Large Sunspot (2529) faces Earthward

For the last few days sun spot group 2529 has marched across the sun’s surface and is looking right at us here on earth. Seeing how there has not been a major group like this in a while I was able to get outside and photograph, I took the opportunity for 2 days to try to get images.

the sun’s surface showing almost no spots. Image courtesy of NASA Solar Dynamic’s Observatory

So far the spot has only produced minor C class flares all directed away from earth. The following probabilities for flares are as follows : C: 60%, M: 10%, X: 1%. The guess I have is that it would pop off at least a C class due to the magnetogram looking like this :

Magnetogram of the Sun image rights NASA SDO

and a close up :

Magnetogram of region 2529 image courtesy of NASA SDO

That being said with he gear I have you can get decent images. I really enjoy looking at the sun. . .weird I know but you can see it waver and boil. It really changes the way you look at things from then on out. . . any way

To get my pics I used my Celestron Neximager5 and my Celestron 6se an for my solar filter I used a glass Solar filter made by Seymour Solar.  For software I used Icap which came with my camera and I stacked in Registax. For the settings I tried a few settings, I used the RGB settings and that gives me a almost white disk. I personally prefer the natural look of the BY settings when capturing the sun with this filter as it gives it the familiar orange/yellow color. This is by no means a definitive guide. I just use what works for myself as this is  not a solar telescope by Lunt or Coronado.

I was able to get my first almost complete disk using a few focal reducers. First the Celestron corrector/reducer it brings you down to an F/6.3 and following it up with my Orion 0.5x Focal Reducer for StarShoot G3 Imaging Cameras on the camera I was able to take the following:

The Sun as near as a whole disk as I could get

I don’t think this was too bad considering with out both focal reducers I was able to take a picture of the sun in 9 mosaic shots. . . .which gets old.

Now I will go closer and closer to the spot group I think I did ok for getting some granulation. My seeing conditions were clear but hazy with low wind and med humidity.

Enjoy!

My orientation was slightly off

I should have rotated my camera to reflect the north is about the 10 o’clock region of the sun there. I will make sure in the future.

and even closer:

I zoomed in using my barlow

I used a X2 Barlow lens to help zoom in. I learned to zoom using lenses instead of the camera zoom. zooming using the camera zoom only blows up the pixels making images look blurry and exaggerating the pixels.

The Sun: Solar flare X 1.6 on 9-10-2014

I’ve really enjoyed observing the sun. Before you start observing yourself, read over my safety on how to observe the sun here. Last thing I want is some one to not do it properly and lose their eyesight or damage their equipment.  Once you start studying the nearest star, and observe it, you start seeing features change, it’s never the same thing twice. Add in the fact that the sheer power and magnificence of it on it’s own scale. . .and then throw in a dash of knowing the same things happen on other stars. . .and wow. . it’s beautiful.

So the events that lead up to this observing session is that on Sept. 2nd or Sept. 3rd there was a large X class flare that shot off the far side of the sun away from earth. On Sept. 5th the sun spots responsible started to come into view, sun spot 2158 and group 2157. we aren’t sure what of the two did it, however, I took some pictures of both. The skies here are not the greatest all the time so I try to get things when they are available. Unfortunately there was too much humidity and I had tracking issues with my scope.  The pictures where not of very good quality and not worth trying to get the detail out of them.

On September 10th, the skies cleared and I was able to get a better view of the spots.

Sun pots labeled and solar equator marked

The large group seemed rather strange looking and I kept an eye on it. the reports had been stating that there was a lot of Geomagnetic activity around the spot. I tried to get some Ha shots (Hydrogen Alpha) but they didn’t come out right, the scope didn’t track enough for me o get good images during processing.

I ended up getting a few closer views:

First of two shots of the sunspot 2158

Second of two shots of the sunspot 2158

I took these images about 1 hour before it launched off the solar flare. By the time I had called it a day, broke down and brought all the gear inside, downloaded and transferred the images I checked the reports and found it had shot off a flare.  I attempted to get a closer shot, what I end up doing is zooming in with the camera, a Celestron NexImager 5. I use the default setting of 4X4 Binding, to “zoom” I decrease this to the lower setting. I’m not sure if it was artifacts caused by using Registax 6 or not, but there is a “line” that seems to go between the 7 o’clock position to the 2 o’clock, I’m pretty sure its from processing in Registax that caused it.

Spot 2158 zoomed in

Now the group to it’s south looked like this:

group 2157

when the sun spot flared, 2158, it launched a Coronal Mass Ejection or CME that registered as a X1.6 directly at us.

2158 impact prediction image from NASA

We had just had a moderate M class right before it by half a day so the X class caught up to and overtook the shock of the smaller M class. This was the first significant activity since January as it’s been pretty calm and relatively small spots or no spots. The northern hemisphere was able to enjoy some very nice Aurora. Otherwise nothing really to report about the sun so far this year.

The Moon: Plato, Anaxagoras, Endymion, and many more

Super moon quadrant

My oh my there is a whole lot going on in this area of the moon. There are two seas, Mare Serenitatis “Sea of Serenity, as well as Mare Imbrium “Sea of Showers” or “Sea of Rains.” A stunningly circular crater Plato. A few other locations such as Anaxagoras, Posidonius, Astoteles, atlas, Herculese, And Endymion. There is a beautiful mountain range that extends for miles along the center of this photo, oddly I couldn’t find a name for the range it’s very prominent looking like a spine reaching from Copernicus to Plato.

Many features I mentioned in the post are labeled

I have far too many features than I can make into an article I want ot revisit some of these in the future to give each one a shot Plato was one spot I definitely took interest in.  I was not too thrilled with the way the Celestron Neximager 5 performed while zooming in in comparison with the Orion deep space video camera. However I’m going to give it another shot because there was a thin layer of clouds that rolled in and sat on target. This could throw off the ability to get a clear image while zoomed in.

Plato is the lava-filled remains of a lunar impact crater. The flat floor of Plato has a relatively low albedo, making it appear dark. The smooth floor doesn’t posses any large impact craters and doesn’t have a peak in the middle. However there are a few small craterlets scattered across the floor.

Plato has developed a reputation for transient lunar phenomena, including flashes of light, unusual color patterns, and areas of hazy visibility. These anomalies are likely a result of seeing conditions, combined with the effects of different illumination angles of the Sun. Two other places that this happens in Aristarchus and Alphonsus, reportedly. They have so far not been recorded. If this is captured in photos it could make a real contribution to science.

Mare Imbrium was created when lava flooded the giant crater formed when a very large object hit the Moon long ago. Estimates of its age range from 3 billion to 4.5 billion years.^[2] Mare Imbrium is the second larges sea on the trailing behind Oceanus Procellarum having a diameter of 1146 km.

Plato:

Diameter:    109KM/ 67.73 Miles – Depth: 1 KM/ 62 Miles

Anaxagoras:

Diameter:    51.9KM/ 32.25 Miles – Depth: 3KM/ 1.864Miles

The rays spread out over 900 kilometers/559.234 miles

Posidonius:

Diameter:    95KM/ 59.03 Miles – Depth: 2.3KM/ 1.43 Miles

Mare Imbrium: “Sea of Showers” or “Sea of Rains”

Diameter: 1146 km (712.09 mi)

Mare Serenitatis: “Sea of Serenity”

Diameter: 674 km (418.804 mi)

The Moon: Kepler and Copernicus

two craters, Kepler and Copernicus

I had done the moon a few times in the past, but never really had pictures I was thrilled with. August 8th, 2014 wa the last of the “super moons” for the year. that night it rained here and the following night same thing. After many of my Facebook friends were snapping shots with tier phones and sending me pics. . .I had to do something! Unfortunately with my scope, it  doesn’t let me take a full Moon shot, so I will have to make a mosaic.

Two prominent features, the two craters Kepler and Copernicus are seen. The mountain range in the east has a few mountains in it.to the south of Copernicus is an Apollo 12 & 14 landing sites. I took some time to label the larger notable features I referenced Google earth’s moon map.

Main features labeled

This was the first time using my Neximager5, for what ever reason I had forgotten to use it on the moon, probably because I had avoided the moon so much, it cuts down on light for DSO’s and I would operate opposite of the full moon to get darker skies. I ended Up taking a fist full of shots but I want to give each one the attention they deserve! Please enjoy and look around!

Some of the features of the marked areas:

Kepler:

Diam: 32 km/19.9Miles, Depth: 2.7 km/1.68Miles

The rays extend for well over 300 km /86.41Miles

Copernicus:

Diam: 93 km/57.8Miles, Depth:3.8 km/2.36Miles

The rays extend for well over 800 km /497.1Miles

Pytheas:

Diam: 20 km/12.43Miles, Depth: 2.5 km/1.55Miles

Grimaldi:

Diam: 173.49 km/107.8Miles, Depth:2.7 km/1.68Miles

Aristarchus:

Diam: 40 km/24.86Miles, Depth: 3.7 km/2.3Miles