Solar astronomy taken to a new level for me

[davenn]

hi everyone

I have had a passion for solar astronomy and effect on earth for 45+ yrs now.
Starting with observing and photographing aurora in my early teens, continuing into sunspot drawing and photography.
With the advent of digital cameras and good affordable telephoto lens, the photography of sunspots has completely superseded the drawing of them.

Two months ago I lashed out on a narrowband Ha ( Hydrogen Alpha) solar telescope and a decent astro camera.
The basic setup as below
the scope and camera on a reasonable camera tripod
My laptop in a cardboard box to shield the screen from the sun ... I have to get my head right up close to the screen ....
need to use a shroud over my head and the box to improve shading



The telescope -- a Lunt LS60THa solar telescope (all the narrowband filtering built in) it tunes between 0.65 and 0.75 Angstrom

The camera -- a ZWO ASI178MC 6MP astro imaging camera

Capture software -- Sharpcap

Processing with Lightroom and or Photoshop

an image example ... taken 24 Nov 2017 .... this is just a single frame



I have desaturated the image in Lightroom to produce a greyscale ... have found it shows the detail better than the colour

Prominences visible on the limb -- upper left and right and lower right
One huge filament and several smaller ones on the face of the sun

I still have lots to learn as far as imaging and image processing goes
one thing many guys do is to do small video clips 500 - 1000 frames. They then use software like Autostakkert!2
to automatically choose and stack the best around 20 - 40% of the frames into a single final image that can then be processed in LR or PS


cheers
Dave

 

[(*steve*)]

Oh that's very nice. I want one!

I have to get my head right up close to the screen ....
need to use a shroud over my head and the box to improve shading

You probably need to learn something from the people that have gone before you.

Remember 5x4 and other large format cameras? Remember the cloth over the head. Something that's not quite as good, but waaaaay more practical is a fresnel lens and a shrouded eyepiece to allow close focus onto the ground glass.

I think you could do the same with a laptop. The screen on a laptop is much brighter, and you won't need the fresnel lens because of the way the screen on a laptop differs from a ground glass (or a mirror to flip the image)

You could probably get away with a pyramid structure that fits over the screen, viewing through the apex.

Here's the thing I'm talking about (a monocular reflex viewer).

 

[davenn]

You probably need to learn something from the people that have gone before you.

yup, most of them just use a black cloth over the head and screen

I was getting sunburnt when I was taking that above image haha

I really need to start using a tracking mount as well, the camera tripod is a hassle to have to adj every 30 sec and often the image gets bumped right out of view,
then I spend another 5 mins trying to find the sun again. more than a little frustrating


Dave

 

[(*steve*)]

then I spend another 5 mins trying to find the sun again

Do you remember that pinhole finder I had on my camera? It works a treat for finding the sun. With the longest lens I have, the sun more than fills the viewfinder, so I feel your pain

But you probably don't have a hot-shoe.

I don't use my tracking mount any more. It's simply too hard for me to set up :-( And with the paper-mache finder I have, it's superfluous.

 

[kellys_eye]

Any form of astro photography floats my boat. Been a keen astronomer for years but, strangely, when I moved to my present location (one of the darkest night sky areas in the country) I've hardly taken the opportunity to set the 'scope up.....

Love the solar image - have you been doing it long enough to see the decline in activity over the years?

Posts like this always kick my enthusiasm into gear so I'll be digging out the stuff and seeing if it all still works soon!

 

[davenn]

Any form of astro photography floats my boat. Been a keen astronomer for years but, strangely, when I moved to my present location (one of the darkest night sky areas in the country) I've hardly taken the opportunity to set the 'scope up.....

ohh cool, nice to know some one else here has similar interests
get ya get set up again, would be great to hear some reports /photos from you
I periodically post images here of deep sky objects

Love the solar image - have you been doing it long enough to see the decline in activity over the years?

Yes, I have followed the last 5 solar max's

Solar cycle 20 1968 November 156.6
Solar cycle 21 1979 December 232.9
Solar cycle 22 1989 November 212.5
Solar cycle 23 2001 November 180.3
Solar cycle 24 2014 April 116.4

as can be seen the 1979 peak was the best of them. By the 1989 peak, I was much deeper into solar activity
and noted that altho it didn't have the highest smoothed spot count, it did have some of the biggest flares
that were recorded up till that time. I saw and photo'ed so many aurora during that solar max

Posts like this always kick my enthusiasm into gear so I'll be digging out the stuff and seeing if it all still works soon!

ohhhh goodie, my job is done


Dave

 

[davenn]

there are those that consider that if this declining activity continues that we may be heading towards another Maunder Minimum event


Dave

 

[kellys_eye]

there are those that consider that if this declining activity continues that we may be heading towards another Maunder Minimum event

Count me in as one of 'those that consider'.....

I have faith in the regularity of solar events and historical records are enough evidence to confirm the effects - kind of peeing all over the cAGW crowd....

Fits with the many claims that there has been no warming since 2000.

I stopped (supposedly on a temporary basis) my astro hobby when I dug out the pillar mount so we could re-configure our grounds and locate various outbuildings. It was beside a superb insulated shed that I'd done out as an observatory - remote controlling the 'scope mount form inside - and that was.... (wow!) over 5 years ago now.

The last out building has gone up now so next year I'll concentrate on building a new observatory-cum-workshop. After all, men do need a hobby!

 

[Tha fios agaibh]

Thanks for sharing Dave. Sun spots and flairs are fascinating.

I thought about getting a solar filter for my lx200, but I probably wouldn't use it much.

Sadly due to my schedule, my scope gathers a lot of dust these days.

 

[FuZZ1L0G1C]

Fascinating shots of Sol.
Regarding solar tracker -
If I still have an ancient 80's library-book photocopy from an astronomy reference book, I'll upload the article with the hand-drawn sketch.
The author used a geared base and (I think) a 12VDC motor, a second base atop that with a 'correction' servo, all driven / controlled by a microprocessor linked to an array of tube-masked photo-transistors, in a spread radial configuration.
The idea is that software / hardware compares levels of sensor inputs, then adjusts rotation and azimuth accordingly.
My only 'reasonable' solar astro-photo was taken with a 300mm telephoto SLR through green welding filters x2, during Mercury's traverse.
Small black dot on washed out disc. 'Low grade', rejected by press editor.

 

[Tha fios agaibh]

Some people are disappointed by what they see through a telescope with their eye because they are used to seeing astronomy pictures out of a book that are super colorful.

The human eye can't perceive all those colors like a camera can. Especially long exposure shots.

 

[kellys_eye]

Some people are disappointed by what they see through a telescope with their eye because they are used to seeing astronomy pictures out of a book that are super colorful.

The human eye can't perceive all those colors like a camera can. Especially long exposure shots.

Despite owing and using a variety of telescope types I now find myself enjoying lying out on the decking with binoculars and, with #1 eyeball finding, just observe what I can, when I can. Meteor showers are a good nights viewing and just scanning the MW is enjoyable.

Actual telescope use is now restricted to astro photography and I was in at the relative start of that hobby after the development of long exposure cameras from webcams. Made a few in my time, still have them!

I never got past DIY gear though - I know there's some incredibly capable camera kit now but I can't justify the time and expense to follow up it so much of my viewing is, as mentioned, #1 eyeball.

My plan (along with dozens of other 'plans') would be to make a motorized (heated ) reclining chair with arm rest programmable co-ordinates for a binocular mount so make object location a little easier and just stick with visual use via my 20x90 bino's.

If/when time and money permits, I'll re-establish my post-mount and go the full remote-controlled, long exposure/live viewing via 4k TV and take astronomy to its 'worst' level - complacency.....

 

[davenn]

Some people are disappointed by what they see through a telescope with their eye because they are used to seeing astronomy pictures out of a book that are super colorful.

The human eye can't perceive all those colors like a camera can. Especially long exposure shots.

yes that is true

 

[Tha fios agaibh]

Back in the day, I took a Polaris centered shot similar to this one with my 35mm camera. (Picture courtesy of Google). I was quite proud of myself.

I agree. The best way to see a meteor shower is just lying on your back and looking up with "#1 eyeball" like when you were a kid.

 

[davenn]

Back in the day, I took a Polaris centered shot similar to this one with my 35mm camera.

Here's examples of deep space images I have been doing for many years .....

Omega Centauri globular cluster





Eta Carina nebula




most of my deep space imaging is done with either my Canon 5D3 or 6D cameras and either the 70 - 200mm or 100 - 400mm zoom lenses

The Globular cluster image above was a single 30sec shot at 200mm focal length
the Eta Carina Neb. was 8 x 30 sec shots stacked


Dave

 

[davenn]

some nice prominences on the sun today (10 Dec 2017)

 

[kellys_eye]

Excellent imaging - the granulation is very clear too.

My favourite images are like the globular clusters and Eta Carina as the sheer number of stars - and potential planets around them - always make my hair stand on end.

When I first saw the Hubble Deep Space image I was spellbound for hours!

 

[davenn]

Excellent imaging - the granulation is very clear too.

Thanks
the granulation not as clear on this image as some others I have done. Mainly because I was exposing to get
the much fainter prominence detail and this results in an overexposed main disk of the sun.

If I wasn't being lazy, I would do 2 images with each feature correctly exposed in two different frames and
then merge the two frames in Photoshop.

My favourite images are like the globular clusters and Eta Carina as the sheer number of stars - and potential planets around them - always make my hair stand on end.

ohhh yeah, for sure.
from Wiki ....

Omega Centauri (ω Cen or NGC 5139) is a globular cluster in the constellation of Centaurus that was first identified as a non-stellar object by Edmond Halley in 1677. Located at a distance of 15,800 light-years (4,850 pc), it is the largest globular cluster in the Milky Way at a diameter of roughly 150 light-years.[10] It is estimated to contain approximately 10 million stars and a total mass equivalent to 4 million solar masses.[11]

freaky huh, so many stars in such as small area

 

[kellys_eye]

freaky huh, so many stars in such as small area

makes you wonder if, should any planets exist in such a globular cluster, would life be able to from an planets that would have, effectively, no nights? At best, the night skies would be as bright as a cloudy day (perhaps?).

 

[Tha fios agaibh]

@kellys_eye; I don't think nightless days would have as much an impact as something like wide temperature swings or perhaps solar winds interfering with their atmosphere.
Obviously, the concept of day and night and years would be radically different than we know it.

Truly mind blowing stuff.

I often ponder the fact that what I'm looking at thru my eyepiece may have disappeared or changed form many years ago.
Then I try to ponder the physically of space itself and my mind explodes.