In realtime, this happened on the sun for about 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Animated Prominence - 30 Dec 2014
Prominence & Sunspot - 26 Dec 2013
Prominence - 25 Dec 2013
Last night it suddenly became cloudy.. I was not sure today i would be able to image or observe but as i got up in the morning, it was all clear.. the bright sun in the blue sky was just waiting for lunt 6 inch solar scope.
When i came to the observatory and attached the camera cable with my laptop, i immediately saw bad seeing.. waited for a while so if there is a temporary air current in the way, it should pass in a few moments. But the bad seeing remained unchanged. I had no choice but to capture whatever was available at the time.
Prominence & Sunspots - 24 Dec 2013
These are the few images i was able to capture today.. For prominences i was using 5 X zoom lens, which is in fact, extremely hard to use correctly.. It requires very stable atmospheric conditions otherwise the blurring or boiling effect of our atmosphere, which causes stars to twinkle, shakes the image on the screen so excessively that in the end a very blurred image pops out from Registax or whatever software is being used.
I have actually about 5 more videos of prominences from today's session but have not processed them yet.. may be later at night i will post them here and on Facebook solar groups.
Foggy winter
While driving my children to school this morning, i could barely see the road. Fog has also decided to stop the observation/imaging, for now.
Could not notice any sunlight on the ground so did not open the observatory. Sorry folks no cool images of the sun today, also no good hopes for the disappearing of the fog in these upcoming few days.. let's wait and see..
Solar Disk and a flight path
This was a pleasant surprise i saw when i was taking a frame for the big solar disk mosaic. It rarely happens so watch and enjoy.
Prominence and Solar Disk - 16 Dec 2013
This solar disk is the composite of 32, yes 32 frames, at the prime focus of Lunt152 and DMk21 camera.. it took time to get all the data i needed for this complete solar disk. Photoshop has been specially kind to me in making of this big solar picture.
The prominence image is the composite of two frames, one for the prom and the other for the disk area.
Foggy morning
Early morning Lahore, no sun in the sky.. fog has covered everything. It is getting better as the sun rises up there in the sky.. waiting anxiously.
Sunspots and Prominence - 15 Dec 2013
Today i used 5X barlow lens (to magnify 5 times) for the prominence and 2.5X for the sunspots two mosaics. Due to winter, the sky remains a bit foggy all day long. Here is a view from my rooftop where my observatory is located. The homes are all greyed out due to foggy conditions.
These are the images i took today. Sunday.. well spent!
Test Images with 5X barlow and Lunt 152
Big Lunt 152 should be used at its extremes.. right? So today i tried Televue 5X barlow (zoom) lens with this scope! It was not one of the best days for imaging because thin clouds were all over the sky.
But before we proceed, here is me and the big scope in my observatory.
Okay so here is a quick view of the largest prominence happening on the sun these days.. again taken with Lunt152.
Now.. get ready for the big view.. here it is, using Televue 5X barlow lens:
This is actually a combination of two images.. i really had to do a lot to combine the two images.. This is one image in color.
I captures sunspots area again at prime focus today:
and this is again with the 5X:
Cloudy sky
I woke up today with great excitement because i would be using big Lunt152 extensively today.. Alas, the sky is cloudy.
These kind of clouds usually take time to go away but i will try my luck anyways.. going to the observatory now.
Lunt152 first light
So the transparency was better today but seeing was terrible.. here is my first test images from Lunt152.. showing a 'mitosis/mitosis' stage of sunspots.. but wait.. sunspots and biology are two very different things?
New and a Big toy at my observatory
Here is the announcement: I am now the proud owner of Lunt152 Hydrogen Alpha solar telescope!
My experience with Lunt60 telescope, which has of course 60mm aperture lens, has been really fascinating, from super sharp views of the prominences and solar atmosphere, to very detailed images.
Meanwhile i had been watching images from 152 aperture telescopes and those images are literally out of this world. Aperture envy in astronomers does have its reasons.
On 3rd of December, i received my shipment on Lahore Airport Cargo area via FedEx. Lunt152 is big and heavy and cannot be used on previously owned Celestron VX Mount so i also bought Celestron CGEM DX Mount which is much better in handling the big scope such as Lunt152.
First look at the boxes outside the cargo area
Lunt152 carrying case unboxing
After reaching home, i could not wait a moment and immediately started fixing the mount only to discover that i cannot place the telescope on the top because the dovetail bar Lunt152 comes with, is far too thin for CGEM to grip it.. not happy.
The issue is, everything one needs about telescopes and mounts etc here in Pakistan, one has to buy it from the outside. I needed it to be made locally and locally i got it made. Yesterday i installed it at my observatory building and this thing is Huge folks! Here is how it all looks.
'Lahore College for Women Univeristy'
It was my privilege to receive an invitation from the Geography Society of 'Lahore College for Women Univeristy'. They contacted me with regard to the 'Astronomy Day' being celebrated at their institute and wanted me to give a lecture on something related to our solar system.
If it is related to astronomical public observation, i am all available for it. I immediately accepted the invitation and prepared a keynote presentation on 'Our Star - the Sun'. Whats more, i took my trusted Lunt60 halpha telescope, which has been so faithfully providing me with such spectacular solar atmospheric images, along with Celestron Advanced VX Mount. Televue 9mm Nagler eyepiece and Lunt zoom eyepiece for eyepiece observation.
When i reached there, students and faculty members were already seated in the seminar hall which was full to its capacity and nicely disciplined. My lecture was simple and without fancy terminologies, only relating to the viewing of the sun through hydrogen alpha telescope. I explained about the solar features they will be seeing with their own eyes, what they are called and what cause those to appear on the sun.
The lecture ended up with very interesting Q&A session and later they requested me to hand over some certificates to some of the bright students of their department. I was totally honored!
Next, we went out to the open basket ball area, where i fixed the solar telescope on the mount. Students were gathering around me, very anxious to look through the telescope. No one had ever seen the sun with any kind of telescope before and this would going to be their first solar observation of their lives! You can imagine their excitement.
It started out with the head of the department and then teachers and students.. so many WOWs and OMGs i could hear near the telescope. They could see the sunspot, prominences, filament and chromospheric network.
It was a good day and very satisfying for me. I am sure all those students will always remember their excitement and would definitely recall the eyepiece view whenever they will see the sun again.
I am thankful to the Geography Society of the University and everyone involved in this very well organized and exciting event.
Prominence - 3 Dec 2013
Sunspot - 19 Nov 2013
Compare this region from 15 Nov and today's view.. Sunspot has changed its elongation and the filament has also got broaden a bit and has come closer to the sunspot. There are changes in the plage as well.. what else?
This is today's image.. as usual, in four flavors. Click on the image for larger view.
Air front image?
I took this image at the sunset.. there were three of these (second is partially visible) air front. I am not sure if they really are the fronts but anyways a nice view.