K3's Astronomy - Sun
"When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which You have set in place, what is Man that You are mindful of him?" -- Psalm 8:3,4

A. Sun with 80mm refractor and digital camera
B. Sun with 80mm refractor and web camera
C. Sun with Video8 camera and welding filter
D. Total eclipse of Sun 11.8.1999
E. Mercury transit 07.5.2003



Sun with 80mm refractor and digital camera


Click the image to see picture with higher resolution (960x960 pixels, 2.30"/pixel). The high resolution picture is not rotated to preserve its resolution.


Detail of sun spots in 67% sized image (2.30"/pixel).

Sun 28.10.2003 15:03-15:11 (1403-14:11 UT)
Resolution: 6.13 arcsec/pixel
Camera: Nikon Coolpix 995, f=29mm
Telescope: 80mm F5 Refractor, 25mm eyepiece afocal, Baader Contrast Boost filter
Filter: Baader AstroSolar™ foil sun filter
Result focal length: 464mm (~58X Zoom)
Result focal ratio: F5.8
Exposure: 41x 1/225s (ISO100, auto white balance)
Camera control: K3Nikon
Processed by K3CCDTools, then in K3APEX
Seeing: soft wind, low object altitude

The Sun was only 2° above roof of block of flats (10° above horizon).

Processing:
1, 41 frames stacked in K3CCDTools
2, Exported to FIT from K3CCDTools
3, Green channel was processed by K3APEX - gaussian unsharp mask (1.3, 500)
4, Resized to various sizes in K3APEX


Click the image to see picture with higher resolution (1.23"/pixel).
Sun 28.10.2003 15:18-15:24 (14:18-14:24 UT)
Resolution: 2.45 arcsec/pixel
Camera: Nikon Coolpix 995, f=29mm
Telescope: 80mm F5 Refractor, 10mm eyepiece afocal, Baader IRB filter
Filter: Baader AstroSolar™ foil sun filter
Result focal length: 1160mm (~145X Zoom)
Result focal ratio: F14.5
Exposure: 38x 1/40s (ISO100, auto white balance)
Camera control: K3Nikon
Processed by K3CCDTools, then in K3APEX
Seeing: soft wind, low object altitude

The Sun was only 0.5° above roof of block of flats (8.5° above horizon).

Processing:
1, 38 frames stacked in K3CCDTools
2, Exported to FIT from K3CCDTools
3, Green channel was processed by K3APEX - gaussian unsharp mask (3.6, 700)
4, Resized to various sizes in K3APEX


Click the image to see picture with higher resolution (3.37"/pixel).
You can also look at high resolution image 768x768 pixels (2.81"/pixel)
here.
Sun 01.05.2003 14:25-14:34 (12:25-12:34 UT)
Resolution: 6.74 arcsec/pixel
Camera: Nikon Coolpix 995, f=26.4mm
Telescope: 80mm F5 Refractor, 25mm eyepiece afocal
Filter: Baader AstroSolar™ foil sun filter
Result focal length: 422.4mm (~52X Zoom)
Result focal ratio: F5.28
Exposure: 10x 1/500s-1/2000s (ISO100, auto white balance)
Camera control: manual with self-timer
Processed by K3CCDTools, then in Corel PhotoPaint.
Seeing: windy, clouds

This is my first light with my new homemade Baader AstroSolar™ foil sun filter. It was for the first time when I sweated during my astro photography session ;-)) - because it was during sunny day.

I am very satisfied with quality of Baader AstroSolar™ foil. The frames were captured during 9 minutes interval, because there were some clouds and I had to wait while they disappeared.

It is interesting to see lighter areas on Sun's disk (look at higher resolution photos).

Processing:
1, 10 frames stacked in K3CCDTools
2, Unsharp mask (2, 0, 400) in K3CCDTools
3, Selected only green channel in Corel PhotoPaint - to suppress chromatic aberration caused by refractor
4, Enhanced contrast (50%) in Corel PhotoPaint
5, Resized to various sizes in Corel PhotoPaint


Click the image to see picture with higher resolution (1.28"/pixel).
Sun 01.05.2003 14:46-14:49 (12:46-12:49 UT)
Resolution: 2.56 arcsec/pixel
Camera: Nikon Coolpix 995, f=27.8mm
Telescope: 80mm F5 Refractor, 10mm eyepiece afocal, yellow filter
Filter: Baader AstroSolar™ foil sun filter
Result focal length: 1112mm (~136X Zoom)
Result focal ratio: F13.9
Exposure: 8x 1/60s (ISO100, auto white balance)
Camera control: manual with self-timer
Processed by K3CCDTools, then in Corel PhotoPaint.
Seeing: windy, clouds

The same day as above - another test with 10mm eyepiece. Yellow filter was used for reducing chromatic aberration.

Processing:
1, 8 frames stacked in K3CCDTools
2, Unsharp mask (2, 0, 400) in K3CCDTools
3, Image cropped to cut off vignetting
4, Brightness-Contrast-Intensity (-10, 25, 0) in Corel PhotoPaint
5, Resized to various sizes in Corel PhotoPaint


Click the image to see picture with higher resolution (1.28"/pixel).
I was interested in comparison of the above image to the same image processed in Green color channel



Sun with 80mm refractor and web camera


Click the image to picture with higher resolution (2.89"/pixel).
Sun 01.05.2003 15:14 (13:14 UT)
Resolution: 5.78 arcsec/pixel
Camera: Vesta 675SC2 at prime focus, IRB filter
Telescope: 80mm F5 Refractor
Filter: Baader AstroSolar™ foil sun filter
Result focal length: 400mm
Result focal ratio: F5
Exposure: 347x 1/1500s (auto white balance)
Processed by K3CCDTools, then in Corel PhotoPaint.
Seeing: windy, clouds

Processing:
1, 347 frames stacked in K3CCDTools in X2 mode
2, Unsharp mask (2, 0, 300) in K3CCDTools
3, Resized to various sizes in Corel PhotoPaint


Click the image to picture with higher resolution (1.44"/pixel).
Sun 01.05.2003 15:14 (13:14 UT)
Resolution: 2.88 arcsec/pixel
Camera: Vesta 675SC2 with Barlow 2X, IRB filter
Telescope: 80mm F5 Refractor
Filter: Baader AstroSolar™ foil sun filter
Result focal length: 800mm
Result focal ratio: F10
Exposure: 588x 1/125s (auto white balance)
Processed by K3CCDTools, then in Corel PhotoPaint.
Seeing: windy, clouds

Processing:
1, 588 frames stacked in K3CCDTools
2, Unsharp mask (1, 0, 500) in K3CCDTools
3, Converted to grayscale
4, Resized to various sizes in Corel PhotoPaint



Sun with Video8 camcorder and welding filter
Although welding filter is not made from optical quality glass, it is possible to use it for capturing larger Sun spots with Video8 camcorder.
I use welding filter number 14 for visual Sun observing without scope.

Big spot on Sun. 30.3.2001,
17:56 (15:56 UTC)

The big spot was visible with naked eye (with solar filter,
of course).
Sony TR-511E Video 8 camcorder, welding filter 14.
Big spot on Sun. 31.3.2001,
15:32 (13:32 UTC)

The big spot was visible with naked eye (with solar filter,
of course).
Sony TR-511E Video 8 camcorder, welding filter 14.
Big spot on Sun - animation.
The frames were rotated to show Sun's equator at horizontal axis.




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Last Update: 28.10.2003