Category: Ha filtered

Plasma Dancing on the Southwestern Limb

2011 06 30, 1435 UT
Solar h-alpha, SW prominence

PCW Memorial Observatory, Ohio USA – Erika Rix (www.pcwobservatory.com)
Temp: 24.2°C, Humidity 62%, cirrus
S: Wilson 4.5, T: 1/6-3/6, Alt: 38.3 deg, Az: 090.4 deg
DS 60mm Maxscope, LXD75, 21-7mm Zhumell, 57.14x

Sketches created scope-side with black Strathmore Artagain paper, white Conte’ crayon and pencil, Derwent charcoal pencil, black oil pencil

At first glance, this SW prominence only showed a clear view of its northern leading edge and part of its upper arch. To the south, there was a very bright, segmented area of prominence. Transparency was very poor, but on moments of clearing up, I was able to bump up the magnification to show the very light detailed structure of plasma holding it all together. Then yet further to the south, a tall slender area of prominence forked at the tip and its filament reached into the solar disk in three areas, with the northern one being the longest. Again, I could see faint structures of prominence reaching southward from the segmented prominence.

Colors of the Sun

2011 06 01, 1500 UT – 1630 UT
Solar h-alpha, prominences

PCW Memorial Observatory, Ohio USA – Erika Rix, www.pcwobservatory.com
Temp: 32.3°C, Humidity 42%, SE winds 5mph
Seeing: Wilson 4, Transparency: 2/6

DS 60mm Maxscope, LXD75, 21-7mm Zhumell

Sketch created scopeside with black Strathmore Artagain paper, oil pastels

This was my first attempt at creating a color solar sketch with oil pastels. It may have worked better if the pastels weren’t so blunt and the problem of the pastels turning soft from the heat (even though I kept the box from direct sunlight). Still, I was pleasantly surprised at the colors compared to other attempts at using colored pencils or colored pastels for sketching the Sun. With a bit more practice, or if I can find oil pastel pencils), I might actually enjoy using color over my preferred method of monochrome.

The Sun Over Nagykanizsa

Hi!

The data of drawing: 07.Jun.2011.
Telescope : Colorado PST.
Observing Location: Nagykanizsa – Hungary, Canis Maior Sun Observatory
(www.nae.hu)

Today I’ve made a h-alpha sketch through with Colorado PST H-Alpha
telescope. The drawing is made between 8:00 an 10:00 UT from
Nagykanizsa Canis Maior Sun Observatory , using a red pastel pencil on
black paper.

The weather was bad. The sky was cloudy. Sun only 1-3 happened upon lawsuits up.
I was not able to finish a drawing. The clouds did not allow it. I
managed to prepare a digital scheme it redrawing.

This digital drawing preparated GIMP 2.6 programs, based on a pastel sketch.

Thank you for it!

Clear Sky !

Tamas Bognar

http://tamasasztro.blogspot.com
http://tamasfoto.blogspot.com/

skype : bognartamas
msn : bognart@gmail.com

Our Star Animated

Western Prominence

2011 06 01, 1500 UT – 1630 UT
Solar h-alpha, prominences

PCW Memorial Observatory, Ohio USA – Erika Rix, www.pcwobservatory.com
Temp: 32.3°C, Humidity 42%, SE winds 5mph
Seeing: Wilson 4, Transparency: 2/6

DS 60mm Maxscope, LXD75, 21-7mm Zhumell

Sketch created scopeside with black Strathmore Artagain paper, white Conte’ crayon and pencil, Derwent charcoal pencil, black oil pencil

There were six active regions on the Sun, but a western prominence region caught my eye as a possible CME that took place during my observation. If it was simply an erupting prominence, it was the brightest I’ve witnessed as such. I’ve created an animation of my sketch sequence that I recorded during the observation at 5-minute intervals.

Magnetic Fields and Plasma Trees

– Object Name: the Sun
– Object Type: Star
– Location: Lith, the Netherlands
– Date: 7-5-2011
– Media: red pastel pencil, black paper, photoshop

The sky was clear today, so i aimed my new solartelescope at the Sun to see some Solar Flares. There where pretty much of those flares visible today. As you can see on the sketch, three huge flares where visible on the leftcorner of the sun.
Our Sun reaches the Solar Maximum in 2013, so it will become more and more active. This is the time to buy a solartelescope!

– Weather: hot and dry
– Seeing: (very) bad
– Telescope: Coronado P.S.T.

I’m ready for the Solar Maximum!

Rutger Teule
www.rutgerteule.com

New Active Region

2011 05 09, 1429UT-1550UT
Solar NOAA 11203, 11204, ??, 11209, 11208

www.pcwobservatory.com

PCW Memorial Observatory, Zanesville, Ohio USA – Erika Rix
DS 60mm Maxscope, LXD75, 21-7mm Zhumell, ETX70 AT w/tilt plate and white light glass filter.

All sketches done scopeside and flipped in Photoshop to match standard orientation. H-alpha sketch created with black Strathmore Artagain paper, white Conte’ crayon and pencil, Derwent charcoal pencil, black oil pencil. White light sketch created on photocopy paper with 0.5mm mechanical pencil and #2 pencil.

Transparency made it nearly impossible to view prominences at the start of the session with the thin layer of cirrus creating a milky white sky. There were small breaks that allowed me to sketch in some of the detail on a western prominence, that later as the transparency improved, showed an abundance of thin whispy structure that wasn’t captured on paper. By that time, I was already working on a full disk sketch in h-alpha. Seeing was terrific until I started on the white light observation, but had I set up the ETX at the beginning of the session to let the scope adjust to the warmth, it would have been much better by the time I observed with it. As it was, I observed in the observatory for protection of the wind as I view with a shade attached to the objective and wanted to avoid vibration.

There is a possible new active region between 1209 and 1208 that, while observing in white light, had several little spots forming an elliptical shape with pointed ends like a football. I noticed facula around 1208, but the seeing was so bad that I couldn’t make out a definite shape. The umbra of the preceding spot in that region was displaced, as was the preceding spot in 1203. I didn’t notice any sunspots in 1209 during my observation, but that may have been the result of the seeing.

The band of active regions is still putting on a nice show in h-alpha with more-defined plage around them.

The Active Sun

– Object Name: Sun
– Object Type: Star
– Location: Lith, the Netherlands
– Date: 5-5-2011
– Media: white pastel, black paper, PhotoShop CS5
– Telescope: Coronado P.S.T.

Today was a nice clear day in Holland. The sun was shining bright, so i aimed my brand new solar telescope (Coronado P.S.T.) at it to see some Solar Flares. There where many flares visible, and also some sunspots and other details on the surface.
This is my first solar sketch in H-Alpha. The original sketch is black & white, and i changed that colour in PhotoShop.

Clear Skies!

Rutger Teule
www.rutgerteule.com

Our Star Revealed

2011 05 05, 1230 UT – 1515 UT
Solar h-alpha, NOAAs 11203, 11204, 11205, 11207 and prominences

PCW Memorial Observatory, Zanesville, Ohio USA – Erika Rix, www.pcwobservatory.com
Temp: 22.5°C, Humidity 38%
Seeing: Wilson 4, Transparency: 3/6

DS 60mm Maxscope, LXD75, 21-7mm Zhumell, ETX70 AT w/tilt plate and white light glass filter.

H-alpha sketch created scopeside with black Strathmore Artagain paper, white Conte’ crayon and pencil, Derwent charcoal pencil, black oil pencil. White light sketch created on photocopy paper with 0.5mm mechanical pencil and #2 pencil.

The Sun was a little too low in the observatory for me to stay inside at the beginning of the session, so I pulled all my gear onto the grass. It was probably the best move anyway, since it warmed up quite a bit during the session.

I started off with the Maxscope for an overall view. The prominence at the western limb caught my eye initially, but it was the prominence on the eastern limb that really put on a show. It was nearly three times taller than the other and had the faintest wisps of filament reaching out connecting the brightest three areas of that prominence section.

The h-alpha full disk was filled with filaments and plage within the band of active regions. I’ve flipped the views of both the white light and h-alpha full disk sketches to match the standard view (at least a little more so as I didn’t rotate it completely) for comparisons with SOHO views. In white light, there were three distinct areas of faculae, one each on the western and eastern limbs and one around AR 11207. I couldn’t detect 1205 in white light and although the Sun had rotated slightly, I’m fairly sure 1207 is indeed that designation in my sketch and not 1205. Prenumbrae were noted around the preceding spots in 1204 and around the entirety of 1203.

Sun Over Sweet Lake City

Object Name: sun
Object Type: star 😉
Location: Sweet Lake City, The Netherlands
Date: 25 april 2011
Media: graphite pencil, enhanced with Photoshop

Attached you’ll find two images:
1) A sketch of the sun I made this morning using a Lunt LS75Ha etalon filter and a B600 blocking filter mounted on a Takahashi FSQ-106ED. The sketch was made between 8h30 and 9h00 UT viewing trough a Vixen 13 mm LVW (magnification 41x).
2) The same sketch, though then colourized and enhanced with Photoshop CS4.

Thanks for watching!

Maurice Toet
www.dutchtdeepsky.com

Red Forest on the Sun

Today I’ve made a h-alpha sketch through my 60mm H-Alpha telescope. At 78x (9mm plossl) the large proms on the edge of the Sun’s disk showed a lot of detail. It was pretty hard to keep up with the constantly changing structures, when I finished the lower “tree” the little prominence above the main group had totally changed its shape! The drawing is made between 12.30 an 12.45 UT from Deventer, The Netherlands using a red pastel pencil on black paper.
Object Name Sun
Object Type Star
Location Deventer, The Netherlands
Date March 20, 2011
Media red pastel pencil on black paper
Kind regards,
Roel Weijenberg
www.roelblog.nl