My session time was from 14:30 until 17:00 UTC. The skies were mostly clear at session beginning and the seeing was very good bordering on excellent. By 16:00 UTC the skies had became partly cloudy and the seeing had fell to fair/average. By sessions end the seeing was below average. The temperature at 16:30UT was 77F ( 25C )
Coronado SolarMax II 90. SS & DS. 32x, 50x and 100x ( Ha )
I can see 13 regions in the Ha chromosphere today! Seven in the northern hemisphere with six of these being numbered systems.
Six are visible in the southern hemisphere with five of these being numbered systems.
AR13019 is visible as a plage in the NE quadrant. The plage is a bright semi-U shape. At times this plage seemed to vary a bit in brightness and stand out sharply. Probably evidence of some flaring activity. A smaller thin unnumbered elongated plage is seen NNE of AR13019. It also is picked up on the GONG and KSO images. NNW of AR13019 lies a small dark filament. A close look reveals two tiny filaments within AR13019 itself. Due east of AR13019 lies a plage near the limb with a filament SW of it. It's a new region! AR13021. Now onward to our super tri-complex now in the NW quadrant of the Sun. AR13017-14-15. The whole region is beautiful in the good seeing of late morning. Upon setting up I immediately notice a bright area in the plage of AR13017 in the SW part of it's plage. It's a C3.7 flare and I caught it at peak by chance. A second C-class flare also occurred here around 15:45UT. Several fine filaments are seen between and within the plages of AR13017. AR13014 to the NW of AR13017 easily shows it's spots, especially in single stack and if tuned a bit off band in double stack though they can be seen on band as well. The plage is a patchy scattered one with a brightening below the westernmost spot. A single tiny filament can be seen here at 100x. AR13015 is visible as plage SW of AR13014. The whole area affects the surrounding chromosphere and spicule field which is easily seen in the SMII90 in double stack. 32x and 50x gives the best views of this. A filament lies SE of AR13015. AR13011 lies west of the triple complex. I see it as a plage and in single stack I see a spot in it's western side. I also see a dark filament near the NNE limb and another filament in the far NW.
I can see two plages in the SW quadrant approaching the limb. AR13010 is the brightest of these and I can see a filament within it. A fainter plage ( AR13013 ) lies SW of it with a filament over it. A nice large easy filament lies SE of AR13010 and a larger thin one south of that filament. AR13016 is visible well east of AR13010 on the Central Longitudinal Meridian. It's a small plage with a filament. AR13018 NW of it is seen as a small plage. Two systems are seen in the SE quadrant. One is an unnumbered but not difficult plage with a visible filament. SE of it lies a fainter disturbance with a spot! This is a new numbered system! AR13020.
Prominences really show nice detail in the good seeing, especially in single stack and even at 100x! A really bright prom is seen on the SE limb. The NE limb shows one that resembles a bridge. Filaments are often seen to have " feet " when against the disc and here it's visible from the side in a prominence! A fainter one, though not difficult in single stack is shown dispersing itself in waves. A fair amount of change is visible in this one over the 2.5 hours of my session. It thins out as it goes. The SW limb shows 4 nice prominences. They easily show more detail at 50x and 100x than the GONG images show. The southernmost one looks really delicate, almost lacelike with the appearance of thin material hanging from a line. Two proms up looks like a thunderstorm cloud. A number of smaller proms are seen around the limb as well.
The mottles are seen across the disc easily. Any better seeing would probably show some resolution in them. I also can clearly see the spicule layer over the inner limb of the photosphere today in single stack.
Celestron NexStar 102 GT w/Altair wedge. I used three filters today. At first the 540nm green Baader filter and then as the seeing slowly deteriorated during the second half of the session, two planetary filters. Orange and Red. 55x, 62.5x, 80x, 110x, 125x and 166.5X. ( WL Continuum )
Ten active regions are visible across the disc in filtered continuum today. Six in the northern hemisphere, all six numbered and four in the southern hemisphere, all numbered.
To put it straight, so much detail is seen, especially in AR13014 in the NW quad it is hard to describe hours later. My basic notes only describe so much and my memory doesn't hold the finest of details. To put it simply, the visual views of the WL sun are very close to the SDO4K image. If it's shown there I can see it!! The biggest difference is in the contrast of the details, especially the solar granulation. I can see the granulation, including the individual cells but the SDO has higher contrast in them making them easier to see. Yeah the resolution of the SDO Greyscale 4K image is probably a tad higher but I am really close during the first 45 minutes of the session. After that the seeing starts to back me down and I go to longer wavelength filters to try to keep my views good as long as possible.
I remember the light bridges in the umbrae and the outward radiating patterns in the penumbrae of the spots in AR13014. Not just mottling folks but nice detail! A bigger 5" or 6" class refractor would have been awesome today!!
To put it short and sweet, I'll say AR13021 near the NE limb as three spots amid faculae. AR13019 a group of small spots and pores reminiscent of a loose open star cluster. AR13017 is actually quite nice with all those small spots and pores especially the shadings around the " larger " spots. AR13014 is simply magnificent!! And AR13015 is not much more than a couple of large pores. AR13011 is a scattering of 6 or so small spots and pores. Some faculae can be seen with AR13011 as it is now approaching the NW limb.
Two patches of faculae lie in the far SW quadrant. AR13013 nearest the limb and AR13010 NE of it. AR13010 has a single spot with numerous tiny pores east of it. I remember the pores but looking at the SDO4K image they form a pattern shaped like a man turned on his side with the bigger spot being the head! I didn't notice that in the scope. AR13016 is a bipolar grouping of pores at the CLM. A did not see anything of AR13018 in continuum. The new AR13020 near the SE limb is visible as a single structured spot amid a large scattered patch of faculae.
SDO HMI continuum 4K shows some polar faculae on both poles and another small patch of faculae in the NE quadrant. I didn't notice these and should have thought to look for polar faculae. I am surprised they are still visible.
In continuum today during the first hour of the session 110x and 125x gave the best overall views.
The music for today's session is:
Chopin: Waltzes played by Alice Sara Ott.
" Echoes of Life " by Alice Sara Ott.
I think I typed a book on this one. I hope I haven't bored anyone. Goodnight folks. It's almost my bedtime.
Carpe Noctem!
James
P.S. I wish I would have set up for imaging but I didn't figuring I would have only a short session due to having so much work to do and forecast thunderstorms. It was a really nice visual session though.
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- KSO+GONG_Ha_5-22-22.JPG (242.32 KiB) Viewed 519 times
- KSO_SDO_WLC_5-22-22.JPG (116.35 KiB) Viewed 519 times
- SDOHMIc_AR13017-14-15-11_5-22-22_14.55.21UT.JPG (496.83 KiB) Viewed 426 times
