Blazing Sun - 2006 08 07

Well, I went back and processed an old image this evening. Used Imagesplus for a lot of the work instead of the usual Photoshop. I have to say, IP is an excellent program. Anyway here's the fruits of the labour.

It's a 250kb image approx. I tried this time to get the sun more of an orangey colour and hopefully a bit more "natural" looking, if there's such a thing. As always, constructive feedback is appreciated.

www.astroshot.com/Solar/images/2006_06_01_solar_spines.jpg

The image lacks a consistency in luminance across the disc. This is an element of the optical/filter train unfortunately.

Hope you're not getting weary of all these solar images lately.

Cheers,

No way Michael...
keep 'em coming!

Actually as a by the way...
Do you think it would ever be possable to capture the likes of a
time lapse or short movie (like an avi) by using (or bodging) equipment
available to the amature to show the action?

It would, albeit a bit difficult.

To see a change over the course of one day for example, one would need the likes of a webcam on the PST and focus on a specific prom of dunspot. This would be the equivalent of very high magnification. For this to happen, it would need a good equatorial mount. I've seen a few people on the web do this alright.

I might give it a go sometime...will need one day completely clear though...

Great image Michael.

How are you getting the focus so accurate, thats been my biggest issue so far and I just can seem to get it right.

Cheers,
~Al

I take a sequence of images Al. I intentionally start slightly out of focus and take a series of shots, each one at a slightly different focus setting. As you take the sequence, you'll see the image in the viewfinder come into focus and out of focus again. Each focus change is done by the smallest of adjustments. of the focuser.

In the viewfinder, the only way to know whether it is close to focus or not is to keep an eye on the proms or on surface detail. Surface detail can just about become visible in the viewfinder when the camera is very close to focus. However, the reason you need a sequence of shots is that you can't completely trust the viewfinder to nail the focus bang on.

Is this any help or have you tried this already?

Thanks Michael. Thats more or less what I was doing, so I guess I'm just not being gentle enough with the focusser.