Sun on a Bank Holiday Monday? Ha version

[DrRobin]

Hi,

Okay once in while it is wall to wall sunshine on a bank holiday and it certainly is here, not a cloud in the sky. I am off out for the afternoon, so just time to process a close up of the western limb from this mornings session, full disc to follow.

Lunt 60 DS, 2x barlow, DMK41, AS!2, Paint.net

Robin

False Colour

Inverted

Inverted false colour

[David Smith]

Impressive stuff. That vortex prominence is quite a sight.

[Iancovici]

So how do you see it through the telescope actually? As the first picture in black and white? Forgive me for the noob question, but I like to get the solar filter as well soon. I suppose there's no way to see it in the colour?

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Lovely images. During lunch I spotted that "acacia tree" prominence on the eastern limb as well. Quite a lot going on at the moment

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

So how do you see it through the telescope actually? As the first picture in black and white? Forgive me for the noob question, but I like to get the solar filter as well soon. I suppose there's no way to see it in the colour?

The image is bright red through the scope. You only need a monochrome camera because only one wavelength is passed by the etalon and blocking filter combination. Pseudo-colour is used to bring out more detail (and because it looks cool )

[Iancovici]

The image is bright red through the scope. You only need a monochrome camera because only one wavelength is passed by the etalon and blocking filter combination. Pseudo-colour is used to bring out more detail (and because it looks cool )

Oh great, thanks a lot!

@Robin, nice pics by the way.

[allcart]

So how do you see it through the telescope actually? As the first picture in black and white? Forgive me for the noob question, but I like to get the solar filter as well soon. I suppose there's no way to see it in the colour?

Its not a full disc, but this is is very near to what you will see through the scope.

AR1785 DMK41-120 DS HA by allcart2, on Flickr

[Psychobilly]

Just been grabbing a few video sequences myself but got a long way to go to get to this level of processing ... quite a bit going on today

Peter...

[AstroWolvy]

nice catch. that filament is 3d

[Steve Ward]

Lovely work sir , love those inverted versions ...

[Sarah]

Very nice Robin. I particularly like the inverted images. Lots of nice proms today, so looking forward to your full disc later!

Sarah

[Iancovici]

Its not a full disc, but this is is very near to what you will see through the scope.

Kewl, can't wait to get for me Celestron 70 the solar filter soon.

[DrRobin]

Thanks guys.

Lancovici, unfortunately you won't see all this detail with a white light filter, for that you need a Hydrogen Alpha solar scope. However, with a white light solar filter you will see sunspots and faculae, which are still very interesting. To see the features shown here you would need to buy something like a Coronado PST, or Lunt 35, but they are quite expensive, so most people start with a white light filter.

To the eye, through a white light filter, the sun still looks white as it contains all the spectrum, Red through to blue, so many people still add false colour to give a more natural image.

I also took some white light photos today using a ST-80 (80mm scope like yours) and a white light filter made from Baader solar film. I will process these and post to show you what you might see. I took one shot with a mono camera and another with a colour camera, there won't be that much difference.

Robin

[Luke]

Lovely work, Robin.

[Iancovici]

Thanks guys.

Lancovici, unfortunately you won't see all this detail with a white light filter, for that you need a Hydrogen Alpha solar scope. However, with a white light solar filter you will see sunspots and faculae, which are still very interesting. To see the features shown here you would need to buy something like a Coronado PST, or Lunt 35, but they are quite expensive, so most people start with a white light filter.

To the eye, through a white light filter, the sun still looks white as it contains all the spectrum, Red through to blue, so many people still add false colour to give a more natural image.

I also took some white light photos today using a ST-80 (80mm scope like yours) and a white light filter made from Baader solar film. I will process these and post to show you what you might see. I took one shot with a mono camera and another with a colour camera, there won't be that much difference.

Robin

Ah... thank you, teacher!

[DrRobin]

Hi,

Next the full disc in Ha. This is a 12 pane mosaic with a Lunt 60, DS, and 1.5x barlow. It seems the activity is confined to the southern hemisphere just at the moment.

Robin

False Colour

[DrRobin]

Hi,

Finally, the white light images.. Trying to image Neptune stopped play last night but finally got them processed and published.

Both pictures were taken with an ST-80 and Baader solar film. The first was taken at prime focus with a DMK41 (Mono) and the second was taken with a DFK31 (Colour) and a 0.8x focal reducer.

Apart from the loss of detail (the DFK31 has less pixels than the DMK41 and used a 0.8x FR to get it all in), there isn't much difference. You will note that there isn't much colour in the DFK picture, meaning that even with Baader film you are better off using a mono camera. By the way I made the mistake of trying to image with the DMK41 without an IR filter attached, needless to say the image was horrible. I did say it had been a while since I did white light.

Robin

DMK41 (Mono)

DFK31 (Colour)

[Iancovici]

Nice pics with ST80, but not so detailed as much as the other pics.

[DrRobin]

Thanks,

Yes, you only see the prominences, filaments and other surface features with a Hydrogen Alpha telescope. With Baader solar film you only see the sunspots and faculae and plage.

Robin

[Montana]

Superb work as always I'm glad I finally have an image like you in the double stack and I love the WLs too, very crisp is the mono

Don't you mean the eastern limb though?

Alexandra

[DrRobin]

Thanks Alexandra,

Superb that you actually got some sun on a weekend, even if you had to wait until bank holiday Monday. In fact if I was in power we would have every sunny Monday off work, that wouldn't be more than about 10 in a year and would solve the Monday morning traffic problem in an instant.

Here is a quick question for you. If I removed the blocking filter/diagonal from my Lunt so it just had the ERF and internal Etalon, would a Herschel wedge work for white light? The Etalon is a comb filter and should therefore have pass bands all the way across the spectrum.

And if this worked, would fitting a CaK diagonal also work? Again the Etalon should have one or more pass bands in the CaK wavelength?

You can see where I am going here, one telescope for three bands.

Robin

[Montana]

I have absolutely no idea and I certainly wouldn't view with your eyes! I'm guessing if it was that easy it would have been done before. I would still think you would need a blocking filter but in the CaK wavelength. It is cheaper to just buy a CaK filter?

Alexandra

[DrRobin]

The Herschel wedge has everything built in so doesn't need any other filters, just a refractor up to a certain size. I believe it is the same for the CaK filters? Not sure apart from Lunt who makes CaK filters now?

Robin

[Sarah]

Very nice full discs Robin, both the ha and white light.

Sarah