Sunspots 2740 and 2741 – 7th May 2019

[Dennis]

Wow – it’s been over 3 years since my last solar astrophotography session, but this morning, I decided to end that drought.

Despite the relatively poor seeing conditions in Brisbane today, Sunspots 2740 and 2741 eventually relented, surrendering some tantalising detail to the Mewlon and ASI 174 MM.

However, it still necessitated the full power of AutoStakkert!3 and Registax6 to reveal the detail, not to mention a smidgen of lady luck.

Cheers

Dennis

[Marke (Mark)]

They look great Dennis

[AstroJunk (Jonathan)]

Very nice!

[Saturnine (Jeff)]

Excellent white light images with good detail, thanks for sharing.

[Merlin66 (Ken)]

Dennis,
Notwithstanding the conditions you've achieve a great result...
Are you using the ND5 or ND3.8 solar film?

[Dennis]

Originally Posted by Merlin66

Dennis,
Notwithstanding the conditions you've achieve a great result...
Are you using the ND5 or ND3.8 solar film?

Hi Ken

I'm using the Baader ND3.8 so am able to keep the exposures very short.

I just looked at the FireCapture (what a fantastic camera control application) text file and it logged the following:

FPS (avg.)=146
Shutter=0.135ms
Gain=200 (50%)

Cheers

Dennis

[h0ughy (David)]

Awesome result, and I am stuck at work while you were enjoying yourself . Very jealous

[Merlin66 (Ken)]

Dennis,
I use unity gain on the ASI 174 = 189 in FireCapture, Gama=50 and to get maximum dynamic range record in SER.
(Gain of 139 for the ASI 1600)
I find ImPPG is working better for me than Registax.....

[Dennis]

Originally Posted by h0ughy

Awesome result, and I am stuck at work while you were enjoying yourself . Very jealous

Hey Dave, don't feel bad.

Be proud that you are contributing to our economy and society through your endeavours, not like selfish old me sitting in my back garden playing with toys.

Cheers

Dennis

[Dennis]

Originally Posted by Merlin66

Dennis,
I use unity gain on the ASI 174 = 189 in FireCapture, Gama=50 and to get maximum dynamic range record in SER.
(Gain of 139 for the ASI 1600)
I find ImPPG is working better for me than Registax.....

Thanks Ken, good info there.


I popped out today again and this time the seeing was improved so I was able to fit a TeleVue x2.0 Powermate.

I also found a Baader Solar Continuum Filter in my cupboard, which seemed to take the edge off the higher frequency, fuzzy BG stuff and gave me occasional views, on screen, of the solar granulation.

Cheers

Dennis