Solar 1 - First Solar imaging

We got a few breaks in the clouds today so I decided to give my new Celestron Solar filter a whirl.

OTA: 120mm Achromatic Refractor with x3 ED Barlow

Camera: Nikon D3100 14.2mp

Mount: CG-4 mount
Filter: Celestron Solar filter

Exposure: 15sec AVI video

ISO: 100

I must say I am quite happy with this result and I'm glad the sun put on a show with this huge sun spot. The footage took a bit of tweaking in After Effects, mainly to increase the contrast, which really brought out the detail in the sun spot. It was also a little over exposed so decreasing it darkened the image, allowing for more detail to come through.

I can't wait to get my hands on a Hydrogen-Alpha filter! The sun spots are awesome, but the prospect of photographing solar flares, granulation, coronal mass ejections is just too good to ignore. They are pretty darn pricey though.