Good Friday Sun

[David Smith]

Well the forecast was pretty much spot on today, beautiful clear blue sunny skies all morning and broken cloud the rest of the day. I was out and setup by 8:45, didn't pack up until 1pm and then only because my better half told me we had to go out. Seeing was not the best but I would rather have that than the 100% cloud we have had the last few days.

First up - white light, the usual disks and then a couple of close-ups taken with the Evostar / QHY5-II mono / #56 & Neodymium filters.

Tried some H Alpha as the view through the PST was superb. The usual battle with sweet spot and newton rings left me with half a disk. I have got some more H Alpha data to play with but this looks like the best of it. My attempt to catch the prom was not successful.

And finally the Ca-K. Seeing was pretty poor so started out with just a 6 pane FD

Then managed to catch the prominence that I could see in H Alpha

Then I tried to do close-ups on the AR's and that's when the seeing decided enough was enough. However I swapped my usual 100mm mask for the Skywatcher supplied lens cap and removed the smaller cap giving me 50mm of aperture. This allowed me to go to 2000mm FL and still get a passable result.

Can't exactly call it a bad day when you get all the AR's in all three lights and get the prom in Ca-K. And that says nothing of the views directly through the scope which were; in moments of good seeing, superb.

Hope you all managed to get out and see some of the action. Maybe the forecast for the rest of the weekend will be wrong

[Freddie]

A nice set there David. I was out pretty much the same time as you so plenty to process later. Like you say, seeing wasn't exactly playing nice though.

[laudropb]

Lovely set David. Really like the prom in Ca-K.

[Knighty2112]

Nice shots. Was out earlier for around 15mins observing with my Baader filter through my 70mm 'frac. Only managed to see the two larger AR's on the disk. Never spotted the smaller one too. Well done!  

[xtreemchaos]

great set Dave, its clear tonight here,the carm before the storm me thinks. thanks for sharing,  charl.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Great collection. Nice new AR on the way in, just as the other is about to bow out

[DrRobin]

Nice set David, especially the CaK, which take the crown.

Robin

[Stu]

I agree Robin, the CaK images are lovely, and the best of a good set, especially given the seeing conditions. You don't see a CaK prom image everyday ??

I had  little while with the scope on and off today. Seeing generally pretty poor but still some nice views when it settled. The faculae around the new AR are very nice aren't they?

[Tyson M]

Wow. Stunning Cal K prom , a fine imaging session. 

[Davey-T]

Super stuff David, been missing my CaK fix

Dave

[Ewan]

Really nice set there Dave, you gotta be well chuffed mate.

Is that the Baader Cak filter or the Daystar one like a Quark ?

I am guessing the Baader but can you verify for me.

[David Smith]

Thanks all

@Ewan It's a Lunt B1200 Ca-K Diagonal

@Stu I think the faculae were actually more impressive at the eyepiece. Was nice to have the time to just sit and observe this time rather than the usual smash and grab imaging session!

[Stu]

16 minutes ago, David Smith said:

Thanks all

@Ewan It's a Lunt B1200 Ca-K Diagonal

@Stu I think the faculae were actually more impressive at the eyepiece. Was nice to have the time to just sit and observe this time rather than the usual smash and imaging session!

That's what I love about white light solar in particular, under good conditions the views are often better than produced by images. Glad you got some nice observing time in too.

[Ewan]

16 minutes ago, David Smith said:

Thanks all

@Ewan It's a Lunt B1200 Ca-K Diagonal

@Stu I think the faculae were actually more impressive at the eyepiece. Was nice to have the time to just sit and observe this time rather than the usual smash and imaging session!

Ah I see, it only goes upto scopes of 100mm so not suitable for my 152 then.

I know nowt about any of the CaK filters but with my eyes getting older all the time maybe the CALCIUM H-line QUARK would be an option but not just yet. Just funding an ISP at the moment.

Keep them coming Dave.

 

[David Smith]

Thanks Ewan. Not suitable for my 120 either until I made a 100mm mask for the front aperture. Calcium quarks look interesting don't they. ISP?

[sooot]

Very nice collection you have grabbed yourself 

[Pete Presland]

Nice set of images there, I don't think I have seen a Ca-K prom before.

[Ewan]

8 hours ago, David Smith said:

Thanks Ewan. Not suitable for my 120 either until I made a 100mm mask for the front aperture. Calcium quarks look interesting don't they. ISP?

Yes only took a quick look at the Daystar C filter the other day, not sure it's for me this year though.

ISP is a custom made to order rifle as me & our lad do target shooting.

[paulastro]

A lovely set of images Dave, I love the Ca-K.  Your PST image is in a different league to anything I every managed.

[David Smith]

Thanks Paul. Having the mono camera really makes a difference. I am sure I could improve my H Alpha imaging further but at the moment I am always keen to get to Ca-K if I can.