Solar Maximum - Multiple solar flares on 29 Dec 24

[yltansg]

Seeing was average. Fast moving clouds did not hinder the imaging session
Imaged the surface of the Sun and its chromosphere in full disk. Also recorded close-up of multiple bright spots using the C6R refractor fitted with CAK filters.

First, tri-band full disk images:


AR3933:


AR3936. later at 15:15 hrs, AR3936 produced an X flare. Unfortunately it was raining then.


Features on the limbs giving a glimpse of the magnetic fields shaping them, with AR3936 in the foreground:


Do a right-click to see the images in full resolution.

Alfred

[cytan299]

Hi Alfred,

Nice photos.

I'm thinking of doing solar photography. What equipment are you using for these photos?

I'm sorry but I'm not familiar with what is a C6R refractor in your post and a SF5 that is in your signature. Is the CAK filter used together with a DayStar Qaurk or similar?

And FYI, right click doesn't do anything except bring up the Chrome menu on my Mac.

Thanks!

cytan

[yltansg]

Hi Cytan,

I do use Daystar Quark on a Celestron C11 for high-resolution Hydrogen Alpha imaging. For the images in my posting, I use the following telescopes and equipment shown in the photo (left to right):



a. Celestron C6R refractor (on the mount) fitted with a front blue energy rejection filter and a narrow band Calcium-K filter at the rear. This configuration is for taking zoom-in CAK images.
b. (the first on the table) WIlliam Optics Megrez 90 refractor fitted with a thousand oak white light (WL) solar glass filter for photosphere (full disk) imaging. I use the same refractor for full disk imaging of the lower Chromosphere. Remove the WL filter and fit a Lunt CAK wedge to image in Calcium-K bandwidth.
c. Borg 76 refractor fitted with a Solarscope SF50 Hydrogen Alpha (HA) double-stacked etalons for Upper Chromosphere HA imaging.
d. The last telescope is an Explore Scientific 102ED fitted with a Baader astrosolar film filter - I am experimenting with solar film.

Here is another set of 3 tri-band images taken on 31Dec24:


My setup is "old". The fastest way to get started is to get the Daystar Quark with a small refractor. Search the web for info. All the best

Alfred

[cytan299]

Wow! You have a very extensive collection of equipment for Solar imaging. Thanks for the information. That was very helpful.

I had always thought that the Daystar Quark is not compatible with SCTs. I guess it does work then. I don't use SCT's anymore because I prefer refractors although I have an ETX125 Maksutov just for planetary imaging.

I'll probably just use my 92 mm Stowaway + ASI174MM (for now) to try Solar imaging out. I'll have to wait for a few months until the hole in my pocket recovers from X'mas to buy more equipment

cytan

[yltansg]

Wow! You have a very extensive collection of equipment for Solar imaging. Thanks for the information. That was very helpful.

I had always thought that the Daystar Quark is not compatible with SCTs. I guess it does work then. I don't use SCT's anymore because I prefer refractors although I have an ETX125 Maksutov just for planetary imaging.

I'll probably just use my 92 mm Stowaway + ASI174MM (for now) to try Solar imaging out. I'll have to wait for a few months until the hole in my pocket recovers from X'mas to buy more equipment

cytan

I am busy this week. If you are interested I can lend you a quark (I have to find it first) next week for you to try it out with your Stowaway.

I do solar imaging quite regularly, I also maintains an online repository of solar images which I share with students for solar research. I would usually post on X when I image. You can check out https://x.com/yltansg for my solar images.

Cheers

Alfred

[cytan299]

Hi Alfred,
Thanks for the offer. I'm not comfortable borrowing equipment, especially equipment that costs more than $1k.

I'm actually looking at buying this which was posted in the astro-physics user group.

https://mlastro.com/mlastro-shg

The poster used a Stowaway as well, so I'm thinking of copying what he did.

As for the kit in the link, I think the seller is manufacturing this kit in Vietnam. What do you think?

cytan

P.S. What sort of solar research to you do? Do you do your research at NUS? Sounds interesting.

[yltansg]

HI Cytan,

I have read about this new SHG and I know the guy who is doing the manufacturing in Vietnam. I don't have experience with it though. All the best.

I provide solar images, especially high-resolution ones for students' research on the evolution of Active Regions and solar flares. Data from my imaging session have been submitted to and used by F-CHROMA, (http://fchroma.astro.uni.wroc.pl/) a solar research project involving professional ground- and space-based observatories as well as amateur astronomers. The project was featured in A&G News & Reviews in Astronomy & Geophysics (Oxford University press) Volume 58, Issue 6 December 2017

[yltansg]

HI Cytan,

I have read about this new SHG and I know the guy who is doing the manufacturing in Vietnam. I don't have experience with it though. All the best.

I provide solar images, especially high-resolution ones for students' research on the evolution of Active Regions and solar flares. Data from my imaging session have been submitted to and used by F-CHROMA, (http://fchroma.astro.uni.wroc.pl/) a solar research project involving professional ground- and space-based observatories as well as amateur astronomers. The project was featured in A&G News & Reviews in Astronomy & Geophysics (Oxford University press) Volume 58, Issue 6 December 2017 and there are few scientific papers published by them

Alfred

[cytan299]

HI Cytan,

I have read about this new SHG and I know the guy who is doing the manufacturing in Vietnam. I don't have experience with it though. All the best.

I provide solar images, especially high-resolution ones for students' research on the evolution of Active Regions and solar flares. Data from my imaging session have been submitted to and used by F-CHROMA, (http://fchroma.astro.uni.wroc.pl/) a solar research project involving professional ground- and space-based observatories as well as amateur astronomers. The project was featured in A&G News & Reviews in Astronomy & Geophysics (Oxford University press) Volume 58, Issue 6 December 2017 and there are few scientific papers published by them

Alfred

Very cool! So, the students aren't from Singapore but in Poland?

Unfortunately, the article is behind a paywall. If you have a personal copy of the article and wouldn't mind sending me a link to it via PM, I'd love to read it.

Thanks!

cytan

[yltansg]

Ok, We will communicate through pm.