Solar Activity 31 Jan

[brianb]

Lots going on today! The clouds tried to spoil it for me, as usual, but didn't succeed completely.

CaK overview is a good place to start.

2010 Jan 31, 1147 UT. PST CaK prime focus (f/10), DMK41.

In the north east quadrant there is a new active area which I'm going to call "AR1043" although I don't think this is official yet. Here it is in white light, Ha and CaK. (Poor quality of CaK image due to interference from clouds.)

2010 Jan 31, 1155 UT. 80mm f/6 refractor, x3 barlow, Baader Solar Film (ND5.0) & Solar Continuum filter, DMK21.

2010 Jan 31, 1214 UT. Solarscope 60 @ f/16, DMK21.

2010 Jan 31, 1308 UT. 60mm, Lunt B1200 CaK diagonal, x4 Imagemate (f/33.3), DMK21.

The old active area (AR1041) appears not to contain any spots but is visible in white light by its large patch of faculae. The faculae obviously show up better in CaK so this is how I imaged them.

2010 Jan 31, 1315 UT. 60mm, Lunt B1200 CaK diagonal, x4 Imagemate (f/33.3), DMK21.

To its east there is a large patch of filaments; I felt the best way to depict the activity in hydrogen alpha was to make a mosaic of most of the southern part of the disc:

2010 Jan 31, 1221 UT. Solarscope 60 @ f/16, DMK41.

Probably associated with AR1041, there is a group of prominences on the SW limb:

2010 Jan 31, 1232 UT. Solarscope 60 @ f/16, DMK41.

There is a long row of faintish prominences on the east limb, which was so extensive I had to make a two pane mosaic to fit them all in:

2010 Jan 31, 1235 UT. Solarscope 60 @ f/16, DMK41.

Finally, a small but very bright arch on the north east limb:

2010 Jan 31, 1238 UT. Solarscope 60 @ f/32, DMK21.

Transparency very good but with drifting cloud at times. Seeing generally moderate but poor near clouds. Temp +4C, wind N force 4 gusting 5-6.

[sheri_barri]

Those are superb images!! The mosaic of the limb is especially tremendous... very nice work and worth persevering through the clouds!

Is the Lunt B1200 CaK diagonal on a standard 60mm refractor or a dedicated CaK Lunt scope? Not familiar with CaK scopes other than the PST CaK.

Keep up the excellent work, it is inspiring!

Cheers,

Sheri

[brianb]

Is the Lunt B1200 CaK diagonal on a standard 60mm refractor or a dedicated CaK Lunt scope?

The latter. It probably won't be for long, though ... aperture fever is raging ...