November 26 2021 Observations

[DeepSolar64]

Session time is from 16:48 to 17:50 UTC. Clear skies. Just below average seeing. The temperature out is 39F ( 3.8C ). A light breeze is present.


Coronado SolarMax II 60 DS. 16x and 25x ( Ha )
I can see five active areas/disturbances on the Ha solar disc today. All five of these are easy. The first of these is AR12898 just on the southeast side of the CLM. It's plage is easy to see and I can see a spot(s) on it's western side. GONG CT shows a small filament here but I cannot quite pick it out. The new AR12900 just SW of AR12898 is visible as a bright plage. A row of small filaments lies SW of AR12898. AR12899 lies in the far SW and is easy to see. Another fairly easy plage lies just to it's east. SE of this plage and AR12899 lies a large dark filament that shows itself well, even at such a low magnification. It looks like this one may make it to the limb to be seen as a prominence! Filaments can be seen in the far SE and SW near the limb. Two other filaments are seen east of AR12898. The lighter disturbed area is not seen today connecting the southern active regions. It is also less apparent in the GONG images as well. I can see a plage in the far NW nearing the limb. It's what is left of AR12897. Some ruffleage is seen in the NE in the GONG image but I did not notice it in the scope. I did easily see the line of dark filaments just east of it near the limb though.

Staying in double stack today I didn't observe prominences that much. I did notice a small bright one on the NW limb though.

The mottles are easily seen discwide.



Orion 70mm Solar Telescope. 25x and 50x ( WL )
I can see five regions on the WL photosphere today. AR12898 is visible as a spot group split into two parts. The spots in the western side mostly share penumbrae. AR12900 just to it's SW also shows spots without difficulty. AR12899 in the far SW shows a couple of barely visible pores surrounded by faculae. AR12897 is visible as a patch of faculae near the NW limb without spot or pore. I can also see a patch of faculae near the SE limb that is without spot or pore.

I can see the fine solar granulation today.

Happy Friday!!

James

GONGCerroTololoHa_11-26-21.jpg (491.94 KiB) Viewed 369 times

SDO_HMIIF_1024.jpg (106.36 KiB) Viewed 369 times

Capture_Magnetogram.JPG (103.48 KiB) Viewed 369 times

[Carbon60]

Thanks, James.

Stu.

[EGRAY_OBSERVATORY]

Thanks James for another excellent report.

Q. Is there a reason why SolarMonitor.org fail to put a Date/Time group on their images ?? A must for accurate reporting...

Cheers
Terry

[DeepSolar64]

You are welcome Terry.

It had it on the site. I forgot to capture it when I converted the PNG file to a more space efficient jpg. The time for the SolarMonitor SDOHMImag image is 14:58:31.400 UT. A bit before my observing time. The SpaceWeatherLive and GONG images were taken during the time I observed.

James

[marktownley]

Thanks James, the southern hemisphere is looking nicely active at the moment. Today is snowy, but there should be some clearer skies on Sunday, so if I'm lucky and it's not too cold I may get a view in...

[EGRAY_OBSERVATORY]

Thanks for the answer James. I wondered why the SolarMonitor shows a different set of AR's as an earlier image might show, compared to the NASA derived image on SpaceWeatherLive...

Terry

[DeepSolar64]

Good luck on a sunny Sunday Mark, Terry and Stuart!

[Montana]

Sounds like you had a lovely viewing session James
As regards to your question about CaK visual. It looks just like the photos James, but it does not stand out like a Halpha disc, it is a violet purple on a black background. If there are bright plage and spots it is much easier for the eye to find focus. I never stare too long (never more than 5 minutes) as I worry about UV exposure. It is safe but I worry all the same.

Alexandra

[DeepSolar64]

I have always wondered if it's safe. Some sites have said visual in CaK or CaH is dangerous but unless you are using a narrowband filter or UV-IR cut filter would not white light have the same wavelength mixed in with all the others? If so it should be no more dangerous than viewing a full continuum image.

James

[EGRAY_OBSERVATORY]

I would have thought that the manufacturers of either Ha, Cak/H, WL or Sodium etc., would advise against long-term eye-viewing (which they might do anyway), but certainly with the adding of a UV/IR Cut Filter in front of the E.P. should add more eye-protection IMHO, albeit whether in the case of CaK/H etc., might affect the seeing and imaging quality.

Of course, only a very few people can actually make any detail (if any at all) through CaK - of which I am one, where I can at least align a CaK scope with the other scopes, without using a camera to pc... Dark Light eye-adaption is needed for that...
Camera and pc-screen does make it easier though..

Terry

[DeepSolar64]

Terry,
Narrow bandwidths should not let dangerous UV and IR radiation through anyway. Ha for example should let only a narrow band of light in at that emission line of 656nm. A 540nm filter should make even white light a bit safer. I would guess that many white light filters would block UV, they certainly have to block IR or your eye would get roasted!!

CaK is more risky because it’s near ultraviolet.

James