The Dutch Observatory

I did extract the frames of the eruptive prominence I captured on the 29th, which started the CME, from the SDO archive and combined them with my video clip showing the eruption. Please note that the Field of View of SDO does not extend as far out as it is shown in my video, showing how the density fades quickly.  give the clip a few seconds to load before playing.

The prominence close to AR1391 is still there today but the  prominences at the SE limb are mostly gone.  Today a full disk image of the sun as well as a closeup of 1391 with the prominence at the Eastern limb.  AR1391 did not show as active today  yesterday, but in a few days we will see what’s causing the large prom.

Today’s Sun showed a very nice line up of a number of prominences at the Eastern/South Eastern limb.  The Prom near 1391 was very nice and arching, so I made a closeup of the lineup.  Also an animation of 1/2 hour of activity, but movement is very slow.  today’s Active Regions: 1386,88,89,90,and 91.

                                                                      Click this image for the animation

Today’s sun, 2012-01-03, with AR1386,88,89,90,and 91. The seeing was still very poor so the close up could use a lot of improvement. 1 Hour before, SDO showed a nice prom which was gone by the time I could start imaging.

Yesterday New Year was cloudy.  Today very windy with 30mph winds, and I had Lesly Edwards and her dad come by for lesson one to learn to image the sun.  Lesly is a very clever 10 year old 5th grader running her telescope at the field like a pro.  But about this later.  Today only a full disk image of the sun and yes, I missed the 14:45 UT tripple blast from AR1384 as caught by SDO.  I know I should have made the walls of the observatory lower, so the sun cleared them earlier…  But AR 1388 and 89 are full of sparkles too.

The last post of 2011.  This morning the sun seemed very active with prominences all over the place.  I decided to capture a full disk image and 2 closeups of AR1388 and 89.  One with a 2x barlow and another one with a 3x barlow.  The 3x barlow is pushing the limits of my equipment, but there is still nice detail in the umbra and penumbral structure and even some detail in the core of the sunspot. Pretty happy for these images.  Now we’re getting ready for a new year and I wish everyone who visits my blog here a happy and healthy 2012 with lots of Sun shine!  And if you care, visit our chapter’s outreach page.  If you would like to help us in our effort, we do accept tax deductible donations to bring astronomy to many schools in our region. 
http://ceastronomy.org/blog/outreach 

Wow, what an imaging session today.  Where yesterday I observed the hedgerow prom at the NW limb, today I saw it being ejected in the solar system.  A full image of the sun today and a close up of the first frame of the animation as well as the animated gif showing the progression of the ejection between 15:58 UT and 16:23 UT.  It was beautiful seeing it lift off and blow away.

           Click this image for the animation                                   

A clear sky today but very windy with unstable seeing. AR1388 is coming into good view now with a nice prominence at the SE limb and a short hedgerow prom decorated the NW limb, but the unstability made for a low quality detailed images.  A full disk with AT1384,86,87,88 and closeups of some proms and AR1384 and 1388.

Christmas eve and Christmas day were cloudy and rainy, as well as most of today.  However, today’s forecast was for a 2 hour break in the cloud coverage and I managed to miss most of that   (e.g sleep thru it).  At the end, the brightness of the sun managed to wake me up just in time to image one full image of the sun with a nice prominence at the western limb. Today NOAA reports 6 spots in the Southern hemisphere and just 2 in the Northern with 1384, 86 and 87 to be the most prominent spots.

The clouds and rain have passed by and the sun was out gain this morning.  Everything was still pretty wet, but OK to image the sun again.  Today the sun looks very nice with some large parallel filamens stretching accross the CM and active regions AR1376, 81,82,83 and 84.  Also a number of nice prominences on all sides of the sun.  However, the prom at the NE limb take the prize today.  Here the full solar disk as well as a closeup of AR1383 and 84 as well as the NE limb prom.