March 24 2023 Observations. Very good seeing!

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DeepSolar64
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March 24 2023 Observations. Very good seeing!

Post by DeepSolar64 »

My session time was from 14:45 until 16:00 UTC. The sky is clear and the seeing is well above average bordering on excellent! The temperature is a warm 73F ( 22.7C )

Orion 70mm Solar Telescope. 25x, 50x, 62.5x, 83x, 100x and 166.5x ( WLC )
Today the near excellent seeing enabled me to push the little 70mm refractor to it's diffraction limit. If I would have known beforehand I would have set up the C102 which would have given me even more impressive results. Still, the little 70 did not disappoint.

I can see eight active spot regions on the white light photosphere today. Three in the northern hemisphere with two numbered and five in the southern hemisphere with four numbered.

A new spot is seen in the NE quadrant near the limb. I can see that is displays an umbra and a penumbra. I can see faculae just to the south of the spot. A large patch of faculae lies well to it's NW. Beyond this lies a couple of pores. AR13260 in the NE quadrant is seen as a dipole. The northern spot is fairly large showing an easy umbra and penumbra. I can see some mottling within the penumbra and a definite light bridge within the umbra.The penumbra has a torn extension on it's SE side. Another semi-structured spot lies just to it's SE. The southern dipole spot to this system lies just SW of the larger spot and shows umbra-penumbra form. Numerous small spots and pores lie north and east of this spot. AR13258 to the west shows two spots with a small number of pores between them. AR13258 is well across the CLM in the NW quadrant. Faculae are seen west and WSW of AR13258 to the limb.

The three, maybe four region complex of AR13256-57-59 looks superb in the scope at high powers. It looks like a four region complex visually. The large spot of AR13256 shows amazing detail for such a small scope. The mottling is very apparent but falls just short of showing clear penumbral filaments but it's close. The umbra is elongated with a tapered eastern end. I can see a tiny imbedded pore just below the tapered end at 100x and 166.5x! This tiny thing is the size of a granule, but it being darker makes it visible. I can see even the three small lighter areas in the penumbra's northern side! I can also see the tiny pores to the south of the spot. AR13259 at the center of the group on the CLM, looks very similar to it's view as seen in the attached SDO HMIc high rez image. I see little if any difference. The unnumbered region to the NE also looks like the SDO view. AR13257 in the SE part of the complex shows itself as two nice spots. The northern one is elongated and shows a light bridged umbra. A notch is also seen in the SE side of the umbra and is that an extension in the NE side of the umbra? The mottling of the penumbra is also apparent. The smaller southern spot is structured and appears much as it does in the attached SDO HMIc image. I can see a few attending pores too. Well east of the big complex lies AR13262 in the SE quadrant. I see it as a large spot with an umbra bridged in the middle splitting it into two. Very easy to see. Again the mottling of the penumbra is visible and like the other viewed large spots I can hint at the irregular jagged edge of the penumbra against the granules. This is something the C102 would show clearly. A pore is seen within the penumbra's southern edge and two more to the south of the spot. Another pore is seen within faculae to the SE of AR13262. Today the best magnifications are 83x and 100x but 166.5x does amazingly well. I have never used this high of a magnification on this little scope before. The image is a bit dim but once you adjust to it it's easily usable. I was certainly seeing below 2" of arc today. Maybe as low as 1.7 "! Could I have gotten to 1.3" with the 102?? I think a 150mm scope would have broken the 1" mark without issue at powers well over 200x!

Despite the very good seeing I could not see the individual granules, though I tried. The overall fine granulation itself is easily seen but no individuals. More aperture and better contrast is needed to make them visible. I could have gotten them with the wedge and filter equipped Celestron 102. Days like this make me want a 150mm or bigger scope. Like a Takahashi TOA 150! Hey, dream big!!


Coronado SolarMax II 60 DS. 16x, 25x, 33x and 40x. ( 656.28nm )
I can see eight active regions in the Ha chromosphere today. Three in the northern hemisphere with two having NOAA labels and five in the southern hemisphere with four of these having NOAA labels.

The NE quadrant shows a plage east of AR13260 that is easier to see that it's facular component on the photosphere was. Weirdly I did not see or notice the emerging spot or plage very near the NE limb. But even GONG Teide Ha does not show it well. AR13260 just east of the CLM is easy to see with two spots amid plage. The plage stretches well to the NE. I can visually see all of the filaments shown within the region by the GONG Teide instrument. Another easy filament is seen NW of AR13260. I see AR13258 as a plage in the NW quadrant. GONG Teide shows a spot there but I did not record it in my notes and nor do I remember seeing it. I can see a bit of a northern crown filament in the far north.

The active Region complex centered on the Central Longitudinal Meridian in the south is a very easy object to see. The plages all connect. AR13256 is a spot at the western end of the plage with an easy filament to it's east. AR13259 is just plage and AR13257 is three spots among plage. The good seeing even lets me see the thin bowed filament above the double spot! The unnumbered NE region is seen just as an extension of plage. Well SE of this complex I can see a couple of thin filaments. AR13262 is seen in the far SE quadrant as a spot among fine filaments and plage.

I did see the prominences around the limb as shown on the GONG Teide Ha image but chose to study only one of them, the prom on the NW limb. It appeared as a detached northward curving fairly thin cloud of plasma. It was not hard to see. It's center area was the easiest to see.


It's Friday folks!!

I am hoping for a lucky sight of the aurora borealis. The KP level is not as high as last night and it's clouding up so my chance is very slight. Some reports of it being seen here last night was in the local news today.

James



KSO_WLC_3-24-23.jpeg
KSO_WLC_3-24-23.jpeg (147.96 KiB) Viewed 303 times
AR13260_AR13258_SDOHMIc_3-24-23.JPG
AR13260_AR13258_SDOHMIc_3-24-23.JPG (189.01 KiB) Viewed 303 times
AR13256-57-59_SDOHMIc_3-24-23.JPG
AR13256-57-59_SDOHMIc_3-24-23.JPG (165.81 KiB) Viewed 303 times
AR13262_SDOHMIc_3-24-23.JPG
AR13262_SDOHMIc_3-24-23.JPG (73.31 KiB) Viewed 303 times
GONGTOSP_Ha_3-24-23.jpeg
GONGTOSP_Ha_3-24-23.jpeg (455.68 KiB) Viewed 303 times


Lunt 8x32 SUNoculars
Orion 70mm Solar Telescope
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Meade Coronado SolarMax II 60 DS
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 90 DS
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Re: March 24 2023 Observations. Very good seeing!

Post by marktownley »

Great report James! Your good seeing has just prompted me to check out what mine is like this afternoon and it reckons pretty decent, so, I just need some clear skies. There is plenty to see on the sun at the moment!


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Re: March 24 2023 Observations. Very good seeing!

Post by DeepSolar64 »

marktownley wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2023 5:15 am Great report James! Your good seeing has just prompted me to check out what mine is like this afternoon and it reckons pretty decent, so, I just need some clear skies. There is plenty to see on the sun at the moment!

I should have used the damn 102!!

Good luck on clearing skies!


Lunt 8x32 SUNoculars
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Re: March 24 2023 Observations. Very good seeing!

Post by Carbon60 »

A very fine, detailed report, James. Thank you.

Stu.


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Re: March 24 2023 Observations. Very good seeing!

Post by Petrus »

Nice to read your report James!


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Re: March 24 2023 Observations. Very good seeing!

Post by EGRAY_OBSERVATORY »

Thanks for the report James

Terry


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Re: March 24 2023 Observations. Very good seeing!

Post by DeepSolar64 »

Thanks and welcomes Stuart, Petrus and Terry.

James


Lunt 8x32 SUNoculars
Orion 70mm Solar Telescope
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Re: March 24 2023 Observations. Very good seeing!

Post by cte »

As always a very detailed observative report and nice white light imaging. 3262 is getting almost exactly halved by a lighrlt bridge. Is the process of separation complete and two opposed polarity spots will be created ?


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Re: March 24 2023 Observations. Very good seeing!

Post by Ibbo »

good stuff james


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Re: March 24 2023 Observations. Very good seeing!

Post by DeepSolar64 »

I do wonder of the polarity of the halved spots in AR13262. An SDO HMI magnetogram may answer that question.


Lunt 8x32 SUNoculars
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Losmandy AZ8 Alt/Az Mount
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Re: March 24 2023 Observations. Very good seeing!

Post by MAURITS »

Thanks for the report James, nice to see the detailed WL images.


Regards,
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Re: March 24 2023 Observations. Very good seeing!

Post by DeepSolar64 »

You are welcome, Maurits.


Lunt 8x32 SUNoculars
Orion 70mm Solar Telescope
Celestron AstroMaster Alt/Az Mount
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 60 DS
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 90 DS
Meade Coronado AZS Alt/Az Mount
Astro-Tech AT72EDII with Altair solar wedge
Celestron NexStar 102GT with Altair solar wedge
Losmandy AZ8 Alt/Az Mount
Sky-Watcher AZGTI Alt-Az GoTo mount
Cameras: ZWO ASI178MM, PGR Grasshopper, PGR Flea
Lunt, Coronado, TeleVue, Orion and Meade eyepieces

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