H-alpha Observing Guide

[Rhushikesh-Canisminor]

Hello!

So few days ago I received my Lunt50mm single stack H-alpha Telescope and I am really loving it.It is for visual purpose only.

However I am still not able to observe all the possible things through it. Most of the time I am seeing prominances, filaments and a sun spot here and there. But nothing much beyond that. I searched online about it but the information that I received was quite confusing. For e.g. how to differentiate between a flare and a plage, what things should I see around a sun spot etc.

If anyone can help me about it, it will be really helpful as I can make my outreach events better.

It's more like if I am presented with a full disk view of the sun with 50x magnification then I should be able to properly say that this is prominance,this is filament, this is spicule etc.

Sorry if it's a really dumb question. Thanks!

[ollypenrice]

Although I don't know this particular title there are observing guides to the sun. https://www.amazon.fr/Observing-Sun-Pocket-Field-Guide-ebook/dp/B00E3BS52C/ref=sr_1_1?s=english-books&ie=UTF8&qid=1479642559&sr=1-1&keywords=observing+sun

Olly

[Mark at Beaufort]

Hello have a read of this - http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org/resources/solar-observing/observing-the-sun-in-h-alpha/

[Peter Drew]

To get you started, beginning with an active full disc at 50x you could see the following. At the perimeter of the disc there would likely to be some flame like projections, these would be prominences, dark snake like features on the disc are also prominences but as they are fainter than the surface they show up darker and are termed filaments. Brighter than the general surface patches are plages and flares are super bright areas appearing near white or golden and are usually short lived. Spicules are the crests and troughs of the overall solar surface seen edge on at the perimeter, these can be difficult to see with small apertures unless the seeing is excellent. Sunspots are not as well seen in Ha as in white light as Ha is visible at a different layer in the Sun's atmosphere, detuning the telescopes etalon will improve the detail on sunspots.   

[Owmuchonomy]

Following on from Peter's post I wonder which Lunt50 version you have purchased.  Does it have the pressure tuner or maybe a tilt tuner/adjuster?

[jabeoo1]

3 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

Although I don't know this particular title there are observing guides to the sun. https://www.amazon.fr/Observing-Sun-Pocket-Field-Guide-ebook/dp/B00E3BS52C/ref=sr_1_1?s=english-books&ie=UTF8&qid=1479642559&sr=1-1&keywords=observing+sun

Olly

I use this one, its a really excellent book.  Well worth it. 

[Pete Presland]

8 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

Although I don't know this particular title there are observing guides to the sun. https://www.amazon.fr/Observing-Sun-Pocket-Field-Guide-ebook/dp/B00E3BS52C/ref=sr_1_1?s=english-books&ie=UTF8&qid=1479642559&sr=1-1&keywords=observing+sun

Olly

I own this book, It is a very good read. plenty of detail on the workings of the sun and description of the features. 

[Rhushikesh-Canisminor]

Thanks a lot everyone!!!

@Owmuchonomy It is with pressure  tuner.  Exact details of the scope are : LS50mm f/7 H-alpha with pressure tuner and B600 blocking filter. I am using it with Skywatcher az3 mount.

 

I got confused with observing because recently I was looking at Astronomical  League H-alpha observation programme and it had so many things to be observed. Also, for the first time after getting the scope we had excellent skies here so I had another 'whoa!' reaction. So I realized that I am not properly observing all possible things.