Sun taken with a 35mm Camera
METHOD: Kodak DX4330, Meade ETX 105, Solar Filter, Televue Eyepiece adapter, 30mm Eyepiece.
METHOD: Kodak DX4330, Meade ETX 105, Solar Filter, Televue Eyepiece adapter, 30mm Eyepiece. The camera was zoomed to the maximum optical (3x)
METHOD: Meade ETX 105, Solar Filter, Meade LPI. A series of 10 images was taken with the LPI autostar suite software at 1/250th second. Autostarsuite automatically stacked and aligned the frames. No further processing. The smudge is an artifact on the LPI, which I removed with an airblower.
Closeup of sunspots
METHOD: Meade ETX 105, Solar Filter, Meade LPI. An AVI file was captured using ToUcam software. Registax was used to select the best frames, then process them and save them. This is the result.
Photograph of Solar Eclipse, December 2002, South Australia.
METHOD: Kodak DX4330, hand held. I took this shot because I knew what I was doing. The sun was behind a cloud, and nearly totally eclipsed, as you can see. I did not use the viewfinder, but held the camera so I could see the shadow on the ground. After this shot, we were just too busy to take any other shots like this.
14th May 2004.
Sunspot group 609 to the left, Sunspot 606 is the large one, and a new one peeping around the limb.
Each of the individual ones in the 609 group are about the size of the Earth.
METHOD:Kodak DX4330, Meade ETX105 with 30mm Eyepiece mounted to Televue Adapter, Solar Filter. Photoshop.
15th May 2004. Look at how the sunspot group 609 has developed
METHOD:Kodak DX4330, Meade ETX105 with 30mm Eyepiece mounted to Televue Adapter, Solar Filter. Photoshop.
15th May 2004. A closeup of Sunspot Group 609.
METHOD: Meade ETX 105, Solar Filter, Meade LPI. This is a direct screen grab of a live feed from the LPI, as it appeared on the screen. Not bad.
Processed:
METHOD: Meade ETX 105, Solar Filter, Meade LPI. An AVI file was captured using SONIX software (the LPI is manufactured by SONIX). Registax was used to select the best frames, then process them and save them. This is the result.
METHOD: Meade ETX 105, Solar Filter, Meade LPI, Registax 2. A 115MB AVI file was saved direct from the camera, the best frames were
selected in Registax, and stacked automatically.
METHOD: Meade ETX 105, Solar Filter, LPI, Autostarsuite, Registax. An AVI file was captured, and frames selected and stacked on Registax software. The structure of this huge sunspot is obvious.
This is the same sunspot 3 days later on 23 July 2004
METHOD: Meade ETX 105, Solar Filter, LPI, Autostarsuite, Straight from the LPI with stacking. This is how it looked on the laptop screen as I was taking the shot. Spectacular!
Kodak image of the same region:
METHOD:Kodak DX4330, Meade ETX105 with 30mm Eyepiece mounted to Televue Adapter, Solar Filter. Photoshop.
METHOD:Kodak DX4330, Meade ETX105 with 30mm Eyepiece mounted to Televue Adapter, Solar Filter. Photoshop.
On 26th October 2004, the Sun was particularly active, with many sunspots, even though the sun was heading towards a sunspot minimum.
Closeup of the sun on 26th October 2004
METHOD:Kodak DX4330, Meade ETX105 with 30mm Eyepiece mounted to Televue Adapter, Solar Filter. Photoshop.
Late October and early November 2004, the Sun was exceedingly active, with spaceweather alerts being issued (spaceweather.com)
I took images of several sunspot groups that were present during that period..
Sunspot Group 687
METHOD: Meade ETX 105, Solar Filter, Meade LPI. Autostacked. Notice the
bright faculae around the sunspot
Sunspot
Group 691 on 31 October 2004.
METHOD: Meade ETX 105, Solar Filter, Meade LPI. Autostacked.
Sunspot Group 691 on 1 Nov 2004
METHOD: Meade ETX 105, Solar Filter, Meade LPI. Autostacked.
Sunspot Group 693 on 31 Oct 2004
METHOD: Meade ETX 105, Solar Filter, Meade LPI. Autostacked.
Sunspot Group 693 on 31 Oct 2004
METHOD: Meade ETX 105, Solar Filter, Meade LPI, 2x Barlow Lens. An AVI was captured to disk, and processed with Registax 2.
Sunspot Group 693 on 1 Nov 2004
METHOD: Meade ETX 105, Solar Filter, Meade LPI. Autostacked.
Sunspot Group 693 on 2 Nov 2004. Note how the sunspots have dramatically changed
shape.
METHOD: Meade ETX 105, Solar Filter, Meade LPI. Autostacked. Photoshop used to rotate to the same orientation as previously.
Sunspot Group 693 on 3 November 2004 Again, note the changes.
ETHOD: Meade ETX 105, Solar Filter, Meade LPI. Autostacked. Photoshop used to rotate to the same orientation as previously.
Whole Sun 3rd November 2004.
METHOD:Kodak DX4330, Meade ETX105 with 30mm Eyepiece mounted to Televue Adapter, Solar Filter. Photoshop.
Sunspot Group 693 3rd November 2004
METHOD:Kodak DX4330, Meade ETX105 with 30mm Eyepiece mounted to Televue Adapter, Solar Filter. Photoshop.
Sunspot Group 696 6 November 2004
METHOD: Meade ETX 105, Solar Filter, Meade LPI. Autostacked, brightened with Photoshop.
January 2005. These next two images are a mere 24 hours apart, and show the development of Sunspot Group 720 on 12th January
when it was almost invisible, to a dramatic dark spot shaped like a bee on 13th January.
METHOD: Meade ETX 105, Solar Filter, Meade LPI. Autostacked, cropped
with Photoshop.
METHOD: Meade ETX 105, Solar Filter, Meade LPI. Autostacked, cropped
with Photoshop.
23 hours after the previous image:
METHOD: Meade ETX 105, Solar Filter, Meade LPI. Autostacked, cropped with Photoshop.
27 hours after the previous image:
METHOD: Meade ETX 105, Solar Filter, Meade LPI. Autostacked, cropped with Photoshop.
Full Sun image of the same day, 15th January 2005
METHOD:Kodak DX4330, Meade ETX105 with 30mm Eyepiece mounted to Televue Adapter, Solar Filter.
26 hours later:
METHOD:Kodak DX4330, Meade ETX105 with 30mm Eyepiece mounted to Televue Adapter, Solar Filter.
A closeup of sunspot group 720
METHOD:Kodak DX4330, Meade ETX105 with 30mm Eyepiece mounted to Televue Adapter, zoomed to maximum optical zoom of 3.3X, Solar Filter
METHOD: Meade ETX 105, Solar Filter, Meade LPI. Autostacked, cropped with Photoshop.
50 hours later (clouds obscured observing until 18 January)
METHOD:Kodak DX4330, Meade ETX105 with 30mm Eyepiece mounted to Televue Adapter, zoomed to maximum optical zoom of 3.3X, Solar Filter
METHOD:Kodak DX4330, Meade ETX105 with 30mm Eyepiece mounted to Televue Adapter, Solar Filter.
And 24 hours later on 19th January:
METHOD: Meade ETX 105, Solar Filter, Meade LPI. Autostacked, cropped with Photoshop.
And 24 hours later on 20th January, The faculae (white streaks around the sunspot) are genuine, and become easier to see because the sun has rotated, and therefore the sunspot now appears near the suns limb:
METHOD: Meade ETX 105, Solar Filter, Meade LPI. Autostacked, cropped with Photoshop.
A new sunspot, a small one appeared over the limb on the 19th. This one is numbered 723. The mottling that appears in this image is a real effect on the Sun. Note also the small sunspots to the right of 723.
METHOD: Meade ETX 105, Solar Filter, Meade LPI. Autostacked, cropped with Photoshop.
May 2005. This sunspot appeared a few days ago, and was changing rapidly. In this shot, Sunspot 756 is several times larger than Earth.
METHOD: Meade ETX 105, Solar Filter, Meade LPI. Autostacked, cropped with Photoshop.
And a day later (2 May 2005):
METHOD: Meade ETX 105, Solar Filter, Meade LPI. Autostacked, cropped with Photoshop.
A sunspot group which was described as "sprawling" had developed, and by 9th May, this group, designated 758, was about one tenth of the solar disk!
METHOD: Meade ETX 105, Solar Filter, Meade LPI. Autostacked, cropped with Photoshop.
and a new sunspot, a large one had come over the limb. The faculae are obvious in this image:
METHOD: Meade ETX 105, Solar Filter, Meade LPI. Autostacked, cropped with Photoshop.
In June 2005, there were several huge sunspots across the face of the sun. I focussed on two groups, 776, and 775
METHOD: Meade ETX 105, Solar Filter, Meade LPI. Autostacked, Photoshop.
August 16th 2005, an interesting "triangle" of sunspots formed near sunspot group 797
METHOD: Meade ETX 105, Solar Filter, Meade LPI. Autostacked, Photoshop.
On 18th November, when I finally got both clear sky and time I could finally get images of Sunspot Region 822; this was the result:
METHOD: Meade ETX 105, Solar Filter, Pictures 1 and 2 with Kodak 7630 and adapter, picture 3 with Meade LPI. Autostacked, Photoshop.