Thursdays Hazy Sunshine 18th April

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marktownley
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Thursdays Hazy Sunshine 18th April

Post by marktownley »

Sometimes you know the weather forecast aint what it says it's going to be online; that was what I thought last night when the forecast for today was for cloudless skies, but looking at the various charts my mind was saying haze and low visibility. Indeed when I got up my gut instinct was the case and instead of deep blue there was a milky haze. I got out the travelling kit again for a round of images. Seeing wasn't great and the quality of my data was all over the place, good job I took lots so I could cherry pick.

First up stopping the ED60 f6 down to 40mm improved the spherical aberration that I was not liking at full aperture with this scope at 393nm, but it is still a poor performer, and I think the 40mm f10 ota will be having to be coming on future holidays too for CaK duties. Got a full disk but the mushy skies meant I didn't bother trying any closeups. Nice to see the active regions, by the end of the weekend it looks like we will be back to a blank sun again.

Imagecak-full-disk-bw by Mark Townley, on Flickr

Imagecak-full-disk-colour by Mark Townley, on Flickr

As with everything in solar it's down to compromises, and this is the case with the travelling kit in Ha. With my pair of double stacked Lunt50 etalons the view is good, but isn't quite even across the whole disk, so it bugs me! Today I tried with my nice flat LS50 etalon double stacked with the Quark. I went for a 4 disk mosaic, and despite the haze it must have stayed a consistent transparency throughout the 4 sub exposures needed and they patched together nicely.

ImageHa-Full-Disk-DSQ-bw-hg by Mark Townley, on Flickr

ImageHa-Full-Disk-DSQ-colour by Mark Townley, on Flickr

There was a nice prom on the limb too. Focusing on the two active regions on the opposite limb gave the following image:

Imagear12738-ha-bw by Mark Townley, on Flickr

Imagear12738-ha-colour by Mark Townley, on Flickr

Then the haze totally turned the sky white and the shadows went, but was still warm so enjoyed sat outside processing these shots. Maybe some images tomorrow if there is time? We go from west Wales coast where we are now straight across to the eastern coast of England, where sunrise and sunset is 15 minutes earlier than it is here - all good holiday frivolities...

Mark


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Re: Thursdays Hazy Sunshine 18th April

Post by pedro »

Very nice images there Mark, you are the master of double stack etalons

I always stop my refractors for Ca-K imaging (F/10 focal ratio). It reduces the spherical aberration


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Re: Thursdays Hazy Sunshine 18th April

Post by Carbon60 »

An ideal combination of solar and holiday activities, Mark with great results. I always smile when the weather reports say that it’s going to be a lovely sunny day because you just know that it probably isn’t, or it may be, but not ‘our’ type of sunny day with excellent clarity and steady air.

Anyhow, it is supposed to be a good weekend, weather wise, we’ll see. I’m in Redditch without any equipment other than gardening equipment, so for me I’m happy if it just stays dry. That said, I hope you manage to capture some more rays in good quality skies. Enjoy the rest of your holiday.

Stu.


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Re: Thursdays Hazy Sunshine 18th April

Post by marktownley »

Thanks guys! You are too kind! I do the same normally Pedro, my 80/600 I run at 60/600 for CaK, I also have my 40/400, then I have the 100/1000 I use, which sometimes I run at 80/1000. It's surprising when you start using and running a number of different scopes how different they all are at CaK. These are the 3 I seemed to have settled on, many more have gone by the wayside.

With an easterly airflow Stuart, from experience of being in Filey a number of times the skies will either be perfectly blue or there will be sea fog. I might have to make use of the earlier sunrise and flat horizon and get up early for solar as I suspect the days will be fun packed doing things that won't tolerate me wanting to stay at the caravan all day and play sun. I think you will be safe gardening in Redditch from the rain, looks like it's going to be warm for you. You want to get yourself a travelling setup too ;)


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Re: Thursdays Hazy Sunshine 18th April

Post by MAURITS »

Very sharp images Mark, top.


Regards,
Maurits

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Re: Thursdays Hazy Sunshine 18th April

Post by marktownley »

Thanks Maurits!


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Re: Thursdays Hazy Sunshine 18th April

Post by ffellah »

These are excellent from the traveling kit, Mark...

Franco


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Re: Thursdays Hazy Sunshine 18th April

Post by marktownley »

Thanks everyone. Did take some shots with the Na Quark, but by then the edge of the sun was just a circular saw blade with the seeing. Used with small apertures the Na Quark is one of the most expensive white light solar filters, was even struggling to see the plage through todays haze. Still, gives an overview of where the spots are... I need to get my head around these bands that have appeared away from home - hmmm.

Imagena by Mark Townley, on Flickr


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Re: Thursdays Hazy Sunshine 18th April

Post by MapleRidge »

Nice collection of images here Mark :bow

Your travelling kit produces great images...strange the banding popped up in the Na Quark though. Hopefully it doesn't re-appear!

Brian


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Re: Thursdays Hazy Sunshine 18th April

Post by marktownley »

Thanks Brian, I need to try a different camera with it to see whether it is a newtons ring type effect. I guess I should also put my Lunt wedge in there too at some point for the white light overview too.


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Re: Thursdays Hazy Sunshine 18th April

Post by eroel »

Mark:
Very nice session.
Wish you and all a nice and sunny weekend.
Eric.


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Re: Thursdays Hazy Sunshine 18th April

Post by Montana »

Lots of great images Mark, sounds like you are having a great double holiday. The Halpha full disc is spot on! but pity you couldn't get higher resolution with the sodium quark.
:bow
Alexandra


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