Prominences Galore!!

[Andrew*]

I've just been out looking at AR 1121 and it's putting on quite a show. The surface is changing constantly so it's very difficult to sketch, but most amazing is the prominences on the SE limb. They are going very high and some are very bright. What a show! Yesterday's flares looked very exciting as well, but the sun would have been pretty low here. The aftermath is still very worthwhile watching!

Anyone else watching it?

Andrew

[Altair40]

Thanks for sharing but unfortunatly I don't have the capability to go solar just yet.

I really need to get some of that solar film and a coffee can and get out there for a look. I was reading some of the OU course material on solar astronomy and that combined with what I've read here makes our star seem very, very interesting.

I'll have a look at the SOHO page for now.

I'm assuming you were using your 120mm refractor?

I'd like to try with my tiny 130mm newt and a home made Baader (?) filter. I will check here to see if I've constructed it correctly.

[Peter Drew]

With you on that one Andrew!. Clear this morning and set up the modded PST. One small advantage(?) of the 5mm b/f is that I have to pan round the limb, you can imagine the surprise when you arrive at the detail you described. .

[Andrew*]

I made a pretty quick sketch. The detail was so complex you could work on it forever, but of course it was changing so fast that just doesn't work! As usual for my sketches, the proms are larger on the sketch than they really were!

Andrew

[John]

Great sketch Andrew

I've chosen a good time to get into solar viewing !

I didn't realise that each active region was assigned it's own reference - lots to learn here for me - which is great

Apart from reports on SGL, is there a good website to keep up to date with developments on the Sun ?.

[Andrew*]

Hi John,

I use SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids

It gives a regular "white light" view of the sun in yellow on the left side, showing all the active regions. These are named shortly after appearing on the earth-facing side of the sun. Active region 1121 (AR1121) was visible about 2 weeks ago, but named 1112 before rotating out of view. On returning to the earth-facing side it has a new name, despite being the same AR.

HTH

Andrew

[John]

Thanks Andrew - very useful

Another site on my "favorites" list !.