Sunspots - 16th May

Tried to get another bit of practice in befoe D-Day.
Weather wasn't great with short spells of sunshine between lots of cloud and even the odd thunderstorm!
Anyway, I took another series of images, this time with the scope working at f/10 - I didn't bother with the focal reducer this time.
I also used ISO 100 this time instead of 200 like last ime. I put a bit more effort into focusing - very difficult to get it pinpoint. I'm seriously thinking about getting the optional 2.5x rightangle viewfinder for the 300d - must look into it a bit more detail and see how much it costs etc.
Anyway, below is one of my better images of the day with the relevant details:
LX90 (8" f/10); Canon EOS 300d, ISO 100, 1/250sec, 29/05/04 4:01pm, processed in Photoshop 5.
Note the number of sunspots forming this "cluster". Also note the activity in the top left corner of the image. Not enough to form a sunspot yet but something definetly going on there.


Michael

Michael,
Lovely shot, maybe there's hope for the 300d yet wrt the transit.
The detail is fab, like yourself, I found that focusing properly is very difficult.
If you get the 2.5x piece, let us know how you get on with it.
I wouldn't bother with the focal reducer for it either, its just too low a magnification.

Lads,
I got another pic of the Sun yesterday (30th May2004) I stacked 60 pics taken at iso 200 at 1/2500 sec exposure through an F5 4inch refractor with a thousand oaks filter and a canon 300d at prime focus.
For the laugh, I placed a "black disk" resembling what the transit might look like ??? After seeing the weather forecast, it might be the only "shot" I get



Minor sunspots and faculae are visible, there is quite a loss is detail scalling down the image so that I can upload it to the web.
Registax really struggled with these pics (3kx2k in size), scaled down afterwards.

Interesting pic Dave. Nice detail in the sunspots there at 5 o'clock.
Just curious; is that disc of "Venus" roughly what we should expect to see? If so it's great. I wasn't expecting it to appear that big relative to the Sun, but having said that, I hadn't checked to see how it would actually appear. I must take a look at SNP.

Michael

Very good picture. A great way to whet the appetite for this day next week. Well done Dave. Let's hope the weather is as good next week as it is this morning.

Mick; it should appear that big. From what I remember reading Venus should be 1/30th the size of the sun (or is it 1/300th?). Either way it should be visible to sharp naked eye vision. Properly protected of course. By the way, thanks for your advice on the solar filter. I got a full aperture Orion filter from Telescope House for the LX90. I won't get a chance to use it until the morning of the transit, but at least I feel well prepared!

Shane,

Good to hear you ordered the solar filter. I know it's expensive but it'll be worth it. Full aperture is definetly the way to go. You won't regret it.

Clear skies,

Michael