of curiosity, I hope you won't mind if I ask how much did the H-b filter cost?

Daystar makes several solar filters in uncommon wavelength (Ca-H, Na-D), but they are all VERY expensive. I guess it will be a few decades before these trickle down to more wallet friendly instruments.

I can't wait to see some images taken through your set up.

[solarastro]

If you look here you will see what Ca-H looks like there is one picture there HydrogenAlpha.com - the finest solar imagery on the web .

If you look at Daystar picture gallery you will see the picture taken by Jen Winter there are picturs taken in H-Beta

Anthony.

[solarastro]

Hi E621Keith,

Unsure the cost of the H-Beta will be as comes on to the market for all astronomers. For that reason I feel I should not state how much I spent, sorry.

I looked at the Na-D but wanted to see plages, the Na-D is best for detailed granulation, supergranulation and P-modes observations. That from Daystars website.

I own the Ca-H filter as well, it is a great filter to use. Yes they cost a lot I would like a helium filter but that is very, very, costly($12,000-$15,500). If you search for moonlight observatory it has a few pictures in the Ca-H wavelenght.

My images will start in May I will get a new mount and a camera and start imaging then.

Anthony.