Tuesday 20 September 2011

Sundays Proms - 18th September

Not the busiest of days for proms, but I do like the 2.5x Televue Powermate for its ability to zoom in on what little is there!

Sunday 18 September 2011

Solartastic Sunday - 18th September

ha full disk lrg by Mark Townley
ha full disk lrg, a photo by Mark Townley on Flickr.

Solar activity is really starting to ramp up now, and the solar disk is starting to come alive with features - spots, active regions, filaments, filaproms, prominences, plage regions - there's plenty to see.

Nows the time if you have a solar telescope to go out and get a view in - you won't be disappointed!

Saturdays Sun - 17th September

ha full disk final by Mark Townley
ha full disk final, a photo by Mark Townley on Flickr.

After what seems an age without getting any solar viewing in, saturday finally allowed some clear skies. It was worth it! A fantastic sun presented itself!

Friday 2 September 2011

Flaming Proms! 1st September

Proms by Mark Townley
Proms, a photo by Mark Townley on Flickr.

Don't usually do too many proms shots, but these were just too photogenic to miss!

Big Purple Sun - 1st September

cak full disk by Mark Townley
cak full disk, a photo by Mark Townley on Flickr.

The sun at CaK wavelengths looks fantastic when there is alot of activity, and today was no exception. Must make a point of taking more of these images!

This was taken with the 70mm frac @ f10, homemade Baader/Coronado hybrid CaK filter and DMK31 camera. This is a result of 6 panes assembled in Imerge.

Spotty Sun - 1st September

wl full disk by Mark Townley
wl full disk, a photo by Mark Townley on Flickr.

This has got to be the spottiest sun i've been able to observe in sometime. This image was taken with the 70mm frac at f12, Lunt Solar Wedge, DMK31 and 705nm TiO filter. Despite the poor seeing conditions - the solar disk was boiling away in the eyepeice, the long wavelength and narrow bandpass of the TiO filter cut through the turbulent atmosphere and the image was rock steady on the laptop screen. The TiO filter is worthy addition to any white light observers arsenal, used with a solar wedge and refractor the views are excellent. The filter can be purchased from Omega Optical via EBay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Optical-Interference-Filter-705BP10-25mm-Infrared-Astro-/150612232231?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2311304827

Thursday 1 September 2011

Thursdays Fiery Sun - 1st September

Ha Full Disk Colour copy by Mark Townley
Ha Full Disk Colour copy, a photo by Mark Townley on Flickr.

Today was the first day in what seemed like ages with clear skies, and, as such, I decided to capitalise on it.

There's everything on offer today - active regions, sun spots, filaments, filaproms and glorious prominences. More images to come, stay tuned for updates!