May 1, 2013: Lots of stuff in white light and H-alpha

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Yesterday I was visiting a friend of mine and her kids in IJsselstein, near Utrecht in the Netherlands, and given the magnificent weather I put the solar scopes in the car, along with the new portable alt-az mount I have been building. Around mid-day, I had a peek at the sun with my 80mm APM with Herschel wedge, followed by a look with the Lunt LS35 in H-alpha. In white light, the sun was littered with spots of all sizes. Two massive spots were visible southwards, fairly close to the eastern limb. Two distinct bands of spots could be made out. In the northern band, just west of centre a large active region with loads of small spots showed up. On the western side of the southern band of spots, an AR consisting of a single spot showed some very clear faculae around it. The views in the XW7 were amazing, very crisp indeed.

Turning to H-alpha, a load of detail was visible. The two massive sunspots on the eastern side were clearly visible in H-alpha as well. By contrast, the large collection of small spots west of centre in the northern belt of spots showed up in H-alpha as an elongated area of intricate bright filamentous detail, extending well beyond the area covered in spots. Several prominences were visible, but most were put to shame by a huge looping prom, showing up as a thick arc of plasma on the northeastern limb. Awesome sight!

One of the fun parts was that all the kids (hers and ours) joined in, and my friend and even the missus were impressed. The new mount held up well, too, so all-round success

[jkwhinfrey]

Great report Michael.

I'm in possession of a borrowed PST at the moment, and it looks like I timed it right. Yesterday was brilliant!

I wanted to get some practice with the PST before taking it to a country fair with my local Astro society later this month - I hope Sol keeps it up, and the skies remain clear. I did this event last year, and it's great the reaction the H-alpha sun gets with non-astronomers.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Thanks, James. It is really looking good at the moment. Much more active than I have seen it in a very long time.

[Galilean]

I have a double stack etalon on the way for my PST - I will tell all how it goes.