Category: Sun

2010 May 6 Solar Prominences

H-Alpha Solar - May 6, 2010
Solar Prominences – May 6, 2010
Sketch and Details by Erika Rix

2010 May 6, 1900 UT – 2100 UT
Solar h-alpha featuring SE and SW prominences – Erika Rix
PCW Memorial Observatory, Zanesville, Ohio USA
DS 60mm Maxscope, LXD75, 21-7mm Zhumell

H-alpha sketch created scopeside with black Strathmore paper, white Conte’ crayon and pencil, white Prang watercolor pencil, Derwent charcoal pencil, black oil pencil.

T: 27.2°C-21.2°C, H: 57%-64%
S: Wilson 2-4, T: 5.5/6
Clear and calm
Alt: 58.5-37.8, Az: 229.2-259.9

I set up outside of the observatory today since the Sun was moving over the SW tree line and I didn’t want to rush my observing session. I had planned on putting in the cold crops in the garden but just couldn’t resist observing instead.

The active regions and filaments were tempting, but it had been so long since I’ve done close up prominence studies that I decided to concentrate on two limb areas instead. At the beginning of the session, the SW had a larger prominence that looked like a comma hovering over a crooked finger. I decided to move to the SE limb instead because what appeared to be a very bright hedgerow prominence with a smaller prominence beside it, turned out to a very wide set of prominences connected together, with over half of it so faint it was difficult to tease the detail out with the poorer seeing conditions at the beginning of the session.

Seeing gradually improved and I decided to go for a second sketch and just couldn’t help nabbing that comma prominence. It had already changed its shape to where it was no longer a comma, but a large loop instead. I was only able to make out the faintest portion of the loop with my Sol-Survivor cover completely shut around my head and eyepiece.

2010 Mar 26 Full Solar Disk

Solar Disc
Solar H-Alpha – AR11057
Sketch and Details by Erika Rix

*2010 March 26, 2033 UT.
Solar h-alpha, AR11057.

PCW Memorial Observatory, Zanesville, Ohio USA – Erika Rix.

DS 60mm Maxscope, LXD75, 21-7mm Zhumell.
H-alpha sketch created scopeside with black Canson paper, white Conte’ crayon and pencil, white Prang watercolor pencil, Derwent charcoal pencil, black oil pencil.

SW prominence at first glance looked detached. Increasing mag and waiting for steady seeing, I could make out fainter portions of the prominence that reached the limb. There were a few brighter prominence regions scattered about, but nothing of great significance, especially after the magnificent NW prominence last week.

AR 11057 stood out immediately with two dark areas and bright plage. Panning the FOV brought out another bright plage area on the WNW area just 10 deg in from limb. This could possibly be a remnant of 11056. Toward the southern-middle of the disk, brighter little clusters of plage scattered the area, as well a plage to the NW about 40 deg in from the limb. There were a few filaments but the one that really caught my eye was a wide V-shaped one to the SE. I had to tweak the Etalons to bring out the full structure of what first appeared as a single line of filament.

Rising Prominence

Prominence - April 10, 2010
Prominence – April 10, 2010
Sketch and Details by Les Cowley

For at least three days April 8-10, 2010 a large and ever-changing prominence rotated into view over the Sun’s NE limb. Its extent in solar longitude must therefore be considerable. Here is its appearance 09:00 UT on 10th April. Sketched directly at the eyepiece of a Solarmax 60 single stacked H-alpha scope 50 – 80X. Daler Watercolour, Studio and Drawing pencils on black Camford paper.

Les Cowley

An Abundance of Solar Activity

Sun - H-alpha - April 9, 2010
Sun – H-Alpha – April 9, 2010
Sketch and Details by Stephen Ames

I use:
Crayola Cerulean pencil for plage
Crayola Aqua Green pencil for proms
White 20# paper
I scan into photoshop and invert.

Blue skies,

Stephen Ames

See your life giving sun in vivid images and art
from observers all over the world at
www.SeeMySunspot.com

Eclipse at Totality July 22, 2009

Solar Eclipse
Eclipse at Totality July 22, 2009
Sketch and Details by Serge Vieillard

Back in China for the eclipse of the century, that of July 22, 2009 and again a great trip… At the end of monsoon, the place of observation is very difficult to choose. The weather statistics make us prefer the area near Shanghai. Very wisely, we provided a bus to have a certain latitude of mobility to adjust our position at the last moment. The day before the eclipse, a violent storm broke out as the announced schedule. It is imperative to move towards the southwest and 300 km. away. A cloud deprives us of the sunrise but ascending into heaven, the sun finally appears in an area spared…. The lights dim and the lighting of the sodium lighting of the highway rest area where we were was depriving us of the special ambiance of this characteristic pale light before totality. Planets and stars are invisible. In contrast, the 2nd and 3rd contacts are beautiful, gently attenuated by the clouds. I have seen without the filter L80x20 the last ray of light and fabulous appearance of the pink chromosphere. Only very low crown pierces and irradiates the nearby clouds, showing a certain luminous flows. It is almost impossible to guess the general form and extensions of various plumes, drowning, tangled and modifying themselves to suit the rapidly changing clouds. At the maximum, the urge to stop everything takes me to this sketch… But then there is a magnificent chromosphere, a protuberance which only extends to the approach of the 3rd contact giving me the urge to continue this work and transcribe this unusual vision. Diamonds are beautiful, followed by a string of fine grains of Bailly, easy to follow without a filter for several seconds. Although at the time, I felt some disappointment at this show ruined by clouds, I savored the benefit-post, glad to have been among the privileged few to have seen in its entirety.

Translation by Frank McCabe

2010 March 18 Prominence

Solar Prominence
Solar h-alpha, Active regions 1054, 1056
Sketch and Details by Erika Rix

DS 60mm Maxscope, LXD75, 21-7mm Zhumell
H-alpha sketch created scope-side with black Canson paper, white Conte’ crayon and pencil, white Prang watercolor pencil, Derwent charcoal pencil, black oil pencil.

That huge prom was an absolute beauty and I could have spent the entire day sketching it over and over for an animation. As it was, it nearly was so complex that a person could spend too much time on one sketch and end up chasing the changes and never actually complete the sketch.

So Father, So Daughters

Luna - Moon
Sketch by Luna De Wit

Nine - Sun
Sketch by Nine De Wit

Inspired by the hobby of their father, Nine (4) and Luna (7) made two astrosketches. The youngest took the artistic freedom to unite the Sun with the nightsky. It doesn’t surprise me that the oldest put the Moon on her drawing, after all she was named after this celestical object. Hope you like it!

Clear skies
Jef De Wit

Object name: (night)sky
Location: Hove, Belgium
Date: somewhere in 2009
Medium: color markers on white paper and cardboard, color stickers

Sun – March 11, 2010

Sun - H-Alpha
Sun – H-Alpha – March 11, 2010
Sketch and Details by Theo Bakalexis

I make a 3d sketch on my laptop.
For my observation use the next equiqment.

CORONADO MAXSCOPE SM 60mm Double stack 0.5A Ha
Equator base EQ5.
Eyepiece MEADE PLOSSL 9mm.
Seeing medium with light clouds.

I see a big number of great types of filaments and a great prominence to the south. Two small active regions and a large but weak region at NW.

Sun in H-Alpha – March 4, 2010

Sun - March 4, 2010
Sun – H-Alpha – March 4, 2010
Sketch and Details by Erika Rix

2010 March 4
Solar h-alpha, Active regions 1051, 1052, 1053
PCW Memorial Observatory, Zanesville, Ohio USA – Erika Rix
DS 60mm Maxscope, LXD75, 21-7mm Zhumell

H-alpha sketch created scope-side with black Canson paper, white Conte’ crayon and pencil, white Prang watercolor pencil, Derwent charcoal pencil, black oil pencil.

Temp: -1°C, Humidity 75%
Seeing: Wilson 4, Transparency: 4.6/6
Light cirrus, calm, Alt: 35.1, Az: 140.0