Sun - December 4th HAlpha

[paulastro]

Out from 9.05am until 9.55am before the cloud closed in - now 100% cloud, rain and high winds on the way.

Took some snaps with Lunt 60mm DS and single frames using Olympus E-M5.  Difficult to obtain a cloud view disk and the pic  attached was taken at 9.51am.  A few nice proms - better than the pic would indicate!

[Montana]

It was a beautiful morning and looks like the Sun was too :)  

Alexandra

[David Smith]

Nicely done Paul. It was clear here at that time too but there are too many trees and other obstacles blocking my view now.

[Pete Presland]

Agreed there was a couple of very nice proms this morning. That is a very nice single frame good going to get anything this time of the year.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice one

[laudropb]

Very nice image. Still no sign of any Sun here

[philj]

Very nice Paul. I managed a look thro some misty cloud and thats the 1st time in a month. Im impressed with the image from the em5. I have an em10 so must give it a gi sometime

[Davey-T]

Good catch Paul, nearly got a picture today but clouds over the Sun in the short imaging window at this time of year, otherwise nice sunny day but looks like it's clouding over just as it gets dark enough for night time imaging.

Dave

[paulastro]

Many thanks for your kind comments.  I must admit it's hard work with the Sun so low.

Phil,  when I first tried out the E-M5 for HAlpa I struggled to find a setting that would give any detail at all.  The eureka moment was when I put it in monochrome mode, and then chose the red filter option - out popped the detail straight away.    There are also some other useful settings in the mono mode you can play around with.  I think the E-M10 has the same options in mono mode.

[philj]

Thanks for the tip Paul. I tried awhile back with my 1000d and found the same as you re detail, just couldnt get any surface detail, never thought to go mono. Will definitely try with the em10 and have a play

[philj]

Well I managed a try out with the EM10 on the Lunt yesterday and followed your tip Paul re mono and was quite impressed. Took some focusing and getting exposure right, had to have a coat over my head and the EM10 screen to see anything. Heres my effort, not much but it shows promise for when conditions improve

[paulastro]

That's all looking very promising Phil.  I always use a black cloth myself, for visual and taking pics.  I actually find it easier to use the viewfinder to focus as I find it easier.  The exposure range I use is from 1/15 to 1/125 using 1000asa.  I also find it's easier to fucus at the higher speeds when the viewfinder is a bit darker.

[philj]

Cheers Paul. I must admit I forgot to select red filter as per your tip, I only picked mono. Will try that as well next time

Oh this was a stack of 20 subs taken in raw then converted to tiff and stacked in Registax,

[paulastro]

Thanks for the information Phil.