Noob - are these the sort of results I should be aiming for?

[SeedyF]

The forummers are the most knowledgeable and informative collection of individuals I could ever wish for . So can I ask for some help and advice?

I love the sun, I made a solar filter a couple of months back out of Baader AstroSolar film and love observing the ever changing moods of our star. Now that I have a decent webcam I tried my hand at imaging. Below is what I produced. But I don't really know what I am doing, what I should be aiming for from both the capture and processing.

Both captured using a (flashed) SPC900 with a revelation IR filter, at 640x480 in SharpCap, 10 fps and I only tweaked the exposure and gain to reveal the spots. Both processed in AviStack (automatic except for wavelet settings). Both are 30 sec AVIs (297 frames and 298 frames respectively). I fiddled with the wavelets to bring out some of the contrast and detail. The 1113 & 1115 image is quite pleasing, 1112 looked better just through the 10mm eyepiece if I'm honest.

I was really disappointed with the result when I added a 2x barlow, the sunspot was in and out of focus far too much and there was very little definition. I didn't even bother processing that file

All comments and suggestion gratefully received.

[Peter Drew]

They look pretty good to me!, well focused and good granulation detail, I'm not a CCD imager myself so can't give you any advice. You will certainly get better detail with higher magnifications but as you have already seen, steady seeing conditions are essential. Early mornings before the air has warmed up is generally reckoned as giving the best chance.

[brianb]

I was really disappointed with the result when I added a 2x barlow, the sunspot was in and out of focus far too much and there was very little definition.

Yes, that happens ... I've found the "secret" of dragging decent sunspot closeups out of poor seeing is to use very short exposures, shoot a huge number of frames and stack only a small proportion of the best ones. Usually I'm getting 1/2000 sec or even 1/2500 sec at f/28 with my solar wedge & just the mandatory ND3.0 filter ... when the seeing is really bad I drop down to f/18 & get 1/5000 sec.

The big advantage of the solar wedge, or the photographic (unsafe for visual use) ND3.8 solar film, is that you get a much brighter image, which means a shorter exposure. The Sun appears to have lots of light to spare, but it makes it own air turbulence by heating the air ...

My technique seems to work, at least some of the time. Here's the image I got of AR 11112 on Saturday.

2010 Oct 16, 1103 UT. WO FLT 110, Lunt solar wedge + ND3.0, 4x Imagemate, Imaging Source DMK21 camera. Gain=460 exposure=1/2000 sec 3000 frames shot 450 stacked.

The seeing was actually better than usual, though I think if you saw the raw AVI you might be shocked by the turbulence ... unfortunately I can't post it as it's very nearly a gigabyte in size.

[GuillermoBarrancos]

That's a really good first attempt Seedy!

A lot depends on seeing conditions. Especially if you want to use the barlow.

I have yet to be able to use my 2x barlow lately and get decent enough results that were worthwhile.

And now I am waiting for the "#¤%"# clouds to move away, so I can start imaging again. :)

[jgs001]

A very nice result there Seedy