Sunspots 02/07/21

2002/7/21 10:49 EDT. Homemade Baader full aperture solar filter + 8"/f6 Dob + 25mm eyepiece + Nikon Coolpix 995 digital camera (hand held to the eyepiece, settings 1/1000s, F4.2, f8.2mm, ISO100). Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh.

Sun through Baader Astrosolar filter

Sunspots and faculae (subtle bright streaks, upper left and lower right). 2002/3/23 11:15 EST Homemade Baader full aperture solar filter + 8"/f6 Dob + 25mm eyepiece + Nikon Coolpix 995 digital camera (settings 1/1000s, F4.2, f8.2mm, ISO100)

Naked eye sunspot:

Left: This is the naked eye view of the sun (through a filter, of course) on 2000/9/21 before sunset. There is an obvious large sunspot. So large that it is not a 'spot' but a small round area. If the weather were foggy (or with proper clouds) to sufficiently reduce sun light, the sun spot would have been visible directly.

Right: This is the same sunspot one day later (2000/9/22 16:55 EDT) under a 3.5" Questar with full aperture solar filter. Both sketches were drawn on a PalmPilot.

This is a mosaic of several video frames. Several sunspots are visible with unaided (but filtered :-) eye. These images are taken with the finder scope of a Questar telescope and a camcorder. 1999/10/16 11:10 EDT.

Mosaic of several video frames taken with the Questar telescope and a 16mm EFL eyepiece. 1999/10/16 11:10 EDT.

My first solar video: Two sun spots. Questar+Camcorder. (99/9/26 10:00 EDT.).

The shape of sunspots can be quite interesting. Here's a "Bear Paw" I observed on 1999/9/12 12:00 in Pittsburgh with a Questar.