January 12 2021 Observations. Calm Sun.

this is the main message area for anything solar :)
Post Reply
User avatar
DeepSolar64
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 18823
Joined: Thu Sep 05, 2019 12:19 am
Location: Lowndesville S.C.
Has thanked: 17572 times
Been thanked: 16691 times

January 12 2021 Observations. Calm Sun.

Post by DeepSolar64 »

Session time is 11:41am until 12:13pm EST local time ( US ). Partly cloudy skies with poor seeing. Temperature is 43F.


Coronado SolarMax II 60 DS. 16x and 21.5x ( Ha )
I can see an arc filament on the south-central disc that is broken up into seven smaller pieces mirroring what GONG CT shows. The 16x eyepiece ( Coronado 25mm ) reveals only 4 but the additional power of the Lunt 19mm eyepiece ( 21.5x ) is able to resolve the filament(s) better giving me a count of seven individuals. This was indeed a challenge. It almost certainly would have been easier with the SMII90. I also got a filament in the SE just inward of a prominence but I lack the resolution to tell whether it joins it as a filaprom. I also see a small difficult filament in the NNW.

I see three prominences. One on the SE, a fairly bright one in the NW and a faint one in the SW. None show a lot of detail appearing as fuzzies on the limb.

I see two plages without difficulty. One in the SE and another in the upper SW quadrant.

The mottles are of low contrast today but still visible across the disc.



Orion 70mm Solar Telescope. 27.5x ( WL )
The sun is absolutely featureless today. No spots or pores. No faculae, not even granulation. The limb shimmers in waves in the poor seeing.

All while listening to Beethoven's Seventh Symphony.


Carpe Lumen!

James

GONGCerroTololoHa_1-12-21.jpg
GONGCerroTololoHa_1-12-21.jpg (606.44 KiB) Viewed 444 times


Lunt 8x32 SUNoculars
Orion 70mm Solar Telescope
Celestron AstroMaster Alt/Az Mount
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 60 DS
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 90 DS
Meade Coronado AZS Alt/Az Mount
Astro-Tech AT72EDII with Altair solar wedge
Celestron NexStar 102GT with Altair solar wedge
Losmandy AZ8 Alt/Az Mount
Sky-Watcher AZGTI Alt-Az GoTo mount
Cameras: ZWO ASI178MM, PGR Grasshopper, PGR Flea
Lunt, Coronado, TeleVue, Orion and Meade eyepieces

Image Visual Observer
" Way more fun to see it! "
User avatar
marktownley
Librarian
Librarian
Posts: 42270
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 5:27 pm
Location: Brierley Hills, UK
Has thanked: 20424 times
Been thanked: 10243 times
Contact:

Re: January 12 2021 Observations. Calm Sun.

Post by marktownley »

Good report James, thank you! the sun has quietened off quite a bit, it'll pick up soon though i'm sure. Keep the reports coming and sunny skies!


Image
http://brierleyhillsolar.blogspot.co.uk/
Solar images, a collection of all the most up to date live solar data on the web, imaging & processing tutorials - please take a look!
User avatar
DeepSolar64
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 18823
Joined: Thu Sep 05, 2019 12:19 am
Location: Lowndesville S.C.
Has thanked: 17572 times
Been thanked: 16691 times

Re: January 12 2021 Observations. Calm Sun.

Post by DeepSolar64 »

Thank you Mr. Townley. May sunny skies find you. I am curious what scope Mrs. T got you.


Lunt 8x32 SUNoculars
Orion 70mm Solar Telescope
Celestron AstroMaster Alt/Az Mount
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 60 DS
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 90 DS
Meade Coronado AZS Alt/Az Mount
Astro-Tech AT72EDII with Altair solar wedge
Celestron NexStar 102GT with Altair solar wedge
Losmandy AZ8 Alt/Az Mount
Sky-Watcher AZGTI Alt-Az GoTo mount
Cameras: ZWO ASI178MM, PGR Grasshopper, PGR Flea
Lunt, Coronado, TeleVue, Orion and Meade eyepieces

Image Visual Observer
" Way more fun to see it! "
User avatar
marktownley
Librarian
Librarian
Posts: 42270
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 5:27 pm
Location: Brierley Hills, UK
Has thanked: 20424 times
Been thanked: 10243 times
Contact:

Re: January 12 2021 Observations. Calm Sun.

Post by marktownley »

Hi James.

She got me a 127mm fraunhofer refractor... https://www.firstlightoptics.com/bresse ... r-ota.html

I already have something similar, a Meade AR5, but while it is good at Ha wavelengths there is a lot of spherical aberration at CaK. The Bresser is the same rebranded OTA as the Explore Scientific version, both being a 20 year (?) newer version of the Meade. This newer optics are much better in CaK wavelengths. I've already stripped the finder off the new Bresser and replaced the focuser with the Moonlite I had on the Meade.

I have a few uses for it, at full aperture it will make a great Ha scope when seeing doesn't allow the HaT. For Calcium I can stop it down to 120mm to give me f10 which will mate nicely with my IMX174 camera, telecentric and filter assembly when seeing is good. I am also in the process of making some aperture stops one of which will be 80mm, giving me f15, which is pretty much spot on perfect sampling at these wavelengths for a ZWO290MM camera - this will use no barlows etc and so light levels will be kept up and aberrations down.

There's no point me even trying it on the sun until a couple of months time when the sun is higher and my seeing is better, something to look forward to in spring.

Mark


Image
http://brierleyhillsolar.blogspot.co.uk/
Solar images, a collection of all the most up to date live solar data on the web, imaging & processing tutorials - please take a look!
User avatar
Carbon60
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 14205
Joined: Wed Mar 07, 2012 12:33 pm
Location: Lancashire, UK
Has thanked: 8415 times
Been thanked: 8161 times

Re: January 12 2021 Observations. Calm Sun.

Post by Carbon60 »

Thanks for your report, James. Very quiet indeed.

Stu.


H-alpha, WL and Ca II K imaging kit for various image scales.
Fluxgate Magnetometers (1s and 150s Cadence).
Radio meteor detector.
More images at http://www.flickr.com/photos/solarcarbon60/
User avatar
DeepSolar64
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 18823
Joined: Thu Sep 05, 2019 12:19 am
Location: Lowndesville S.C.
Has thanked: 17572 times
Been thanked: 16691 times

Re: January 12 2021 Observations. Calm Sun.

Post by DeepSolar64 »

Very nice Mark! It's an inch more aperture than the 102mm Celestron I use for white light. I too plan to upgrade to a larger refractor in the future by going to an Astro-Tech AT130EDT triplet apo. It's significantly more expensive than your Bresser but much cheaper than a comparable Takahashi. I do have an Astro-Tech AT72EDII apo doublet and it performs wonderfully with little to no color.

I look forward to your posts with this new refractor.


Lunt 8x32 SUNoculars
Orion 70mm Solar Telescope
Celestron AstroMaster Alt/Az Mount
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 60 DS
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 90 DS
Meade Coronado AZS Alt/Az Mount
Astro-Tech AT72EDII with Altair solar wedge
Celestron NexStar 102GT with Altair solar wedge
Losmandy AZ8 Alt/Az Mount
Sky-Watcher AZGTI Alt-Az GoTo mount
Cameras: ZWO ASI178MM, PGR Grasshopper, PGR Flea
Lunt, Coronado, TeleVue, Orion and Meade eyepieces

Image Visual Observer
" Way more fun to see it! "
EGRAY_OBSERVATORY
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 6871
Joined: Mon May 18, 2020 4:45 pm
Location: Essex, S.E.England
Been thanked: 4900 times

Re: January 12 2021 Observations. Calm Sun.

Post by EGRAY_OBSERVATORY »

Thanks James for your report.

Marks' newbie scope looks interesting and eventually to see some results should be even more interesting...

I have the Meade 127mm APO-Triplet, but is so long and very heavy, that not suitable within the observatory for Solar use, but my Meade ETX-125mm
Maksutov-Cassegrain Scope - is to be trialled in WL for use in my anticipated new mini-observatory (elsewhere in my garden for low-down Sun/winter-use), if a suitable camera will be able to fit between the scope's rear-end and its' fork-mount base or will be satisfactory-imaging through its' flip-mirror system. I do believe that I already do have enough available cameras and FR's for close-up's of Sun-spot activity for even all year round use...

A warmer weather project in the offing...

Cheers
Terry


User avatar
marktownley
Librarian
Librarian
Posts: 42270
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 5:27 pm
Location: Brierley Hills, UK
Has thanked: 20424 times
Been thanked: 10243 times
Contact:

Re: January 12 2021 Observations. Calm Sun.

Post by marktownley »

DeepSolar64 wrote: Wed Jan 13, 2021 7:05 am Very nice Mark! It's an inch more aperture than the 102mm Celestron I use for white light. I too plan to upgrade to a larger refractor in the future by going to an Astro-Tech AT130EDT triplet apo. It's significantly more expensive than your Bresser but much cheaper than a comparable Takahashi. I do have an Astro-Tech AT72EDII apo doublet and it performs wonderfully with little to no color.

I look forward to your posts with this new refractor.
You use your scopes for night time too James?


Image
http://brierleyhillsolar.blogspot.co.uk/
Solar images, a collection of all the most up to date live solar data on the web, imaging & processing tutorials - please take a look!
User avatar
marktownley
Librarian
Librarian
Posts: 42270
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 5:27 pm
Location: Brierley Hills, UK
Has thanked: 20424 times
Been thanked: 10243 times
Contact:

Re: January 12 2021 Observations. Calm Sun.

Post by marktownley »

EGRAY_OBSERVATORY wrote: Wed Jan 13, 2021 12:20 pm Thanks James for your report.

Marks' newbie scope looks interesting and eventually to see some results should be even more interesting...

I have the Meade 127mm APO-Triplet, but is so long and very heavy, that not suitable within the observatory for Solar use, but my Meade ETX-125mm
Maksutov-Cassegrain Scope - is to be trialled in WL for use in my anticipated new mini-observatory (elsewhere in my garden for low-down Sun/winter-use), if a suitable camera will be able to fit between the scope's rear-end and its' fork-mount base or will be satisfactory-imaging through its' flip-mirror system. I do believe that I already do have enough available cameras and FR's for close-up's of Sun-spot activity for even all year round use...

A warmer weather project in the offing...

Cheers
Terry
That 125 might be a bit big for winter use Terry, (just my experience!) - you might find you get better results with something considerably smaller. Of course you may be gifted with magical seeing where you are in winter, but knowing the conditions in Blighty I would be surprised.


Image
http://brierleyhillsolar.blogspot.co.uk/
Solar images, a collection of all the most up to date live solar data on the web, imaging & processing tutorials - please take a look!
User avatar
DeepSolar64
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 18823
Joined: Thu Sep 05, 2019 12:19 am
Location: Lowndesville S.C.
Has thanked: 17572 times
Been thanked: 16691 times

Re: January 12 2021 Observations. Calm Sun.

Post by DeepSolar64 »

marktownley wrote: Wed Jan 13, 2021 8:25 pm
DeepSolar64 wrote: Wed Jan 13, 2021 7:05 am Very nice Mark! It's an inch more aperture than the 102mm Celestron I use for white light. I too plan to upgrade to a larger refractor in the future by going to an Astro-Tech AT130EDT triplet apo. It's significantly more expensive than your Bresser but much cheaper than a comparable Takahashi. I do have an Astro-Tech AT72EDII apo doublet and it performs wonderfully with little to no color.

I look forward to your posts with this new refractor.
You use your scopes for night time too James?
I do use both the Celestron 102 and the Astro-Tech AT72EDII for nighttime use though more so in the warmer weather months. I bought the AT72EDII mainly for a grab and go scope for nighttime use. I am well equipped for visual nighttime observing with a splendid old Criterion 6" F8 newtonian as well as an old Coulter 10.1" Dobsonian and a newer Sky-Watcher 12" Dobsonian.

The little Orion 70 is a dedicated white light solar telescope. It has a fixed in place glass filter over the objective.

I record my nighttime observations to a hand-written logbook in a similar fashion to the way I type my solar observations here. I also keep a list of all the deep sky objects I have found over the years. It doesn't matter whether it is solar, lunar, planetary, or deep sky. I write it down! I learn more that way!


Lunt 8x32 SUNoculars
Orion 70mm Solar Telescope
Celestron AstroMaster Alt/Az Mount
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 60 DS
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 90 DS
Meade Coronado AZS Alt/Az Mount
Astro-Tech AT72EDII with Altair solar wedge
Celestron NexStar 102GT with Altair solar wedge
Losmandy AZ8 Alt/Az Mount
Sky-Watcher AZGTI Alt-Az GoTo mount
Cameras: ZWO ASI178MM, PGR Grasshopper, PGR Flea
Lunt, Coronado, TeleVue, Orion and Meade eyepieces

Image Visual Observer
" Way more fun to see it! "
User avatar
Montana
Librarian
Librarian
Posts: 34559
Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2011 5:25 pm
Location: Cheshire, UK
Has thanked: 17667 times
Been thanked: 8787 times

Re: January 12 2021 Observations. Calm Sun.

Post by Montana »

Very interesting report and also about your night time observations too :hamster:

Alexandra


User avatar
DeepSolar64
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 18823
Joined: Thu Sep 05, 2019 12:19 am
Location: Lowndesville S.C.
Has thanked: 17572 times
Been thanked: 16691 times

Re: January 12 2021 Observations. Calm Sun.

Post by DeepSolar64 »

Thank you Alexandra.


Lunt 8x32 SUNoculars
Orion 70mm Solar Telescope
Celestron AstroMaster Alt/Az Mount
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 60 DS
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 90 DS
Meade Coronado AZS Alt/Az Mount
Astro-Tech AT72EDII with Altair solar wedge
Celestron NexStar 102GT with Altair solar wedge
Losmandy AZ8 Alt/Az Mount
Sky-Watcher AZGTI Alt-Az GoTo mount
Cameras: ZWO ASI178MM, PGR Grasshopper, PGR Flea
Lunt, Coronado, TeleVue, Orion and Meade eyepieces

Image Visual Observer
" Way more fun to see it! "
Post Reply