Coronado SolarMax II 90 DS. 32x, 44.5x and 64x ( Ha )
In the south the band of active regions continue. The big AR complex and it's spots have now largely passed around the SW limb with only some straggling plage remaining visible. AR12789 to it's east shows a faint plage with a thin embedded filament. AR12790 shows a bright plage SE of the dark spot but is showing less filament activity that it was yesterday. I see only one, almost due south of the spot. In the SW the now numbered AR12791 shows a Z shaped plage with a single filament. AR12787 in the far NW looks to now be nothing more than a mere disturbance in the spicule field.
There are some nice dark filaments to be seen between AR12789 and AR12790 plus more to their south. All easy targets with the SolarMax 90. I also see two more in the SE below AR12790 and AR12791. I see two more easy filaments NE of AR12787 in the far NW. A fainter " blotch " is seen at the remaining plage of AR12786 in the far SW.
The prominences have put on quite a show today. The SW limb shows several bright ones that keep changing shape over just mere minutes. Above these a faint but tall spike prom is seen. The NW limb shows a growing one that grows taller and brighter over time and leans south as it rises up. The northeast has the star prom today. At the beginning of my session it has just detached from the solar disk with a gap between it and the remaining prom base and it is leaning south. It is visible in double-stack. Over the next 1.5 hours it dims where I have to use singlestack to see it and it slowly starts descending as it heads back towards the sun. I can see striations in the plasma and one brighter nodule of plasma within it. When I finally ended the session due to tree interference the prom had really thinned out and was almost invisible, even in singlestack. The SE limb shows only minor prominence activity.
The spicule mottles are of decent contrast today and the spicule layer is easily seen at the limb in singlestack.
Celestron NextStar 102GT w/Altair wedge and Baader 540nm continuum filter. 55x ( WL )
In the far SW I can see the faculae to AR12786-88. The faculae to AR12789 is also faintly visible. I can see the single well developed spot of AR12790 showing textbook structure all by itself. No pores, other spots or faculae visible. I see only a close triad of pores visible in AR12791. The SDO HMI image shows a 4th pore to the east but I didn't notice it. I did not notice any visible faculae with AR12791. I can faintly see the faculae to AR12787 in the NW.
Fine solar granulation is visible with difficulty.
Carpe Lumen!
James
- GONGCerroTololo2Ha_12-6-20.jpg (621.24 KiB) Viewed 370 times
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. Today the sun certainly looked quieter in white light.
