Today's solar mega filament, 6 April 2012

[Matt Wastell]

Hello IIS
I have not been too active due to other stuff but I was very please to find some time this morning to image - in fact after looking at GONG (Ha site) I had planned to take images every ten minutes of today's massive filament to see the changes over time. Clouds ruined this plan but I was pleased to be out for awhile.
I like filaments and this one must be 200,000 km long (at least?). I hope to image it in a few days when it rounds the limb and becomes a prominence - may even see a lift off!
I also think it is the best image I have so far achieved with my new Lunt80. Image was taken with a 2.5 Powermate, DMK31 (exp 1/45, gamma 42, brightness 61) and processed in Registax (about 120/2500 images at 95%).
Happy Easter to all!

[Star Catcher]

Very good capture Matt! That filament is a beauty. I grabbed some pics today as well but have not had a change to crunch them to see how well they'll come up.
Ted

[Shark Bait]

Impressive image. I had a quick look at the Sun through a Baader solar filter and hoped that someone would post a more detailed photo. Thanks for posting.

Is your image detailing the area of larger sunspot activity?

[Matt Wastell]

The large Active Region (sunspot group) is to the right of the filament.

Have a look here and you can see the filament and Active Region.

http://halpha.nso.edu/index.html#top

[RichardJ]

Hi Matt,

Great image. Lots of detail. Thanks for sharing.

regards,

RichardJ.

[Shark Bait]

Thanks Matt,

It is a fair distance from the larger sunspot region after all. Keeping an eye on the Sun is almost as addictive as astronomy by night. I am amazed at how clear the detail is with Baader solar film but find I would like to see more.

In a few weeks Sirius Optics are having a workshop and letting people try out a solar telescope. If the Sun is shining I will go along to check it out.

[lepton3]

Nice image Matt. I'm assuming the top one is the inverse, and the bottom one is the true?

Nice to see some Ha, and be sure to post when you image it around the limb!

-Ivan

[Matt Wastell]

Hi Ivan
The top one is true (filaments look darker than the surrounding areas) and the bottom one is inverted.

[asimov]

Hey Matt good to see an image from you! This looks very nice mate, so well done!

[sheeny]

Lovely detail and image scale there Matt! Good to see some sun for easter!

Al.

[Quark]

Top stuff Matt good to see you back into Sol.

Cheers
Trevor

[Shiraz]

very detailed image Matt - looking forward to updates on this one. regards ray

[AstroFlyer]

Excellent capture Matt!
That's a mega filament.
Would have been good to see how it evolves.
Clouded here - typical day off...:(