White light - 24th/27th August 2022

[Stu]

I’ve had a good couple of days observing in white light with my Tak FC76DCU, CoolWedge and Leica Zoom. This gives me between x32 and x64, quite a good range. I also used a 12.5mm Morpheus with a Zeiss Abbé Barlow which gives x91. Ideally I would Barlow the Zoom but it does not reach focus, in fact I have to attach it directly to the Wedge to be able to use it. Generally these options have me all I needed although I could use the 3 to 6 Nag zoom for x95 to x190 but that would likely have been too much for the seeing conditions and also would have been floater city for me at 0.39mm exit pupil.

Anyway, this is a lovely little setup to use combined with my Gitzo and Scopetech Zero and I’ve observed morning and evening for the last few days. The seeing has been quite variable, but at its best the views have been pretty good. I find the granulation is quite muted at this aperture, it doesn’t hit you in the face like it can in the 100, but it is still visible when the seeing is half decent.

Plenty to see in terms of ARs obviously, lots of detail visible and some complex structures on show. What I love though is searching out new and hard to see targets. I found an undesignated area with four tiny pores embedded in some swirling granulation, and another tiny pore in a patch of faculae coming around the limb, which had developed more this morning. Today I also spotted another small spot near the centre of the disk, easier to see than the others.

So, don’t just concentrate on the labelled ARs, have a hunt around and see what else you can see. You need to nail the focus, a fraction of a turn on the fine focus knob makes a difference, and sometimes my eye struggles to pick up the focus point for the granulation, so tweaking the focus or panning around can help to lock on to this.

These are some snaps from solarmonitor. It shows some of the detail but there is always more visible I find. The second image shows where the small spot in the faculae was, and the third one shows where the four tiny spots were, although SM only picked up one.

Enjoy!

 

[Stu]

More good views this evening. I tried the Nag zoom out, struggling to reach focus at first. Then I just attached the 1.25” Baader click lock directly to the Coolwedge which I have configured to accept a T2 thread, and that did the trick. Somewhere around the 5mm setting ie about x114 seemed the highest useable today, although I did use right up to x195, with the expected floaters being fairly intrusive although some impressive detail was visible. When the seeing was at its best though, x95 gave wonderful views, granulation coming through nicely and some beautiful detail in the main ARs 13088 and 13089. I really enjoyed 13086 too, some lovely detail in the main spot, but then beautiful fine detail in the string of tiny spots which trail away from it.

[Stu]

Title changed as I had some cracking views this morning at about 9am. Very stable seeing and either the Leica at max zoom or the Nag at minimum gave the best views. I would need binoviewers to get the best from any higher mags.

Granulation was starting to be interesting, particularly in the centre of the disk and around the ARs. It does show the benefit of aperture though as it is much more rewarding in the FC100.

There was a fun looking 6 shape within 13089, and 13088 is looking amazing, so complex.

[Victor Boesen]

Sounds like some very enjoyable sessions Stu! Thanks for sharing Unfortunately I have not done white light in a while now but hope to do so soon!

Victor

[Davesellars]

Nice!  I was out this morning as well with the 80ED and binoviewers for my first proper solar session with them...  3088 and 3089 are quite something at the moment!  in fact a huge amount of activity and structure around the sunspots cloud be seen - I use a 2x Celestron Omni barlow element on the BVs which gives 3x so I was working at approx 8.3mm eyepiece focal length.  Binoviewing with solar WL is quite a revelation in the extra detail you can see.

[Stu]

18 minutes ago, Davesellars said:

Nice!  I was out this morning as well with the 80ED and binoviewers for my first proper solar session with them...  3088 and 3089 are quite something at the moment!  in fact a huge amount of activity and structure around the sunspots cloud be seen - I use a 2x Celestron Omni barlow element on the BVs which gives 3x so I was working at approx 8.3mm eyepiece focal length.  Binoviewing with solar WL is quite a revelation in the extra detail you can see.

Good stuff Dave. I totally agree, binoviewing for white light solar makes a huge difference (similar for Ha too). I’m able to use much higher powers, see more detail and find it much more relaxing too. I don’t have my binoviewers with me currently but am glad I’m able to enjoy these lovely ARs, even if not as as vividly as in the FC100.

Bet you got some good views with your setup 👍

[Stu]

More great views this afternoon. The main AR looks amazing, so complex. I love the light bridge across the umbra in the main spot, plus I can see a split in the penumbra on the left side, and a bright dot and dark pore on the other (EDIT make that two, it seems to have split). Clear striations in the penumbra and plenty more going on in the rest of the AR too.

Near centre disk there is a fairly obvious small spot, then above and a little right there are two more tiny pores. There is also a very faint pore right next to the larger spot.

At around 8 O’clock there is a beautiful patch of faculae, then another at just below 3 O’clock. I saw this in the morning, but this evening it has developed a tiny black pore embedded in it, looks promising to grow further hopefully. Nice little session again.

I swapped the wedge out for a diagonal and also had a quick look at the Moon in daylight. Low contrast of course, but beautiful against the blue sky and still some detail and craters to be seen.

[IB20]

Great stuff @Stu. Glad you’re getting some time and enthusiasm back for observing. 👍🏻

[Marvin Jenkins]

Do you have a particular ‘best time’ for white light? I noticed a few references to  first thing this morning, but this might just be work related.

I have a white light solar filter for my 150pds, but I now have a grab and go set up at 130, which will be perfect for white light. I guess top and tail the day to see how things develop? 
I really like how WL is a great fit into astronomy, on a basic visual level.

Marv

[Stu]

47 minutes ago, Marvin Jenkins said:

Do you have a particular ‘best time’ for white light? I noticed a few references to  first thing this morning, but this might just be work related.

I have a white light solar filter for my 150pds, but I now have a grab and go set up at 130, which will be perfect for white light. I guess top and tail the day to see how things develop? 
I really like how WL is a great fit into astronomy, on a basic visual level.

Marv

Marv, I generally find that first thing in the morning and evenings are best, particularly in the summer. Once the Sun gets higher and starts to heat the land, buildings and atmosphere up, the convection currents start getting worse and the seeing worsens. In the evening, things start to cool of and it can be surprisingly good to observe then. It’s kind of the opposite to Astro when you try to observe with everything as high as possible!