SEQUENTIAL SOLAR OBSERVATION

NOVEMBER 07, 2011 THRU  JANUARY 17, 2012

Observed and Photographed By: Melvin E. Dawson
SAO Riverview, Florida

Click for an enlarged view of the photo

Here is an animated gif of Sol. It is comprised of a small sampling of the first six images shown below as taken between November 7th thru 12th, 2011. The huge sunspot collection coursing above the equator has been reported by Sky and Telescope to be approximately 50,000 mile across! ...Wow!!!!

Photos taken by Mel Dawson – SAO - Vega Sky Center – Riverview, FL

                                                                                                         

 

 

Overview and Observation Notes

Around the 1st of November of 2011, an unusually large sunspot appeared on the eastern limb of the Sun. It sparked quite a bit of interest within the astronomical community, and spawned a plethora of articles. It was noted that this huge sunspot grouping grew to 50,000 miles long! That's astonishing! My only demise is that I did not begin my imaging marathon when the spot initially appear on the limb a few days earlier. I guess I was too busy trying to decide upon the setup I was going to use. In the nick of time, I chose my setup equipment, and the rest is history.

With this project aloft, I will continue to capture as many daily images as possible as we approach Solar Maximum. The imaging project begun on November 11, 2011, and continues to this day. Each day I will capture an image of the Sun's photosphere and prep it for posting under this observation. In most cases, I will post the most recent images on a weekly basis. Please accept my apologies if I fail short of that goal.

During the capturing of these images, there were days when the weather conditions were daunting or unfavorable, and days when I went fishing; tough to get images from a boat. But despite the one day long gaps through out the series below, I did not miss much. The only day I was sorry I missed January 07, 2012 when a sunspot group in the upper right hand quadrant blossomed at a very quick pace. Just check out the difference between the day before (01-06-2012) and day after (01-08-2012) images below. What a difference a day makes! Oh well, family will always come first before the imaging project. But, if anyone has an image of Sol taken on 01-07-2012, I would happy to add it to this collection!

Now, let's discuss the method I used to get these images. One might think that this huge collection of images may have been put together at great expense. Au contraire! Actually, once I developed my method, it only took no more than 20 minutes to setup, get my series of images to choose from, and have one ready for posting. The DSLR camera settings establish for my particular setup is as follows: Manual selection on the main dial, Shutter Speed: 1/500th of a second, ISO: 100, Image Quality: SHQ, White Balance: 0. I will post a video that shows the steps I go through to get my images. In the meantime, please enjoy checking out the images of the sun I have posted below!

HARDWARE

  • 80mm f/6 Scopos Apochromatic Refractor

  • EQ3 Equatorial Mount on Aluminum Tripod - Powerless and tracked via slow motion control cables

  • Homebuilt Solar Filter using Baader's AstroSolar Visual (ND-5) film

  • Olympus Evolt E-500 Digital SLR (8.0mp - SHQ) with wireless remote to capture images

  • True-2™ 2" UltraWide Prime Focus Adapter for Olympus 4/3 DSLRs

  • GSO 2" 50mm Extension Tube

  • Olympus SP-500uz Point and Shoot Digital Camera (6.1mp) for Terrestrial Images

  • FujiFilm A850 Point and Shoot Digital Camera (8.0mp) for Terrestrial Images

SOFTWARE

  • Images processed using FastStone Image Viewer for Windows Software version 4.0

  • Animated Gif created using Beneton Movie GIF Software version 1.1.2

  • Microsoft SkyDrive online file storage facility to archive images off site

 

                             

All of the solar images shown below were captured using the setup shown above from my backyard. The first picture is of my equipment before it is setup. The next three photos progressive move in toward the business end of the scope. The last two shots I took shows the "sucker holes" I periodically had to contend with. Click above images to enlarge!

 

11/07/2011 12:30 EST

 

11/08/2011 10:16 EST

 

11/09/2011 10:24 EST

 

11/10/2011 09:58 EST

 

11/11/2011 10:24 EST

 

11/12/2011 10:24 EST

 

11/13/2011 10:28 EST

 

11/14/2011 10:07 EST

 

11/15/2011 12:18 EST

 

11/16/2011 11:24 EST

 

11/17/2011 16:48 EST

 

11/18/2011 10:32 EST

 

11/19/2011 14:36 EST

 

11/20/2011 11:11 EST

 

11/21/2011 11:05 EST

 

11/22/2011 11:42 EST

 

11/23/2011 09:24 EST

 

11/24/2011 11:11 EST

 

11/25/2011 11:15 EST

 

11/26/2011 10:27 EST

 

11/27/2011 10:59 EST

 

11/28/2011 10:18 EST

 

11/29/2011 10:47 EST

 

11/30/2011 11:06 EST

 

12/01/2011 10:21 EST

 

12/02/2011 10:33 EST

 

12/03/2011 10:24 EST

 

12/04/2011 10:28 EST

 

12/05/2011 10:27 EST

 

12/06/2011 10:25 EST

 

12/07/2011 10:18 EST

 

12/08/2011 11:30 EST

 

12/09/2011 09:56 EST

 

12/10/2011 10:28 EST

 

12/12/2011 10:57 EST

 

12/13/2011 10:46 EST

 

12/14/2011 10:26 EST

 

12/15/2011 12:45 EST

 

12/16/2011 10:09 EST

 

12/17/2011 13:43 EST

 

12/18/2011 11:32 EST

 

12/19/2011 10:15 EST

 

12/20/2011 10:35 EST

 

12/21/2011 10:06 EST

 

12/22/2011 10:21 EST

 

12/23/2011 10:14 EST

 

12/24/2011 10:55 EST

 

12/25/2011 10:15 EST

 

12/26/2011 14:17 EST

 

12/27/2011 12:44 EST

 

12/28/2011 10:25 EST

 

12/29/2011 10:26 EST

 

12/30/2011 10:27 EST

 

01/01/2012 10:33 EST

 

01/02/2012 10:47 EST

 

01/03/2012 10:35 EST

 

01/04/2012 10:46 EST

 

01/05/2012 10:36 EST

 

01/06/2012 10:37 EST

 

01/08/2012 10:26 EST

 

01/09/2012 10:36 EST

 

01/10/2012 10:31 EST

 

01/12/2012 09:20 EST

 

01/13/2012 10:05 EST

 

01/14/2012 10:33 EST

 

01/15/2012 10:57 EST

 

01/16/2012 10:39 EST

 

01/17/2012 10:48 EST

 

01/18/2012 10:40 EST

  

01/19/2012 10:25 EST

  

01/20/2012 10:16 EST

  

01/21/2012 10:35 EST

  

01/22/2012 15:16 EST

 

01/23/2012 11:52 EST

 

01/24/2012 10:33 EST

 

01/25/2012 10:16 EST

 

01/26/2012 10:17 EST

 

01/28/2012 13:06 EST

 

01/29/2012 16:54 EST

 

01/30/2012 10:06 EST

 

01/31/2012 10:37 EST

 

02/01/2012 10:22 EST

 

02/02/2012 10:15 EST

 

02/03/2012 10:48 EST

 
 

  

  

02/05/2012 13:05 EST

 

02/06/2012 11:19 EST

 

  

  

A

Thanks, and Clear Skies, Forever!!!

Mel Dawson