Author Topic: Solar Hydrogen-Alpha Photography  (Read 865 times)

Offline CptTrips

  • Plutonium Member
  • *******
  • Posts: 8705
Re: Solar Hydrogen-Alpha Photography
« Reply #15 on: March 29, 2011, 08:13:51 AM »
Dang... your pic is as good as this one : http://spaceweather.com/
How much did you pay for your equipment? I think the filters for such observations are over 500$... not to mention the telescope and its mount.

Very nice  :aok


Lepape,

Thanks for the kind words, but his photos are a lot better than mine.

First, he uses a 90mm double stack system, I'm only using a 60mm double stacked.  Thats enough to make a large difference in the resolution and low noise.

Second, he is just really really good at his processing. His tonal control and false-color processing are perfect.  That comes with years of practice.



I'm using a Lunt Solar Systems double stacked 60mm H-Alpha scope.  I think it was around 2k when I bought it.


Clear skies,
Wab



« Last Edit: March 29, 2011, 08:16:04 AM by AKWabbit »
Toxic, psychotic, self-aggrandizing drama queens simply aren't worth me spending my time on.

Offline BoilerDown

  • Silver Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1926
Re: Solar Hydrogen-Alpha Photography
« Reply #16 on: March 29, 2011, 09:37:14 AM »
Interesting to see a sun spot.  We (we as in the human race, earth, everything in the solar system) just went way longer than usual with very few of them.  It would have been interesting to see if there was a new long-lasting solar minimum instead of the 11 year cycles for a while.  As it is the 11 year cycle rule can be safely trashed and instead make into a 10-14 year cycle rule or something along those lines.

Also... the one thing that has the biggest influence on the Earth's climate and weather isn't carbon emissions, melting glaciers making rising seas changing ocean currents, or anything global warming related.  Its radiation from the sun.  They say during a solar minimum there is actually less radiation coming from the sun than at maximum (which seems unintuitive because a sun covered with cool spots would be less bright, right?  Apparently the rest of the sun emits more radiation to more than make up for the sun spots).  Some people blame the "little ice age" on the sun's extended solar minimum that occurred around the same time.  Our sun just seemed like it might go into another extended minimum... if it had would it have effectively wiped out all the global warming on earth?  If global warming is real, and the sun starts back up again, are we going to be hit with a double-wammy?  One of these things, we're gunna find out I think.
Boildown

This is the Captain.  We have a lil' problem with our entry sequence so we may experience some slight turbulence and then... explode.

Boildown is Twitching: http://www.twitch.tv/boildown

Offline ROX

  • Gold Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2209
Re: Solar Hydrogen-Alpha Photography
« Reply #17 on: March 29, 2011, 11:04:23 AM »
Here is a rough approximation of the scale:

(Image removed from quote.)

Regards,
Wab


Yeah...REALLY rough.

Spend some time on spaceweather.com.  Bookmark it and come back over time.  "Emerging" sunspots (like the one pictured in the OP) start out small and get bigger (WAY BIGGER) sometimes 2-3 times bigger than the Earth.  The sun turns on an axis as well and has a 28 day cycle.  Sometimes these sports will form on the Earth side and sometimes not.  They might even start "emerging" and then fizzle out.  They might "emerge" and then by the time they Sun rotates around again turn into a massive 3 or 4 spot formation of big spots, spewing C Class flares out into space.

Lust like W7LPN, I use sunspots to communicate world wide on the higher HF radio bands.  On Ten Meters (28.000 to 29.700) with high levels of sunspot activity (solar flux) a 100 mW signal (the same power as your garage door opener) can be used to communicate world wide with skill, good antennas, and some luck.

Offline Jack16

  • Nickel Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 786
Re: Solar Hydrogen-Alpha Photography
« Reply #18 on: March 29, 2011, 08:11:31 PM »
Awesome! :aok :cool:

Offline mbailey

  • Platinum Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 5677
Re: Solar Hydrogen-Alpha Photography
« Reply #19 on: March 31, 2011, 06:39:11 AM »
Great pics Wab!  Hope you get a chance to shoot more soon, love ur posts  :aok
Mbailey
80th FS "Headhunters"

Ichi Go Ichi E
Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.

When the game is over, the Kings and Pawns all go into the same box.