Real detail or an artifact...

[Ant]

I haven't done any astronomy for years really. 

I made a huge mistake in selling my kit a few years ago (including a PST), and then buying more, then not getting on with it so selling it. 

I've recently (in the last week or so) bought a DayStar Solar Scout SS60-DS 60mm. I've always been an imager rather than an observer so i only really have the real cheapo 10/25mm EPs that come with the SW scopes. I set the scope up and allowed time warm up / cool down / do its stuff. 

The disc size was pretty impressive compared to the PST, but I could see no detail on the disc, or any proms. To be honest I've never really been able to see much visually with Ha scopes, so that didn't bother me too much. 

Something else that I have to give credit to is the mount, what a clever piece of kit. Put it on the ground, press the on button and within about a minute it had gone off and placed the Sun in the Field of View of the scope. Seriously one of the easiest thing I've ever done! 

Any way I spent some time playing with the settings on the scope and managed to focus OK using an old 8bit DMK21, but never managed to see on the screen any surface detail or proms. This was the first time out with the scope so I'm not overly concerned as I never achieve much the first time out. 

My question is... on the image below (ignoring the two rather large dust bunnies towards the left) is the disc detail real? Or an artifact of the stacking/processing? And finally is that a little hedgerow prom on the right? I'm not so sure... 

 

Thanks

Ant

[Altocumulus]

I find GONG helps... http://halpha.nso.edu/index.html

That's if the cameras are aligned in similar fashion!

 

[Pete Presland]

I think the surface detail is definitely real, the "hedgerow prom" probably artifact. Nice start though with your new scope.

[Stu]

I would agree, the surface detail certainly looks real. The prom looks odd so likely an artifact but would have to check on previous online images to be sure.

Good to see you back out there!

[Davey-T]

Surface detail is real. there was a prom at about the two o'clock position with the Sun the right way up.

Dave

[Ant]

Thanks Guys, Its reassuring to know that I at least managed some surface detail. 

I was a little worried that I should have seen some surface detail when viewing the feed live in IC Capture, i couldn't see anything. Using a scope for the first time and seeing nothing, does worry me a little.

At least next time, I can spend more time scanning the surface for potential detail than worrying about it being "on band" or not - solar minimum... awesome time to start solar imaging with new kit lol

Ant

[barkis]

A quote from an article on the sun.

"The grainy appearance of the Solar Photosphere is produced by the tops of these convective cells, and is called
Granulation.. A typical Granule has a diameter of 1500 Kilometres, and lasts 8 to 20 minutes before dissipating.
At any one time, the Sun's surface is covered by 4 Million Granules."
 

So safe to say you have caught a whole lot of detail Ant.🙂
Ron.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 8, 2020 by barkis

[Highburymark]

Good to see some feedback on how the Solar Scout performs. Its rock bottom price raised a few eyebrows on release but very few reports have surfaced since.  Based on a Quark but using a smaller etalon, as far as I understand it, it seems to be a better imaging scope than visual. Looks like you’ve picked up some nice detail.

[Ant]

Thanks Ron,

 

14 hours ago, Highburymark said:

Good to see some feedback on how the Solar Scout performs. Its rock bottom price raised a few eyebrows on release but very few reports have surfaced since.  Based on a Quark but using a smaller etalon, as far as I understand it, it seems to be a better imaging scope than visual. Looks like you’ve picked up some nice detail.

I was only mildly concerned that visually I could see no detail whatsoever. Once I threw in the camera, I still couldn't see any surface features - even with the PST I usually could. But there is squat all activity right now - so maybe that's it.

 

I'll be trying again when the mood takes me (Shhh don't tell anyone, but I imaged the moon last night too). 

At  

[Merlin66]

With smaller apertures the granulation (generally <one arc sec) is not visible.

what can be seen is Supergranulation cells which are much bigger.

 

[richard ashbee]

I am looking to get the Solar Scout, can you recommend any camera? and what type of image it will give Full or part disk. Also some people talk about having an UV/IR filter do you have one and does it make a difference? - many thanks.

 

Also any more images, keen to seem more

[Luke]

For me, the surface detail looks real, the prom is hard to tell. I have seen stacking software produce some prom-like artifacts, though I think it was usually when the sun was drifting quite a bit over the chip.

Nice to see you getting back to astronomy. I've sort of had a few years off too and hope the sun waking up will help fire up the enthusiasm again!