The Sun - 20th May 2020

[David Smith]

Lovely clear blue skies this morning and some awesome steady seeing visually when I first got out. White light disk was absolutely rock-steady allowing views right down to the 7.2mm stop on my zoom eyepiece. Something inexplicably beautiful about a clean, steady white light disk. Just a little faculae and the occasional darker area of granulation but I spent quite a bit of time just soaking up the views. When I did get around to imaging the seeing seemed to drop off a little bit but there were still good periods allowing me to grab some half-decent images.

My only white light capture was this granulation shot. I did try to shoot the faculae but it did not come out well at all. Worth checking out the full size versions of these.

Wider (uncropped) mono version

Then moved on to Ca-K. Disk showing some nice plage areas, one aligned with the faculae seen in white light. Some good proms on show as well.

6 Pane Full disk shot @1000mm focal length. Still experimenting with this tone curve manipulation and presentation.

Close ups of the proms, shot binned 2x2 to increase contrast and keep exposure times short. Not the best as seeing was running away like it was being chased by a T-Rex that hadn't eaten for a week

Close ups of plage areas shot @2500mm using the Revelation 2.5x barlow. Seeing had really deteriorated by now

 

[Altocumulus]

Good ones.

We have sun, too, but it's veiled in a layer of cirrostratus, with me and stratocumulus below.

 

Which camera?

[Stu]

Great shots Dave! I do love a bit of CaK, just wish it worked for visual too.

When seeing is good, you can beat the views of granulation even when there is little else to see.

[David Smith]

26 minutes ago, Altocumulus said:

Good ones.

We have sun, too, but it's veiled in a layer of cirrostratus, with me and stratocumulus below.

 

Which camera?

Thanks!

You live in Scotland, you should be used to perma-cloud

All shot with the ZWO ASI178MM

Edited May 20, 2020 by David Smith

[David Smith]

17 minutes ago, Stu said:

Great shots Dave! I do love a bit of CaK, just wish it worked for visual too.

When seeing is good, you can beat the views of granulation even when there is little else to see.

Thanks Stu.

Yeah, being able to see Ca-K visually would be awesome. I could move to a Quark which apparently is better visually than the Lunt (although a slightly different wavelength) but I'm not keen to drop a grand or more on something which at best will see occasional use.

[MarkAR]

Super set of images, well done.

[AdeKing]

2 hours ago, David Smith said:

Close ups of the proms, shot binned 2x2 to increase contrast and keep exposure times short. Not the best as seeing was running away like it was being chased by a T-Rex that hadn't eaten for a week

I have visions of @John recently acquired T-Rex mount giving chase now, that's brightened my day.

On a serious note, those are fantastic images Dave, like Stu I really enjoy Ca-K images and also wish it worked for visual.

[Altocumulus]

Oi!

[richard ashbee]

great photos, no sun for us in Shetland just fog

[Pete Presland]

Very nice.