Three days of AR2833

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Thefatkitty Canada
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Three days of AR2833

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Post by Thefatkitty »


Hey all, hope things are well with you and yours :D

Friday afternoon, and I've been home since two-thirty. This is the result of getting my sorry carcass out of bed for work at 5AM and getting it done. I have the freedom of being able to leave for work when I want, as long as it all gets finished. What do I do? I deliver pet supplies to people who can't do it for themselves. For most of these people, their furballs are their only company in the day, so I enjoy what I do. I know so many good folks, both two and four-legged...

My territory is farm country in Ontario (~ minimum 100 miles/160 km's north and west of Toronto); it's just me and my Ford Ranger and sometimes a few prayers on the open and occasional dirt roads. I've seen my boss three times now since last August. My hardly changing route list is emailed to me the night before, I'm paid through Interac, and all expenses covered (gas, insurance, supplies; I use a company credit card). I schedule the truck maintenance for myself and the other four people on this; not rocket science and it all works.

This gives me a lot of freedom, not to mention tips and side jobs, and I am never stressed from my job. How could I be? When I pull in to a client, it's canine tails wagging, the meows and feline body-checks, happy pet owners...

And, weather permitting, I often have the chance to check out the Sun in the day. I'm so fascinated with our star, but I've discovered the "deeper in" you get into the surface, the more it seems to cost. I have a "wish list of wavelengths", if you will, but for now the affordability is white light. The Calcium-K and HA are going to have to wait...

I use Baader solar film in a homemade filter unit with my C80-HD at f/11.4 mounted on an older CG4 with a Canon EOS 550D. With this camera, I have discovered that the best settings for shooting the Sun is ISO 100 and 1/250th of a second exposure time. For processing, I use PIPP, AS3, ImPPG and PhotoShop 2020. Most often, I take 15 pictures at a time. My mount is manually driven, so the Sun or whatever drifts out of the FOV eventually. Out of those 15 pictures, a stack of 25% in AS3 usually provides the best results. Then off to ImPPG where I have a few preset settings for the Sun and Moon, and finally a bit of very mild tweaking with the Camera Raw filter in PS.

The scope, mount and camera are second hand, the only new parts in that drivetrain are the Vixen T-ring and the Baader solar film. All of the software is freeware with the exception of PS 2020, and that was a gift from my brother-in-law. Total cost for all this was just under $400CDN. Run whatcha brung :lol:

I had a fairy clear sky on Tuesday (June 15th) when I got in, so I took some shots of the Sun with sunspot AR2833. The next day was less than ideal, but I did manage through some breaks in the clouds. Yesterday (Thursday) was quite nice, and I managed to get some decent shots.

I was hoping for a four day run at least, but my forecast for today was a lot of rain with thunderstorms. At 6AM, this was my view as I was heading west and then north after that:

AM.jpg


Those clouds that seem to go to the horizon is actually rain, and I drove right into it. Lightning, thunder, and sudden waves of intense downpours; I had to pull over a few times and wait it out. A very soggy morning to say the least; the truck's exterior looks like I've been off-roading...

Now we have clouds, humidity, and rain forecasted for the next bit. Good times; welcome to summer in southern Ontario! ;)

Back to ol' Sol. This is yesterday's Sun on Thursday June 17, 2021 with AR2833 still making progress across the surface; the Earth for scale is to the bottom right:

80mm_06-17-2021-s.jpg


Full size image here



And this is a combination shot of the same spot, AR2833 from the 15th, 16th and 17th. I took the shots at 5:14PM EST each consecutive day. The spot seems to travel from right to left roughly 100,000 miles (160000 KM's) across the Sun's surface in a 24 hour time frame.

80mm_06-15_16_17-2021-s.jpg


Full size image here



You can probably see that the sunspot is bigger than our blue marble. Just to emphasize, here's a close-up of the two to scale:

earth-spot.jpg
earth-spot.jpg (22.03 KiB) Viewed 1517 times


And that's a small spot. We're just in the beginnings of Solar Cycle 25. When I got into the whole Solar thing it was 2017, back when there was a bit more to see. Then 2018 started... The past two years and change have been a sort of an extreme minimum from what I can find out. A record 100 consecutive spotless days in 2020. Hopefully it's going to ramp up some. Please, universe, just do me this one favour...??


Alrighty, enough of me. It's somewhat before nine here; I started writing this post at 3PM. Between then and now it was family, dinner, the usual. TGIF!!

I also have to ask: If any of you reading this have a 1.25" Baader Solar Continuum filer (single or double stack), K-Line or even a polarizing filter collecting dust instead of photons in a sock drawer, please PM me. We need to talk :D

Well, time for me to have a beer, sit on the couch, watch some TV (probably a documentary) and pass out.

Have a good day/night all, and all the best,
Mark

"The Hankmeister" Celestron 8SE, orange tube Vixen made C80, CG4 & AZ-EQ5 mounts.
Too much Towa glass/mirrors.

H/A - PST stage 2 mod with a Baader 90mm ERF on a Celestron XLT 102 (thanks Mike!)
Ca-K - W/O 61mm, Antares 1.6 barlow, Baader 3.8 OD and Ca-K filters with a ZWO ASI174mm.
W/L - C80-HD with Baader 5.0 & 3.8 Solar film, Solar Continuum 7.5nm and UV/IR filters with a Canon EOS 550D.

Oh yeah, and Solar Cycle 25 :D
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Ylem United States of America
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Re: Three days of AR2833

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Post by Ylem »


Great post Mark, our star is certainly fascinating 😀
I picked up a PST at the beginning of the year, there is so much to learn regarding the Sun, I am having a lot of fun though.
Clear Skies,
-Jeff :telescopewink:


Member; ASTRA-NJ



Orion 80ED
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Solsearcher Canada
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Re: Three days of AR2833

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Post by Solsearcher »


Great way to show the rotation Mark ! I remember doing the same thing a few years back with full disks in Ha , I think I had a run of 6-7 consecutive days but I didn't combine them . I will try to find them but they will be on a 2 TB hard drive loaded with 10 years of cycle 24 images . could be a challenge lol .
Solar scopes (Coronado Ha) 60mm double stack , 90mm double stack , 150mm single stack .
W/L scope Williams Optic Megrez 110mm / Lunt herschel wedge .
Night scope Celestron 9.25 XLT
Mounts HEQ6 , HEQ5 , Losmandy G8
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Thefatkitty Canada
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Re: Three days of AR2833

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Post by Thefatkitty »


Ylem wrote: Sat Jun 19, 2021 1:55 am Great post Mark, our star is certainly fascinating 😀
I picked up a PST at the beginning of the year, there is so much to learn regarding the Sun, I am having a lot of fun though.

Thanks Jeff, and yes it is! I remember you getting the PST and I was quite envious... :lol: How's that going? Would love to hear about your experiences/views with it :)

All the best,
Mark

"The Hankmeister" Celestron 8SE, orange tube Vixen made C80, CG4 & AZ-EQ5 mounts.
Too much Towa glass/mirrors.

H/A - PST stage 2 mod with a Baader 90mm ERF on a Celestron XLT 102 (thanks Mike!)
Ca-K - W/O 61mm, Antares 1.6 barlow, Baader 3.8 OD and Ca-K filters with a ZWO ASI174mm.
W/L - C80-HD with Baader 5.0 & 3.8 Solar film, Solar Continuum 7.5nm and UV/IR filters with a Canon EOS 550D.

Oh yeah, and Solar Cycle 25 :D
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Ylem United States of America
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Re: Three days of AR2833

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Post by Ylem »


Thefatkitty wrote: Sun Jun 20, 2021 1:08 am
Ylem wrote: Sat Jun 19, 2021 1:55 am Great post Mark, our star is certainly fascinating 😀
I picked up a PST at the beginning of the year, there is so much to learn regarding the Sun, I am having a lot of fun though.

Thanks Jeff, and yes it is! I remember you getting the PST and I was quite envious... :lol: How's that going? Would love to hear about your experiences/views with it :)

All the best,
I love the little thing :)

Unfortunately what is seen at the EP is nothing like the images posted here.
The nice about it is it keeps my interest up, seems I learn something new everyday about our star. :)
Clear Skies,
-Jeff :telescopewink:


Member; ASTRA-NJ



Orion 80ED
Celestron C5, 6SE, Celestar 8
Vixen Porta Mount ll
Coronado PST
A big box of Plossls
Little box of filters
:D



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messier 111 Canada
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Re: Three days of AR2833

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Post by messier 111 »


nice images , thx .
I LOVE REFRACTORS , :Astronomer1: :sprefac:

REFRACTOR , TS-Optics Doublet SD-APO 125 mm f/7.8 . Lunt 80mm MT Ha Doublet Refractor .

EYEPIECES, Delos , Delite and 26mm Nagler t5 , 2 zoom Svbony 7-21 , Orion Premium Linear BinoViewer .

FILTER , Nebustar 2 tele vue . Apm solar wedge . contrast booster 2 inches .

Mounts , berno mack 3 with telepod , cg-4 motorized , eq6 pro belt drive .

“Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won't come in.”
― Isaac Asimov

Jean-Yves :flags-canada:
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Re: Three days of AR2833

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Post by Lady Fraktor »


Great images as always Mark, I do like that little perspective dot in the corner.
Something to make a person feel even more insignificant in the huge universe :)
See Far Sticks: Antares Elita 103/1575, AOM FLT 105/1000, Bresser BV 127/1200, Nočný stopár 152/1200, Vyrobené doma 70/700, Stellarvue NHNG DX 80/552, TAL RS100/1000, Vixen SD115s/885
EQ: TAL MT-1, Vixen SXP, AXJ, AXD
Az/Alt: AYO Digi II/ Argo Navis, Stellarvue M2C/ Argo Navis
Tripods: Berlebach Planet (2), Uni 28 Astro, Report 372, TAL factory maple, Vixen ASG-CB90, Vixen AXD-TR102
Diagonals: Astro-Physics, Baader Amici, Baader Herschel, iStar Blue, Stellarvue DX, Takahashi prism, TAL, Vixen flip mirror
Eyepieces: Antares to Zeiss
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Re: Three days of AR2833

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Post by Butterfly Maiden »


Great report and images, as usual, Mark :smile:
Vanessa

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Re: Three days of AR2833

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Post by Tillibobs »


Ylem wrote: Sun Jun 20, 2021 2:04 am
Thefatkitty wrote: Sun Jun 20, 2021 1:08 am
Ylem wrote: Sat Jun 19, 2021 1:55 am Great post Mark, our star is certainly fascinating 😀
I picked up a PST at the beginning of the year, there is so much to learn regarding the Sun, I am having a lot of fun though.

Thanks Jeff, and yes it is! I remember you getting the PST and I was quite envious... :lol: How's that going? Would love to hear about your experiences/views with it :)

All the best,
I love the little thing :)

Unfortunately what is seen at the EP is nothing like the images posted here.
The nice about it is it keeps my interest up, seems I learn something new everyday about our star. :)
If you need help when you decide to try your hand at imaging just ask. Lots of us started imaging with the PST.
Keith.
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Re: Three days of AR2833

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Post by Bigzmey »


Great post and pictures Mark!
Scopes: Stellarvue: SV102ED; Celestron: 9.25" EdgeHD, 8" SCT, 150ST, Onyx 80ED; iOptron: Hankmeister 6" Mak; SW: 7" Mak; Meade: 80ST.
Mounts: SW: SkyTee2, AzGTi; iOptron: AZMP; ES: Twilight I; Bresser: EXOS2; UA: MicroStar.
Binos: APM: 100-90 APO; Canon: IS 15x50; Orion: Binoviewer, LG II 15x70, WV 10x50, Nikon: AE 16x50, 10x50, 8x40.
EPs: Pentax: XWs & XFs; TeleVue: Delites, Panoptic & Plossls; ES: 68, 62; Vixen: SLVs; Baader: BCOs, Aspherics, Mark IV.
Diagonals: Baader: BBHS mirror, Zeiss Spec T2 prism, Clicklock dielectric; TeleVue: Evebrite dielectric; AltairAstro: 2" prism.
Filters: Lumicon: DeepSky, UHC, OIII, H-beta; Baader: Moon & SkyGlow, Contrast Booster, UHC-S, 6-color set; Astronomik: UHC.

Observing: DSOs: 3106 (Completed: Messier, Herschel 1, 2, 3. In progress: H2,500: 2180, S110: 77). Doubles: 2382, Comets: 34, Asteroids: 255
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Re: Three days of AR2833

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Post by Makuser »


Hi Mark. Yet another great report from you. I enjoyed your commentary, the sky photo (looks like my sky here this last week), and your images of AR2833 with the Earth as a size reference. Thanks for sharing these photos with us on here Mark, and have a great Fathers Day.
Marshall
Sky-Watcher 90mm f/13.8 Maksutov-Cassegrain on motorized Multimount
Orion Astroview 120ST f/5 Refractor on EQ3 mount
Celestron Comet Catcher 140mm f/3.64 Schmidt-Newtonian on alt-az mount
Celestron Omni XLT150R f/5 Refractor on CG4 mount with dual axis drives.
Orion 180mm f/15 Maksutov-Cassegrain on CG5-GT Goto mount.
Orion XT12i 12" f/4.9 Dobsonian Intelliscope.
Kamakura 7x35 Binoculars and Celestron SkyMaster 15x70 Binoculars. ZWO ASI 120MC camera.
>)))))*>
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