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Sunspots 2713 and 2715 - 23 June 2018

Discussion in 'Astrophotography and Imaging' started by Ed D, Jun 23, 2018.

Sunspots 2713 and 2715 - 23 June 2018

Started by Ed D on Jun 23, 2018 at 1:54 PM

3 Replies 935 Views 4 Likes

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  1. Ed D

    Ed D Well-Known Member

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    Ed D, Jun 23, 2018
    #1
    I'm sure you have heard the saying: "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade."

    No, I didn't set out to make lemonade, so to speak. It started a few days ago when I was trying to image Venus in the evening, and up at 3:30am hoping to image Mars. Venus was a wash that evening, but I had three very good captures of Mars in the morning that would have turned out some nice images, one in IR. I don't know what happened, but when I was transferring from one computer to another, POOF!, my work disappeared. Don't ask, I don't have a clue.

    Last night I finally gave up on the planets due to consistent bad weather and I put the 6" Mak away. This morning I noticed a bright light outside. Wow, sunshine! So, as I sat sipping my morning Joe I pulled up the SPACEWEATHER website. Lo and behold, not one, but two sunspots. Haven't seen those in a long time, either. I set up my AT72ED with solar filter and the rest of the equipment. Man, the sunlight was bright. I had to put my laptop in a box to shield it from the sunlight so I could have hopes of seeing an image on the screen, in the shade.

    I did captures at f/6, f/12 and f/18 of 2,500 frames each. The one at f/18 didn't turn out well at all. But, surprise of surprises, the one at f/12 captured 2713 at the edge of the sun very nicely. I was actually after 2715, the one centered on the sun, but it didn't turn out all that hot (pun intended). Anyway, with some processing I turned out two pretty nice solar images, which were not at all planned.

    Enjoy the images,
    Ed D

    Sunspots 2713 and 2715.jpg
    Sunspots 2715, left of middle, and 2713, left edge.

    Sunspot 2713.jpg
    Sunspot 2713
     
    Last edited: Jun 23, 2018
    Gabby76, Nebula, Orion25 and 1 other person like this.
  2. Dave In Vermont

    Dave In Vermont Well-Known Member

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    Dave In Vermont, Jun 23, 2018
    #2
    Nice images! You're right - haven't seen a Sunspot in years it seems.

    I especially like the shot of 2713 coming up the limb. I've seen some bizarre things happen as the Sun comes out of it's minimum - like vanishing images & tripods collapsing without provocation.
     
    Last edited: Jun 23, 2018
  3. Orion25

    Orion25 Well-Known Member

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    Orion25, Jun 23, 2018
    #3
    Nice sunspots, Ed. Sorry about your planetary data, but I'm glad you didn't let it stop you from turning your eyes to Sol!
     
  4. Ed D

    Ed D Well-Known Member

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    Ed D, Jun 24, 2018
    #4
    @Dave: Thanks. Yeah, the sun can cause weird things to happen. Remember when Toyota cars were suddenly running WOT and couldn't be controlled? I remember reading a short article that said a small group of scientists theorized that solar activity was causing this. Funny, the sun went dormant and the cars stopped behaving erratically.

    @ Reggie: Thanks. I'm still hoping to image Mars during the dust storm, which I believe may be dying out. I also want to image Venus. Last night was clear and I did set up the 6" Mak. The videos were bad enough to give anyone nightmares. Venus looked like a blob of jelly shimmering violently. I'm going to try in a while to see if I get anything, but I doubt it.

    I did find out that aperture does help when imaging in IR. When using the TV-85 my frame rate was in seconds with the 850nm filter. With the 6" Mak it was milliseconds.

    Ed D
     

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