Solar disk 17 April

[Paul Haese]

Seeing was pretty average today. However I managed to get a reasonable look at Sol as a full disk image. There was some nice prominences around the limb and the two massive active regions are fairly nice too.

I am still yet to conquer the full disk mosaic with uneven patches and hence why I have not completed many yet. Trying to sort out the hot spots on each frame would certainly allow me to do large scale mosaics. Still plenty of time yet to learn how but I wouldn't mind some tips if anyone knows any at all.

Click here for image

[h0ughy (David)]

lovely shot Paul

[seeker372011 (Narayan)]

Looks pretty darn good to me

[Shiraz (Ray)]

Really impressive image paul. Regards Ray

[Paul Haese]

Thanks guys, appreciated.

[Star Catcher (Ted Dobosz)]

Nice one Paul
In regards to the hot spots, are you referring to the uneven illumination across the disk of the finished image i.e. bright centre and darkening limb? If so, then a radial density filter will handle some of this problem. I also suspect that if your camera controls gamma/contrast/brightness of the initial capture, the weight of these settings might vary the effect.
Ted

[Paul Haese]

Thanks Ted. Maybe I was not being clear. This image is just taken on the DMK41 as a single frame. I am trying to work out how to get a six panel mosaic so it looks this even on the illumination but has way more detail. The best I have achieved so far is the examples below.

two panel mosaic

three panel with 640 x 480 (published in Sky and Telescope).

The trouble seems to lie in the way the Solarmax 60, solarmax40 and PST are designed. I am told that the Solarmax90 does not have this same problem. Might be time to sell the solarmax60 and get a 90mm filter for my Tak TSA.

[Quark (Trevor)]

Still impressive result Paul, seems like the quality of the seeing continued on into the night as it sure was pretty ordinary tonight up here, have packed up in disgust already.

Regards
Trevor

[Matt Wastell (Matt)]

Great stuff Paul.

Solar discs appear to be quite challenging! I am sure you will achieve your lofty expectations soon!