Question when looking at the sun.

[Canter_Zac13]

I have a solar filter for my telescope and I looked at the sun through it the other day and I couldn't see any sunspots. Do you have to have a special eyepiece to look at sunspots or use an eyepiece filter? Help if you can!

[Mr Spock]

Don't use an eyepiece filter - they are dangerous!!!  The glass can crack exposing your eye to the full power of the sun leading to loss of sight.

You are doing nothing wrong with a proper filter for the objective lens. Sunspot activity is quite low at the moment so it's possible you may not see any.

[Marci]

Nope - solar filter is only requirement. Probably cos there aren't any at the moment.  Cross reference against daily photos from the Solar Imagers: https://stargazerslounge.com/forum/92-imaging-solar/

[Canter_Zac13]

Okie, thank you!

 

[xtreemchaos]

we havnt had any sunspots that's easy to see for a while, theres been the odd pore but thay take a lot of finding. have a look at this site https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/ and it will show you if there is any.  charl.

[alanjgreen]

Use this website to see what the sun is currently doing, it has a checkbox for active regions. This is where you would find the sunspots BUT the sun has been napping for the last 2 months :(

 

https://www.helioviewer.org/

[Canter_Zac13]

I saw some stuff on the sun when I looked through it but nothing major. You are right about not a lot of sunspots...kind of disappointing.

 

[Canter_Zac13]

Well, the sun needs to wake up...I know its tired from all the years of working hard but, I want to see some sunspots!

[alanjgreen]

the good thing about helioviewer is that you can enter a date of your choice, try changing the date to inside the range Jan-2014 to April 2014 (solar maximum) to see what the sun can really do

 

there's plenty of life in the old "sun" yet!

 

[Canter_Zac13]

Oh ok, I will do that! Yeah, I guess it does need a rest! Got a long life ahead of it!

 

[Moonshane]

Here are my last two white light sketches and one from a while ago with more or less the same kit