Increased solar activity

Here's an image of the Sun I took this evening.
LX90, f/6.3 focal reducer, Thousand Oaks type 2+ Full aperture solar filter, Canon EOS 300D, 09 Aug 2004 19:40 UT, 1/800 sec



Michael

Here's a rough sketch I did of 626.
LX90, 133x, 9th August 2004 19:00UT



Michael

Here's another sketch I just did this evening:
AR626 is developing very nicely. Showing loads of detail.
Well worth taking a look at (with the appropriate safe equipment of course).



Michael

Michael,
You've well mastered the art of drawing solar features, how many pencils do you use?
Sometimes the camera doesn't do justice interms of detail, and thats were drawings come in.
Nicely done.
Wouldn't it be great if we had the weather to do a pic/drawing of the sun every day for a week or 2 and try and catch how the features evolve.

I always had the idea of placing a webcam on the scope at the start of the day and catch a frame every 10 seconds (or whatever interval would work) for the entire day while to scope tracks, would make a nice time lapse video.. but I can never seem to get around to it.

Dave,

I'm not sure I'd use the word "mastered" just yet!. However I'm slowly improving. When you start off really bad, you can but only improve!

I simply used a sheet of blank A4 printing paper and a HB pencil.
At first I drew the outline of the penumbra (grey areas).
Next, I drew the outline of the umbra (dark regions).
The I lightly shande in the penumbra. I rub this area with my finger to give an even shading to remove the individual pencil marks when trying to shade.
I then lean on the pencil a little and blacken in the umbra regions.
Finally, I tidy up the drawing, add the scope details and celestial co-ords.

I've only tried sketching a few times so hopefully I'll improve with time.
I do find sketching to be an nice way of recording detail within sunspots.
With the new house I'm renting, I can't connect the webcam to the scope without needing a laptop unfortunately. So, in the interim, I'm trying to improvise!

Clear skies,

Michael

People,
take note from Michael's example - it will come in handy when the Observing Certificates Programme launches!




Excellent drawing there Michael. and Dave, I would say 1 'shot' every 25 to 30 minutes during these long days would make a good time lapse video. It can take the sun around 12 days for a half-rotation from our field of view, so every few mintes even, may seem to be almost time consuming.


Seanie