Solar observations

[george7378]

Hi everyone,

I recently made these observations at about 12:00GMT today of Sunspot area 1072 using a pair of binoculars to project onto a piece of card:

Projection viewing is very easy, and I encourage you to do something similar, or use a solar filter if you have one, as I feel it would be nice for us to build up a little gallery of our solar observations.

 

[bwog]

So you can see sun spots with binoculars but not individual craters on the moon?

 

[george7378]

So you can see sun spots with binoculars but not individual craters on the moon?

It depends what you use - with a steady hand you can see craters quite well on the Moon - you can even see them with the naked eye where they cut into the terminator! I'm not sure of the actual dimensions of the sunspot, but it is probably larger than Earth, and when you compare it with the size of the solar disc, it gives you an impression of size. You should try yourself if you have any binoculars!

 

[Izack]

I've never thought of using binoculars to see sunspots!
I might try it some time, though I don't have a stand, and my hands are very shaky.
I have made out craters on the Moon using a good pair of binoculars. It was really breathtaking the first time I did. I was a kid then, so I imagined that I was Galileo for a few minutes, looking through a telescope for the first time. :lol:

 

[astrosammy]

I'll try tommorow morning, I don't have such a good view to the west.

 

[george7378]

I'll try tommorow morning, I don't have such a good view to the west.

Good - photograph what you see! :thumbup:

 

[Andy44]

The Sun and the Moon are approximately the same angular width when viewed from Earth, so you could see many craters just fine using binoculars.

 

[astrosammy]

 

[george7378]

Nice

I checked again this morning, and the smaller sunspot has all but gone.

 

[astrosammy]

Ah, I thought I didn't get it with my cheap camera. I think I'll get a solar filter.

 

[george7378]

Ah, I thought I didn't get it with my cheap camera. I think I'll get a solar filter.

You did do well - the large sunspot is easily visible, as it should be. I am also going to get a filter too, and will try to take some photos through the scope.

 

[bwog]

It depends what you use - with a steady hand you can see craters quite well on the Moon - you can even see them with the naked eye where they cut into the terminator! I'm not sure of the actual dimensions of the sunspot, but it is probably larger than Earth, and when you compare it with the size of the solar disc, it gives you an impression of size. You should try yourself if you have any binoculars!

Well that would explain it, because I can rarely keep my hands perfectly still.

 

[george7378]

I made a solar filter, and have taken some 'white light' photos of the new area 1076 (Compact camera, afocal method - doesn't really live up to what you can see through the eyepiece ). Here it is at around 12:30:

 

[astrosammy]

Nice! I think I'll get this and also build one myself.

 

[george7378]

I'd recommend it - that is the same stuff I got and it is great. I took some more photos today of Sunspot 1081:

 

[Warped]

Once upon a time I tried to project the Sun onto a metallic sheet using one of my telescopes, I did get it, but I didn't see any Sun spots, however I did manage to melt the plastic inside of the eyepeice, being 300X magnification:rofl: fortunately it was a cheap eyepiece from my first telescope.

(sometimes I take sticks and put them in front of the eyepeice, where they burst into flames):nono:

One time I was trying to find Venus at daytime in my telescope at around the time of superior conjunction (really bad idea) and almost blinded myself!

 

[george7378]

I have noticed some tiny fledgling sunspots in the currently unnamed active region - I'd recommend a look.

 

[george7378]

There is a new region - 1082. Yesterday, it showed two large spots, but I watched it develop another today. These are the photos from yesterday:

 

[george7378]

Here are some more photos following region 1082 (which is about to rotate off the disc now):

22nd June:

23rd June:

 

[statickid]

are you SUGGESTING that our perfect sun has SPOTS!? Sacrilege!! Behead them all!