Flare M3.5 in AR4100 with Sol'Ex in CaIIK

 

Flare M3.5 captured with Sol'Ex May 30, 2025

First light this morning around UT5h00. The objective was to test my new set up. My Sol'Ex pro 2nd Gen slit was equiped with a new adapter.

 
With this new Omegon adapter, the distance between Sol'Ex and Herschel Wedge is getting closer. As a result:

- more stable configuration of Sol'Ex as 1,25 tube is now amost entirely enclosed.

- getting more back focus; from 1cm to 3cm back focus

During imaging, the spectrum line did light up around sun spot AR4100. This was imaged both in CaIIK and H-Alpha. It was a moderate flare M3.5. See details below:

Setting:

TLAPO80/480 with Sol'Ex Pro 2nd Gen slit and ASI678MM

Herschel Wedge

Tilt <0,6° and Sx/Sy <1,1

Software: SharpCap, Inti, Jsolex, CS4, DeNoise AI

ATT Essen 2025

My first visit to to ATT Essen, the biggest European Astronomy fair, was back in 2017. I missed some editions during Covid-19 period but attend all others. This year ATT Essen celebrated40 years. Beginning of this year I submitted a couple of pictures and a short text  answerring their request "Wanted: Besucher-Statements für Jubiläumsschrift zum 40. ATT! Einsendungen mit Name und Wohnort erbeten bis 28.02.2025 an karsten.plewnia@sternwarte-essen.de. Awesome to see that my submission was published in their publication which was handed over at the entrance.

on the picture fltr: Pascal, Walter, Jean-Marie, Johan, Jean-Claude

This year only Helios colleague Johan and myself went to ATT Essen. We left very early around 7h15 which resulted in an early arrival in Essen. We parked our car at Parkplatz 1 and started electrical charging. When we arrived at the entrance it was 9h30 with a long waiting row. 

Once inside we first visited the (class)rooms with used equipment. Johan immediately bought  a set of color filters while I was looking for connectors. Around 11AM we split; Johan joined a lecture on optics and I visited the other stands. We met each other after the lecture and took a traditional German meal: Schnitzel and frites. 

Some interesting things to mention :

A modular mount was presented which has some great features. I was also impressed by the PiFinder. A rasperry Pi with camera and software which is placed on your scope (typically dobson) to find your way at the sky. If you don't have a goto.. this is a great support; cost about 400€. I finally bought a ZWO715MC camera for a reduced price. 

During the tour we met some people from Belgium: Philip from Mira, Hugo from Astromarket, Joost from Capella Hoegaarden and Daniel from our own solar chat. With Daniel, I also joined the lecture by dr. Udo Siepmann who shared his experience capturing the sun. 

Selfie with Dr. Udo Siepmann

We left around 5pm, fully satisfied and again a great ATT edition. 

Save the date :

H-Beta with Sol'Ex

 

Sun May 19 H-Alpha and HeID3

About 90 minutes after sunrise I'm able to observe the Sun with my Sol'Ex. Seeing should be better during these early moments. 

Setting:

TLAPO80/480 with Sol'Ex Pro 2nd Gen Slit and ASI678MM

Herschel Wedge

Tilt <0,5° and Sx/Sy < 1,1

Software: SharpCap, Inti, JSolex and CS4

Imaging H-Alpha en HeI D3

Sun May 14 in H-Beta, CaIIH and HeID3

The Sun imaged on May 14, 2025 in Helium I D3, CaIIH and H-Beta.

Setting:

TLAPO80/480 with Sol'Ex Pro 2nd Gen Slit an ASI678MM

Herschel Wedge

Tilt <0,5° and Sx/Sy=1,08

Software : SharpCap, Inti, JSolex 3.1.3, CS4

The Sun in H-Alpha

The Sun this morning very early at UT5h50, in H-Alpha.

Sun H-alpha, beta and CaIIH

I re-adjested the collimation of my Sol'Ex. The ressult is a much sharper image. Beside the re-adjustment, seeing and transparency was very good.

The Sun on May 9

This morning, very early about 7h48 (UT5h48), I made some images of the Sun. Tranparency was good and moderate seeing.

Setting:

TLAPO80/480 f/6 with Solex Pro 2nd Gen slit and ASI678MM

Herschel Wedge

Tilt <0,3° and Sx/Sy = 1,1

Software : SharpCap, Inti, Astrosurface, CS4

  

Sol'Ex May 1 with flare in AR4079

Images of the Sun on May 1, 2025 using my Sol'Ex Pro 2nd Gen Slit. The H-beta shows also a flare in AR4079. I'm also proud of my CaIIH image for which the seeing conditions were very good. This is one of my better CaII image.

Imaging in BaII D2 en MgI B2

How cool is this. I imaged the Barium ion (BaII D2) line at 4554A. I did not expect anything, but it did, with some structure over the entire sun's disk. I seached more in the literature and found that the line is representing the low chromosphere, the same as the MgIb2 line. Thus I imaged the MgIb2 line and compared with the BaII line. Observation: more details in the sunspot, structure is same between Ba and Mg. Interesting is that Ba structure is dark, while the one for Mg is lighter.

According to Olshevsky et al. (2008) and Sütterlin et al. (2001), the core of this line forms at about 700km.

Via a FB post I got feedback from Varadi Nagy Pal on more metal elements which show structure and even faint prominences. For more information see his blog https://csillagtura.ro/

He mentiones Fe, Ni, Sr of which Sol'Ex images are made. I will try to locate them using JSolex Spectrum analyzer. 

Sunspot AR4079 in white light and Barium Ion line

 On May 1 and 2 I was able to image the big sunspot AR4079. One image was made using white light (OIII, IR/UV cut), the other one in Barium II D2 line using my Sol'Ex.

The structure in BaII D2 is clearly visible. The image is not that sharp as this is a crop from an entire sundisk.

Rotation of the Sun - H-Alpha with Sol'Ex

The sun was imaged from April 26 till May 2nd. Every day one picture with Sol'Ex in H-alpha.

What can we see and learn :

- the Sun rotates

- large structures hold for days

Setting:

TLAPO80/480 with Sol'Ex Pro 2nd Gen Slit and ASI678MM on AZEQ6

Herschel Wedge

Software: Sharpcap, Inti, CS4

ATT Essen.. one week to go!

On Saturday, May 10, 2025, the 40th "Astronomy and Technology Meeting" (ATT) will take place in Essen. The ATT (Astronomie- und Techniktreff) is a trade fair for amateur astronomers and people of all ages interested in astronomy. It is the largest event of its kind in Europe. Here you can admire the latest telescopes and all kinds of accessories, as well as used and do-it-yourself instruments, and exchange experiences with manufacturers and experienced amateurs.

This year some new exhibitors; I'm looking forward to see  ZWO Astro and Proxisky beside the wellknown APP, Bresser, Baader, Celestron, Lunt, Teleskop-Service, Vixen, Explore Scientific, ...

The Sun seen in different wavelengths using Sol'Ex

Using my Sol'Ex I'm able to observe the Sun in different wavelengths. I made a graphics showing my current observations. All observations imaged on May 1, 2025

Setting

TLAPO80/480, Sol'Ex Pro 2nd Gen slit and ASI678MM

Herschel wedge

AZEQ6

Software: Sharpcap, Inti, J'Solex, CS4

Sunspot AR4079

Sunspot AR4079 was imaged this midday with good transparency and moderate seeing. The size is about 1070MH and thus visible with the naked eye (using an eclipse glasses ofcourse).

Setting: TAL200K, ASI290MM with barlow x2

Filters: ND3.8 solar filter, OIII and IR/UV cut filter

Software : Sharpcap, AstroSurface, CS4

The Sun in MgIb2, Alpha and Beta