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.

Solar Maximum 2012

University College Corks very own Dr. Paul Callanan talks about this years solar maximum, coronal mass ejections and the resulting displays on earth, known as the aurora borealis.

Paul is also in charge of the X-Ray Binaries Research Group in UCC