My best H-alpha solar phone shots yet

[Victor Boesen]

Today I was out observing the active solar disk with my small Evostar 72ED and a Baader 32mm Plössl. I usually use a 40mm TS plössl, but I've found the Baader to work nicely when conditions are slightly above average.

I tried taking some images of all the features on the disk and tried processing them in greyscale with the built-in editor on my OnePlus 7 Pro. I think the results came out rather nice showing close to all the features visible through the eyepiece.

First up, a full disk showing the proms around the disk and all the features. Unfortunately I couldn't quite preserve the fine filaprom on the top right, however the rest looks quite nice.
Next up, some closeups of AR2978, AR2981 and AR2982 showing nice filaments.

What caught my eye visually was the glowing filament above the dark umbra of AR2978. It's especially visible in the second last image, and it reminded me of the two tadpoles in the tadpole nebula glowing above the rest of the nebula.

I was really pleased spending some time outside and enjoyed the full disk view through the Evostar 72ED and Baader 32mm combo.

Hope you all managed to catch the sun in H-alpha or white light during this busy solar disk!! Despite not observing any of the major flares that happened this week I was very satisfied with this session.

Victor

[Stu]

Excellent results @Victor Boesen. Some really good detail captured, really like the filaments which show up very nicely; your quark is obviously a good one. I know how hard it can be to catch Ha detail with a phone so you’ve done well 👍.

Out of interest, does your phone save raw files? I’ve recently worked out how to choose these to process and it allows far more detail to be brought out.

Do you have the focuser vertically out of preference or to avoid it catching on the mount?

 

[Victor Boesen]

I appreciate it Stu!! Yes, H-alpha can be very difficult to capture with a phone:)

Like you say, I'm very happy with my Quark and its performance. Receiving a bad etalon was my major concern when I purchased the Quark, but I have to say that I have never been disappointed with it.

28 minutes ago, Stu said:

Out of interest, does your phone save raw files?

It can. However, it only does so when shooting in pro mode in which I find focusing and etc. more difficult so I don't use it. Easier to just point, tap-to-focus and then adjust brightness. That said, maybe I should give pro mode another go Would you by any chance have some examples/comparisons between raw/non-raw?

30 minutes ago, Stu said:

Do you have the focuser vertically out of preference or to avoid it catching on the mount?

It's vertical so the focuser doesn't crash into the dovetail. Finding balance with the Evostar and the Quark/other heavy setups is impossible with the stock dovetail so I'm using an extended one to reach balance. It's a hacky solution, as I also had to drill out the holes in the new dovetail to fit the correct screws through them!

[MalcolmM]

Very impressive pics @Victor Boesen. They blow anything I have taken out of the water! 

Malcolm

[IB20]

These are great. Sorry, I have some probably, silly basic Qs. Are these classed as chromosphere or photosphere? And what Ha module are you using? 

[Victor Boesen]

17 minutes ago, MalcolmM said:

Very impressive pics @Victor Boesen. They blow anything I have taken out of the water! 

Malcolm

Thank you Malcolm, I'm very pleased with these considering they're captured with a phone!

5 minutes ago, IB20 said:

These are great. Sorry, I have some probably, silly basic Qs. Are these classed as chromosphere or photosphere? And what Ha module are you using? 

Thank you, and no need to excuse yourself! This is the chromosphere of the sun, eg. the layer above the photosphere consisting of hydrogen gas. I'm using a Daystar Quark Chromosphere for this

[Stu]

1 hour ago, Victor Boesen said:

I appreciate it Stu!! Yes, H-alpha can be very difficult to capture with a phone:)

Like you say, I'm very happy with my Quark and its performance. Receiving a bad etalon was my major concern when I purchased the Quark, but I have to say that I have never been disappointed with it.

It can. However, it only does so when shooting in pro mode in which I find focusing and etc. more difficult so I don't use it. Easier to just point, tap-to-focus and then adjust brightness. That said, maybe I should give pro mode another go Would you by any chance have some examples/comparisons between raw/non-raw?

It's vertical so the focuser doesn't crash into the dovetail. Finding balance with the Evostar and the Quark/other heavy setups is impossible with the stock dovetail so I'm using an extended one to reach balance. It's a hacky solution, as I also had to drill out the holes in the new dovetail to fit the correct screws through them!

These aren’t great I know, but I just did a quick process using the JPEG first and RAW second. You definitely get more detail in the RAW.

For balance, you could add a weight to the front of the dovetail which would mean you could sit the scope further back in its rings and put the focuser level.

 

[Victor Boesen]

Just now, Stu said:

These aren’t great I know, but I just did a quick process using the JPEG first and RAW second. You definitely get more detail in the RAW.

For balance, you could add a weight to the front of the dovetail which would mean you could sit the scope further back in its rings and put the focuser level.

 

Oh yeah, definitely a great difference in detail and sharpness! Will try that myself next time

I may look for some handy counterweight solution at some point. Thanks for the suggestion Stu!

[IB20]

@Stu is this with the PST? I remember you went for an IR filter, did that do anything for your WL images? I’m guessing it made zero differences visually?

Edited April 2, 2022 by IB20

[Stu]

19 minutes ago, IB20 said:

@Stu is this with the PST? I remember you went for an IR filter, did that do anything for your WL images? I’m guessing it made zero differences visually?

Yes, these are the PST mod. The IR filter I’m still not sure of. I have removed it for the moment as I wondered if it was degrading the visual views but I don’t think it does. Still need to play around with a few more imaging comparisons to see if it helps or not.

[Pete Presland]

They are amazing captures Victor, such detail visible.

[Victor Boesen]

1 hour ago, Pete Presland said:

They are amazing captures Victor, such detail visible.

Thank you Pete, really enjoyed your WL images you posted just recently 

[Roy Challen]

Great images Victor, visually my Daystar is superb but I never seem to get anything other than a pink circle when trying to image with my phone.

[Victor Boesen]

45 minutes ago, Roy Challen said:

Great images Victor, visually my Daystar is superb but I never seem to get anything other than a pink circle when trying to image with my phone.

Thanks Roy! The unedited images show somewhat the same that you describe😅 Just goes to show how good our eyes are at adjusting to what they're seeing.

Victor

[Pete Presland]

1 hour ago, Victor Boesen said:

Thank you Pete, really enjoyed your WL images you posted just recently 

There has been so much to see in all the wavelengths recently