Spotting the Spots

As the sky was pretty well clear of clouds yesterday I thought it a good opportunity to photograph the Sun. I tried at midday as that meant I would be looking through the least amount of the Earth's atmosphere to give the clearest possible photo. Unfortunately that meant the Sun was very high in the sky and I couldn't get a proper view through the camera viewfinder with the camera pointing up at such a steep angle. I tried again at 3 p.m. and this time managed to line the camera up without too much difficulty. When visiting the excellent SpaceWeather web site I noticed there were several Sunspots showing. How many would my simple equipment capture?



All of them, well, all the major parts of each visible Sunspot. Sunspots are numbered consecutively as they are observed. They are give an AR number. (AR = Active Region)



Some regions start small and then peter out so it is possible that there can be gaps in AR numbers of those in view at any one time. Even with a 400mm telephoto lens the Sun takes up a small section of a photograph so the above are cropped sections. The most important safety feature used when directly observing the Sun is the use of a Solar filter which is designed to cut the brilliance down to a safe level.

Spotty Sun

This morning was the first time for days the Sun shone for more than a few minutes. I think yesterday it managed about fifteen seconds. I finally had the chance to photograph the latest large Sun Spot.



There are other spots but the sky wasn't completely free of thin cloud so only one other showed on the photos. Even the largest one may look insignificant compared to the size of the Sun but, as one internet site described it, large enough to swallow the Earth without a ripple. Size is not necessarily important for activity to occur which affect us. A smaller spot very recently emitted enough radiation to disrupt some radio communications for a while.

As always I used a special Solar filter on the lens to cut down the light intensity and protect the camera.

AR2738 Revisited

Managed a few shots and a video clip in the gaps between clouds this morning.

Cropped photo:
 

Lone Sunspot

Sunspot activity runs in 11 year cycles.
Although it is a period of minimum Sunspot activity the occasional one appears.
It was a bit difficult trying to photograph the Sun with the amount of patchy cloud yesterday.
Sunspot AR2738 is just coming in to view.
It may not look much but is said to be larger than planet Earth.

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Gentle reminder -
do not look directly, or point your camera, at the Sun unless you have a suitable solar filter.
I wrote about the one I use HERE.

Sunspot AR2672

A couple of days ago I took a few shots of the Sun hoping to catch two sunspots but I was a couple of days too late. Sunspot AR2672 is centre of the photo and AR2671 had just disappeared off the right hand side:



This spot is now decaying and moving off the right hand side as the Sun rotates.

Yesterday I tried to leave a message on The Run*A*Round Ranch Report but found access is now by invitation only. If you are reading this Theresa I hope you and yours are well and safe from the devastation wrought by hurricane Harvey.

Spots, Little and Large

Saturday was a day for spotting spots.
First was a Gatekeeper butterfly which obligingly settled on some pond plants for a while:



Both under and top of the wings have two little white spots in a black circle:






It was just the right weather for looking up as well as down.
Moving from the tiny to the ginormous:



As it came into view recently Sunspot AR2665, the largest seen this year, was observed to be growing rapidly. The dark centre is larger than the Earth.

A closer crop:




Gentle reminder folks: looking or pointing a camera or telescope straight at the Sun is a definite NO NO unless you are using a filter designed for that purpose. The Solar filter I use reduces the strength of the Sunlight something like 10,000 times to make it safe to point the camera at the Sun. I wrote about it here.

Sunspot 2612

For a change Friday was a beautiful Sunny Autumn day here, just a few wispy clouds making it ideal to take a new photo of the Sun:



Sunspot 2612 can be seen towards the edge at about 8 o'clock.
Sunspot activity follows an 11yr cycle. We are now past the last maximum and their numbers will decrease over the next four or five years.

A gentle reminder that you should never look directly, or point a camera, at the Sun unless you are using a solar filter designed for that purpose. This is the one I adapted for use on the 70D:

Recent Sunspots

Next ambition is to get a shot of the International Space Station passing in front of the Sun. Doesn't happen very often for any particular viewpoint on Earth. Also the timing has to be accurate as a pass only lasts a few seconds.

Sunspots

A couple of days ago I attempted to shoot some video of the Sun. With the 70D 3x digital zoom and the 100-400mm lens it was possible to have the Sun fill the frame. I guess the equivalent focal length used would have been 900-1000mm. That bit worked out well. Unfortunately, in spite of the sturdy tripod, the gusty wind gave enough vibration to make the video unwatchable. On the other hand when I grabbed a still from the video it was clear enough to use:


This still shot showing a line of Sunspots is as grabbed from the video with no processing or cropping.


For anyone who hasn't seen the previous post on photographing the Sun please note that the only safe way to keep your eyesight and an unfried camera is to use a solar filter designed for that job.