Those a nice shots, mate. I always wondered what the point was of getting a solar scope when you could just stick a filter on a regular telescope. Your images prove why. I only see a big round orange/white light (with or without tiny black dots) in through my home made filters.
Its a different kind of light too DJ. The homemade filters are white light filters. Which shows the photosphere. Solar scopes are hydrogen alpha filters which shows the chromosphere. Each has its own fascination. However, I really like Ha best.
Well, your images seem to show more details than mine. I've got the baader filter and some other one. One gives a whitish image, the other an orange (black coloured filter). But they are just a big round ball. No details like you have. Very cool.
But I'm curious.... The images you have previously taken with the PST seem "better" than those with the SM, especially I like the colour in the PST shots.
You perhaps do less editing with a photo program?
Also in the SM images the surface detail seems "blurred" - Is this because of the extra detail or maybe it's because of the depth of seeing that the SM gives?
DJ, the point is that you have white light filters I have a ha scope. So I am getting more detail because it is a different wavelength, white light only shows granulation and sunspots, ha shows these sort of details.
Craig, the PST images were taken during late summer when the seeing was better. The solarmax 60 has more resolution but the seeing has yet to be as good as last summer. You also need to consider that the spots and proms I am imaging are much smaller than those I imaged last year. With the PST I was using a 2.5x powermate, with the solarmax I am using a 5x powermate. I am effectively imaging now at a focal length of 2000mm instead of 1000mm. Solar activity is now so low that images may appear to contain less detail when in fact the spots are much smaller and therefore need higher magnification to obtain any clarity. So at 2000mm with less than perfect seeing the images might seem blurred. However, I don't agree that the surface detail is blurred. If you look at my solar system imaging blog, you can the best of my solar images this year. They are very detailed with spicules showing often.
I only see a big round orange/white light (with or without tiny black dots) in through my home made filters.
