The Sun August 3 2025 Halpha, beta, HeID3, CaIIH/K, G-band and FeII/TiII

Sunday morning August 3, 2025 and a clear sky... at least untill noon time.

The objective was to adjust the collimator for both H-alpha as CaIIH/K using the Sol'Ex by James R.

I got some very good results with H-alpha,, HeD3 and H-beta. The Ca ion lines were a bit tricky and rather moderate. I will have this done next time.

Seeing conditions moderate but below 2,5arcs. Got into the G-band with good results and also for the FeII /TiII line. This last one has a simular structure as HeID3 line.

Setting: TLAPO80/480 with ASI678MM and Sol'Ex by James R.

Herschel Wedge

Sx/Sy < 1,1 and Tilt < 0,2°

Software: Sharpcap, Inti, JSolex and CS4

The Sun on July 26 in different wavelenghts H-Alpha, CaIIK, HeID3, H-Beta, FeI(c), FeII, TiII (4549) and G-band

This morning I imaged the Sun in different wavelenght using my new Sol'Ex by James R. The Sol'Ex was installed on 80/480 with Herschel Wedge.

Setting: TS TLAPO/80/480, ASI678MM with Sol'Ex 2nd Gen slit

Software: ShaprCap, Inti, JSolex and CS4

Imaging:

H-Alpha, CaIIK, HeID3, H-Beta, FeI(c), FeII, TiII (4549) and G-band.

Less then 400 days to Total Solar Eclipse August 12 2026 Spain

On August 12, 2026 we a total solar eclipse can be seen from Greenland over Iceland and Spain. I planned my trip to Spain and booked in the town Carrion de los Condes, which I passed on my Camino the Santiago in 2017. 

An Atlas of Spectroheliograms from 3641 to 6600 Å by Varadi Nagy Pal

Varadu Nagy Pal et al made An atlas of spectroheliograms using Sol'Ex (version 1 and ML Astro SHG 700), see link to this article.

The Solar Disks Spectrum atlas itself can be found via this link. A print screen is shown below

I think he imaged all spectrum lines which are processed using JSolex. 

Some nice features:

    

    By clicking on "##" of interesting wavelengths you get for all lines more details aswell as a personal        ranking.

    By clicking on the "eye" 1.1, 1.2,...of interesting wavelenghts you get each time more specific line on         interest. When clicking on it you go to the immediate wavelength and image

    By clicking on spectrum++ or diagram++ you switch between the spectrumline or diagram. 

This is great work by the team and will be an extra tool to use .. to find interesting lines but also to compare the images.

Sun in CaIIH1v using Sol'Ex by James R

 

All details see blogpost https://pascalhilkensastropage.blogspot.com/2025/07/first-light-of-solex-by-james-r.html

First Light of Sol'Ex by James R

I decided to go for the Sol'Ex design by James R as my previous two versions of my Sol'Ex (version 1 and pro version) are difficult to adjust concerning the collimator. I learned from Christian Buil that switching between H-alpha and CaIIH/K requires adjusting the collimator. I found this out but it was difficult to do this with version 1 and pro version of the Sol'Ex. The mechanism by James R is promising and looks easier to adjust the collimator.

My Helios colleague Johan L completed all the 3D print work which resulted in a very nice Sol'Ex: matt black, strong and robust design. The optics were bought from Shelyaq instruments which currently includes the 2nd Gen slit of 7micron width and 6mm height.  The ZWO camera requires no extra tube as needed for the pro version.

First light: TLAPO60/360 with ND 16 filter was used with new Sol'Ex by James R. After fine tuning the focus of the mount and camera, I started to adjust the collimator. After some back and forth I was able the make my first scan using the H-alpha line. Inti was used to see the result and this was already very good. Next was the CaIIH line. Adjustment is very easy but finding the sweet spot is of course the challenge. Even though the seeing was moderate the Inti result of the CaIIH line was quit good. 

SharpCap Log for H-alpha line:

Output Format=SER file (*.ser)
Binning=1
Capture Area=3840x100
Colour Space=MONO16
Exposure/Gain Shift=0
Temperature=34,2
Hardware Binning=Off
High Speed Mode=On
Turbo USB=100
Flip=None
Frame Rate Limit=Maximum
Gain=144
Exposure=3,4720ms

SharpCap Log for CaII line:

Capture Area=3840x124
Colour Space=MONO16
Exposure/Gain Shift=0
Temperature=34,3
Hardware Binning=Off
High Speed Mode=On
Turbo USB=100
Flip=None
Frame Rate Limit=Maximum
Gain=166
Exposure=5,4330ms

So far I'm happy with this new version of the Sol'Ex with the design by James R.

E corona through Fe XIV - Description Setting

Imaging the E-Corona (Emission corona) through the Fe XIV line which millions time fainter then the photosphere. 

 

JSolex 3.3.2 ImageMath E Corona Script

Improved setting by Olivier Aguerre
# Reference (darkest line) of the scan (in Å)
refWl=5302.29
# Corona-E line (in Å)
targetWl=5302.90
# Continuum shift 1 (in Å)
c1=5301.5
# Continuum shift 2 (in Å)
c2=5303.6
# Fe XIV FWHM (in Å)
targetWl_fwhm=0.2

Original setting by Cedric Champeau

# Reference (darkest line) of the scan (in Å)

feI=5302.29

# Corona-E line (in Å)

feXIV=5302.86

# Continuum shift 1 (in Å)

c1=5301.84

# Continuum shift 2 (in Å)

c2=5303.44

# Fe XIV FWHM (in Å)

feXIV_fwhm=0.2

I made also 66 scans using my Sol'eX Pro 2nd Gen slit. JSolex 3.3.2 is used to stack the images. Editing was done using CS4, AstroSurface and DeNoise AI.

Use of baader continuum 8nm filter 540nm which is tilted and installed in front of the slit; getting 530nm.  
Binning 2x2 and 14ms, Gain 0. Sun at 18° above horizon and transparency not 100%.