First shot at the Sun

[Marky1973]

It feels like it has been about 40 years since I looked at any stars so, with the sun bright and the kids happily roller-skating, I thought I'd try my hand at the sun. I've observed in a few times and during the eclipse last year, but not tried imaging. So got the ED80 onto the NEQ6 and slipped my ZWOASI120MM in and shot some 60 second videos. I also added a 2.25x barlow and got the two posted images. These were taken with a home made Baader White Light filter.

A number of the videos were over exposed in places - I struggled to see the laptop screen in the bright sunshine - I didn't really prepare myself for the conditions and the cardboard box I was holding above my head wasn't effective as it could have been.

Anyhoo, I am quite happy with them for a first go - another skill to play around with and attempt to master. I simply ran the AVIs through PiPP, then AS2 and the Wavelets in Registax.

One thing I did notice is that one of the video (that I never ended up processing) just wouldn't run through PIPP even with SOLAR/LUNAR CLOSEUP checked on the SOURCE FILES page, FRAME STABILISATION Mode set to Surface Feature and a suitable target are selected on the review image. PiPP just seemed to keep rejecting all the frames. Is this just an occupational hazard with PIPP and Solar Imaging where there are fewer features to align/stack, or are there some other settings somewhere, that I have missed.

Cheers, Mark

ASI120MM Alone

ASI120MM + 2.25x Barlow

[Stu]

They've come out pretty well for a first attempt Mark, nice one.

[dazzaa1966]

Fantastic first attempt. 

[Marky1973]

Thanks, both.

[Davey-T]

Super first solar image Mark, just in time while there's still something to see 

I find that PIPP is sometimes not too keen on processing my over exposed prom images, it doesn't seem to like the maxed out pixels, was yours very over exposed ?

Dave

[Marky1973]

Thanks Dave. I don' think they were over-exposed, although, looking at the AVIs again, they might have been towards the centre of the sun in comparison to the edge - and the image was boiling quite badly, so perhaps it was just bad luck with a couple of them!

[cshahar]

This is really impressive. You captured quite a bit of detail Mark!

-Charles

[Marky1973]

Thanks Charles - probably more luck than judgment, but I'll take success wherever I can get it! :-)

The little ZWO camera is very impressive, even in the hands of a novice, I imagine the newer models are just getting better and better.

[Pete Presland]

A superb start to your solar imaging, plenty of detail captured!

[laudropb]

Very nice first solar images.

[Marky1973]

Cheers, both!

[xtreemchaos]

those are outstanding first shots Mark, you would think you have been doing it for years mate. well done and welcome to the lightside, i look forward to your next images.

thanks, charl.

[Marky1973]

1 hour ago, xtreemchaos said:

those are outstanding first shots Mark, you would think you have been doing it for years mate. well done and welcome to the lightside, i look forward to your next images.

thanks, charl.

Thanks Charl, much appreciated - just don't encourage me, or I'll be adding a PST to the list of wants.... :-) 

[paulastro]

Lovely detail, are you sure it's your first time? 

[Marky1973]

Well, not my first time with the equipment, but first time with the sun/video.... beginner's luck - I suspect I will end up taking another year to recreate the success!!! ;-)

[David Smith]

Great images.

[Marky1973]

Thanks David.