Solar sketch October 8th

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A tremendous amount of activity on the Sun this morning, in terms of active regions and prominences.  We are having a cold spell with temperatures in Tucson lower than those in Minneapolis due to the jet stream residing overhead.  This is very unusual weather down here for early October and it has resulted in some poor atmospheric stability.  I completed the sketch at left at 1547 UT (8:47 AM local time) with my Lunt Solar Systems 60mm dedicated hydrogen alpha pressure tuned telescope.  Most unusual is the faint, expansive prominence off the east limb that appears to he lifting away from the Sun.  There were two distinct brighter knots in this arc of plasma.  Hopefully, some of the accomplished solar imagers around the world will post photos of this event soon.

Active regions 11309 and 11312 in the northern hemisphere both contain dark spots, and it appears that there is another active region rounding the northeast limb.  The southern hemisphere is awash with activity, although much of the plage regions are faint and the poor seeing conditions made visual observation challenging.  Region 11311 in the southwest contains a spot, as does region 11308 (or maybe it is 11310, I am having trouble figuring out which regions are which this morning...).  In the southeast, active region 11313 is the most dynamic of the regions with bright plage and what appears to be some bi-polar activity.  There are spots in the east and west ends of the region, along with some dark fibrils arcing between them.  There is an additional region of plage in the southern hemisphere, on the meridian, which is as of yet unnumbered.  Below are comparison images from Big Bear Solar Observatory at left (taken at 1556 UT) and from the Solar Dynamics Observatory at right (taken at 1539 UT).  Note that the image from SDO captures the massive prominence on the east limb beautifully.  Look closely at the Big Bear image and you can see that the prominence is ghostly just on the extreme edge of the field of view.

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Twice the fun

Yesterday afternoon I visited one of the local astronomy vendors, Stellar Vision, to see if proprietor Frank Lopez had some hardware that would allow me to piggyback my Lunt 60mm Hydrogen Alpha Telescope onto my recently acquired Astro-Telescopes 102mm f/11 achromat.  I have been using the achromat for white light observations of the Sun and had been thinking about how great it would be if I could have both telescopes mounted simultaneously.  The great thing about Frank is that he is like the Wizard of Oz- he goes behind his curtain (literally) you hear some wheels turning, metal parts clanging around, steam venting, and soon enough out he comes with some hardware that achieves exactly what you are looking for.  Frank has spent years in the telescope business and deals in so much used equipment that I am not sure even he knows how many parts and he has behind the curtain.  At left you can see my current set-up...Thanks to Frank for the mini, ring-top saddle that allows me to piggyback the Lunt!  (Certainly I could have gone online and ordered this part from Losmandy, but I always believe in suporting the local vendor).  While mostly convenient for me, this piggyback arrangement will be very useful for outreach activities.

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As luck would have it, we are in the middle of about a half-day of clear skies and I was able to get everything together this morning and make my first two sketches of the Sun without changing scopes.  Right away I discovered how fun it is to notice a feature in either white light or hydrogen alpha and then to see if there is any associated feature visible in the other scope.  The skies were not great, with passing cirrus and haze but I was still able to tease out quite a bit of detail, particularly in hydrogen alpha, as seen at right.  This sketch was completed at 1535 UT (8:35 AM local).  Active regions 11302 and 11305 continue to show significant activity as they rotate toward the Western limb.  The spots in 11302 seem to have diminished a bit in size, although the plage and filaments in the region remain complex.  Regions 11306 and 11307 seem to be decaying as the plage areas in these regions are markedly fainter than previous days.  There is a new region that has rounded the NE limb that appears to have a spot (confirmed in white light...yeah!), and the region noted in the SE over the past two days has now been officially numbered 11308.  There is a very large and beautiful prominence associated with this region.

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At left, is my white light sketch completed about 20 minutes later at 1557 UT (8:57 AM local).  In addition to the numerous spots in the numbered regions, the new region in the northeast contains two very large spots, as well as a smaller spot.  These spots appear elongated when near the solar limb, due to what is called the "Wilson Effect."  This apparent elongation is the result of perspective- Keep in mind that the sun is a sphere.  When looking near the center of the disc we are looking straight into the Solar atmosphere, yet when looking near the limb, we are actually looking across its atmosphere.  Add to this the fact that sunspots are akin to depressions in the solar atmosphere and you get an obvious elongation.  This same effect can be seen looking at craters along the extreme limb of the moon.  

Welcome October!

Today is the start of October and right on schedule the weather here in the Old Pueblo is changing.  While the Sun is shining steadily in clear blue skies this morning, later today will see heavy cloud cover, and increasing moisture for a few days.  By weeks end, temps in the upper 80's!!

Quick report today, the Sun appears much as it has for the past two days.  5 active regions are making their way westward across the northern hemisphere of the sun.  AR 11305 displays the strongest plage, and 11302 covers the largest area and contains the most spots.  There is potentially an emerging region that has come around in the southeast, as well as a small ephemeral region of plage that has persisted since yesterday in the south.  My sketch was completed at 1623 UT (9:23 AM local time) under very steady skies.

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Below are images in Hydrogen Alpha from the Big Bear Solar Observatory (taken at 1634 UT), and the Solar Dynamics Observatory (taken at 1514 UT).  I particularly enjoy the Big Bear image at left, as it is monochrome and more closely resembles the eyepiece view.

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Solar Sketches 9-29

Today is the first day of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year-  To everyone reading, I wish you a happy and healthy year!  Being that I am off work, I set up the solar scopes today and made some afternoon sketches of the sun.  I am quite pleased that the weather has changed enough to allow for 2 PM sketching.  Only a couple weeks ago, I would have been overcooked by the time I placed pencil to paper.  Not so today.  While the temps are in the mid 90's, it actually feels nice out.  Maybe I am truly turning into a desert rat?

The sketches below were made at the times reflected in the captions, and the images from the Solar Dynamics Observatory also have the time of capture below them.  It is worth mentioning that neither my white light sketch, or the SDO white light image contain the detail and number of spots that were visible in AR 11302.  I would estimate that that region alone contains in the neighborhood of 50 spots.  It is interesting that while there are a half-dozen numbered active regions on the face of the sun, all of them are in the northern hemisphere.

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2100 UT

2045 UT

2138 UT

2000 UT

Finally, the Mount Wilson Observatory in California has a 150 ft. Solar Tower from which they create a daily sunspot drawing.  Not too many professional observatories create sketches, and below is today's sketch:

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Chiracauhua Astronomy Complex Grand Opening

Price Ranch and Perseus intersection

"Eat more chicken"

This past Saturday night, the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association (TAAA) held the grand opening to show off the completed "phase 2a" construction of the new Chiracauhua Astronomy Complex (CAC).   I had wanted to take my telescopes to some dark skies this weekend, so on Friday afternoon I packed up and headed to the site one night early.  I had checked the weather forecast and while there was a slight chance of thundershowers each night, Friday looked to be most promising.  As I approached the CAC, I was met by the official bovine sentries, who upon seeing all the gear I was hauling, decided to let me pass unharmed.  Here are a few quick images of what has taken shape under the dark skies of Cochise County.  In hindsight I should have taken pictures of the amphitheater, the 18 inch dobsonian, and the inside of the observatory, but perhaps I can add some images to this post if any of the TAAA folks in attendance would like to share (Keith...are you listening?)

At left, you can see my scope cooling down on Friday night when I was alone at the site.  The sky was incredible and if I had a decent camera (and knew how to use it), I could have taken some amazing images.  Below left, is a picture of the roll off roof observatory that houses the new C14 and AP1200 mount donated by Wally Rogers.  The picture is taken from the amphitheater looking southwest.  In the background you can see some of the new member observing pads.  In the picture at right, you can see that there are ten of these pads, each measuring 12 x 12 with electricity.  This is a great size for a pad as there is ample room for a large telescope, a table and two or three chairs.  At one point, I had two telescopes set up on my pad, and still had room for all my gear.  The pads are spaced several feet apart, with just enough room to navigate but close enough that you can still chat with your neighbors without having to shout.  As you can see in the picture, we filled up all 10 pads on Saturday night for the grand opening.

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In terms of observing, Friday night was excellent, with transparency around 9/10.  Using my 12 inch SCT I observed many objects, and made a sketch of comet 2009 P1 Garradd.  I have observed and sketched this comet several times over the past month, and this was the first time that I was able to detect streams in the tail.  The sketch at right was completed at 0320 UT on September 24th.

Overall, despite getting clouded out early on Saturday, it was a fun weekend at a great astronomy complex.  Kudos to everyone in the TAAA that had a hand in the development of the CAC.  Not only are the skies excellent, but having access to an observatory housed 14 inch telescope, restrooms, showers, and observing pads with power make for an amateur astronomers dream.

Update...below is an image of the attendees preparing for "first light" of the clubs new 18 inch Obsession Telescope...Thanks to Bill Lofquist for this image.

Hydrogen Alpha sketch of the Sun

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Now this is why amateur astronomers love Southern Arizona...dry climate, crystal clear skies, steady air...just last week we received the most significant rainfall of the year with several inches falling over several days, and now there is little trace.  The air is dry, no clouds from horizon to horizon, and observing conditions that are the envy of many.

Having spent the last two days observing the sun in white light, I had more time today to observe and sketch the sun using my Hydrogen Alpha telescope.  There are many active regions on the face of the sun, and it is now looking like the solar cycle (24) is truly in an upswing, albeit several years late.  As the Sun exhibits increasing levels of activity, it naturally takes an increasing amount of time to make a sketch.  Thank goodness for the weekend!

My sketch was completed at 1609 UT and during the time of my sketch, Active Region (AR) 11298 was exhibiting some weak flaring.  This region is quite dynamic with several dark filaments and bright plage throughout.  The flaring was occurring just to the north of the obvious spot in this region.  All of the regions on the sun today were moderately bright, with the exception of 11294 which appeared fairly weak.  The long filament in the northwest quadrant is impressive, and should it persist until on the limb may provide for some awesome prominences.  The images below are for comparison, with the black and white image from the Big Bear Solar Observatory and the colored image being from the Solar Dynamics Observatory.  Both images are from slightly after I completed my sketch.

Spotapalooza - A festival of sunspots!

I am working remotely from my home office today, which provided me an opportunity to grab a quick peek at the Sun while eating some lunch.  I did not have enough time to make a hydrogen alpha sketch, but the white light view of the Sun revealed as many spots as I can remember seeing in several years.  It is a downright spotapalooza!  A festival of sunspots!  As it is mid-day, the atmospheric seeing conditions are a bit unsteady and it is difficult to tell how many small spots are in the larger regions.  Regardless, there are too many to accurately sketch them all while eating a sandwich and stressing out about job related nonsense.  Below is my sketch from 1840 UT, and a comparison image from the Solar Dynamics Observatory taken at 1824 UT.  I completed my sketch using my TEC 140mm APO and a Lunt Solar Systems Herschel Prism.

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