AR12804 looking good 27th Feb 2021

[Stu]

After yesterday’s poor seeing, I gave it another go today with much better results. AR12804 is looking very nice, surrounded by faculae, a trail of smaller pores and spots and good petal like structure in the penumbra.

AR12805 could be seen as a lovely area of faculae, and even 12803 was detectable as one very small spot which seems to get a little easier to see as the morning progressed. The seeing has actually improved here since 9am, and the granulation is quite striking at times, not the best I’ve seen it but quite clear.

Whilst taking the smartphone shot and some video, I switch back to the Leica zoom from binoviewers and was reminded of just how much better the detail is with binoviewers!

Third and second last image are from yesterday for reference. All are single frames, processed on my phone with PS Express. Green image is unprocessed for reference. Yesterday’s were handheld through the binoviewer, today’s was using a barlowed Leica zoom and NeXYZ mount.

Well worth a look. May even put the PST mod out later, but am enjoying white light currently.

[Telescope40]

Hello Stu. Yes. I got a session in yesterday afternoon on 12804.  Think was the best sunspot group I’ve actually got a scope view of in a very long time. First proper go with a 2in Altair HW I got before Xmas did help but it’s been slim pickings. Best view I found was with my Neo filter. Nicely developed group with lots to weigh up. Nice pics you’ve caught. 
John 

[RobertI]

Nice report and nice smart phone pics Stu. I've also just been out for some white light solar - this time using my binoviewers and 102ED-R. Unfortunately I couldn't reach focus with the 1.6x GPC (57x mag) and Herschel Wedge, so had to go for the barlow which give around 175x - far too much mag, or so I thought. I homed in on the only feature visible (12804) and was completely blown away by what I saw - the amount of detail was way more than I was expecting, with structure visible in and around the penumbra of the main spot and lots of bright areas (faculae? ....sorry, I'm a bit of a solar novice!). Once again the binoviewers proving their worth. Hopefully a lot more solar to come this summer. I did discover one downside of observing during the day - the birds seem to love to 'aim' for the siny white scope!
 

 

Edited February 27, 2021 by RobertI

[Stu]

31 minutes ago, RobertI said:

Nice report and nice smart phone pics Stu. I've also just been out for some white light solar - this time using my binoviewers and 102ED-R. Unfortunately I couldn't reach focus with the 1.6x GPC (57x mag) and Herschel Wedge, so had to go for the barlow which give around 175x - far too much mag, or so I thought. I homed in on the only feature visible (12804) and was completely blown away by what I saw - the amount of detail was way more than I was expecting, with structure visible in and around the penumbra of the main spot and lots of bright areas (faculae? ....sorry, I'm a bit of a solar novice!). Once again the binoviewers proving their worth. Hopefully a lot more solar to come this summer. I did discover one downside of observing during the day - the birds seem to love to 'aim' for the siny white scope!
 

 

Great stuff Robert. Quite right! Many people say (and I was one of them until I got the Tak and binoviewers), that x50 or x60 is the max you should use on the sun. I regularly use x150 and x200 and when the seeing is good, the views are astounding. As you say, the detail visible is incredible when the seeing allows. Are you seeing the granulation? That can be very striking too, even with a completely blank disk. Have you found the Faculae that marks AR 12805?

Enjoy! 👍

[RobertI]

1 hour ago, Stu said:

Great stuff Robert. Quite right! Many people say (and I was one of them until I got the Tak and binoviewers), that x50 or x60 is the max you should use on the sun. I regularly use x150 and x200 and when the seeing is good, the views are astounding. As you say, the detail visible is incredible when the seeing allows. Are you seeing the granulation? That can be very striking too, even with a completely blank disk. Have you found the Faculae that marks AR 12805?

Enjoy! 👍

Cheers Stu. I did see the granulation but sadly I didn't know about AR 12805 - had I seen your very useful screenshot above I would have given it a go! I made a note of www.solarmonitor.org for future reference though - I am a bit of a solar novice, but I'm looking forward to doing more observing and possibly a sketch or image or too. I hate to sound like a scratched record, but the binoviewers have been a game changer for me and made the moon, and now the sun, objects of real interest. 

[Davey-T]

After yesterdays complete failure for stuff working with a clear blue sky and no wind, having not used it for months today it all fired up and worked first time 

Seeing wasn't up to much here today, Sun looking like it was in a puddle, but had snatches of nice views with the Tecnosky 152mm, Quark and TV Plossls.

Then shot a couple if pic's but not looked at them yet.

Dave

[Stu]

1 hour ago, RobertI said:

Cheers Stu. I did see the granulation but sadly I didn't know about AR 12805 - had I seen your very useful screenshot above I would have given it a go! I made a note of www.solarmonitor.org for future reference though - I am a bit of a solar novice, but I'm looking forward to doing more observing and possibly a sketch or image or too. I hate to sound like a scratched record, but the binoviewers have been a game changer for me and made the moon, and now the sun, objects of real interest. 

Totally agree on the binoviewers. For me they are essential kit for lunar and solar observing. I’m still on the fence for planetary. I think I lose love contrast detail on Jupiter with them, but floaters are better controlled so I mix it up depending on how I feel. As I mentioned though, today showed me just what a difference they make on the sun.