SunSpots_AR2993_AR2994_20220418_UV_IR_CH4_Lum_Composite_HomCavObservatory_ReSizedDown2HD

Object Details: The attached composite shows the huge sunspot groups AR2993 & AR2994 as they were just rotating on back on April 18th. Having previously posted images showing them near mid-disk (attached here - www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/52034939249/

), as a result of a 4 day blackout due to a snow storm that week, I just had the opportunity to process this data).

 

During their passage across the Earth-facing side, they threw a variety of flares including two X-class. Large enough to be seen 'naked-eye' (with a proper solar filter of course), helioseismic imaging is currently tracking a large active region on the non-Earth facing side of the Sun which may be AR2994. If it remains intact it should rotate on the eastern limb in approximately a week.

 

Image Details: The images making up this composite were taken by Jay Edwards on the early morning hours of April 18, 2022 under high clouds of varying opacity from the RoR observatory I built at my home here in upstate, NY using:

 

At left: An Orion ED80T CF (i.e. an 80MM, f/6 triplet, carbon-fiber refractor) with a 0.8x Televue field flattener / focal reducer, Kendrick film solar filter and an unmodded Canon 700D DSLR controlled by APT, meant simply as a reference it is a single-frame taken at ISO 100 and with a 1/2500 second exposure;

 

At right: a vintage 1970, 8-inch, f/7 Criterion newtonian reflector with a home-made Baader (visual grade material) off-axis solar filter and a ZWO ASI290MC planetary camera / auto-guider. They are stacks of several hundred frames, in this case at various exposures, selected from short video clips consisting of several thousand.

 

The ASI290MC was placed at prime focus and was controlled by SharpCap Pro and all scopes were tracked using a Losmandy G-11 goto mount running a Gemini 2 control system. The images also utilized a set of specialized planetary filters (Infrared, Ultraviolet & Methane) in addition to the over-the-aperture solar filter. As shown here the entire composite has been resized down to HD (one-third of it's original resolution).

 

I'm looking forward to seeing AR2994 survives it's trip around the Sun !

 

Similar composites or various solar system objects, many using additional wavelengths, can be found at the links attached below:

 

Solar:

 

www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/51992208177/

 

www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/51948806640/

 

www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/51747214403/

 

www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/50815383151/

 

www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/50657578913/

 

www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/51027134346/

 

www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/51295865404/

 

Saturn:

 

www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/51489515877/

 

www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/51345118465/

 

www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/51007634042/

 

www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/51316298333/

 

www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/50347485511/

 

www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/50088602376/

 

Jupiter:

 

www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/51405393195/

 

www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/51679394534/

 

www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/51307264271/

 

www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/50303645602/

 

www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/50052655691/

 

www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/50123276377/

 

www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/50185470067/

 

www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/50993968018/

 

www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/51090643939/

 

Mars:

 

www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/50425593297/

 

www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/50594729106/

 

www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/50069773341/

 

www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/50223682613/

Done