There is a popular ‘myth’ in amateur astronomy that goes
along the lines of “the length of time of bad weather is geometrically
proportional to the size of the aperture of the NEW scope you’ve just bought”. With the run of poor astro conducive weather
that we have been experiencing here in Sydney, someone must have bought a
seriously BIG telescope…
But being the eternal optimist as astronomers invariably
are, I still pull out a scope in the hope of a break in the poor conditions. So a few days ago, I dragged out my refractor
and Daystar Quark for a look at the Sun.
Conditions were only marginally improved, with the image of
the Sun still shimmering. But a very
interesting prominence caught my attention.
At first glimpse, it somewhat resembled a rat. By the time I had my sketching gear ready,
the prom’s appearance had altered to now look like a tethered dragon breathing
fire! Most extraordinary and
beautiful. By the time I completed the
sketch, the flame expelled by the beast had expanded out further.
By the time I completed the second sketch, this first
prominence had altered appearance again to more resemble an antelope with very
long horns. All this in just an
hour. When you think of the distances
involved with the Sun, these hot gases are moving at an extraordinary speed!
Object: “Tethered
Dragon”, hedgerow prominence
Gear: ED80, Daystar
Quark, 23mm eyepiece, 110X
Date: 14th
June, 2016
Location: Sydney,
Australia
The second sketch is of a wonderful anomalous prominence
that had a curious set of four streamers reaching out from one side of it, and
around it was a series of smaller proms, all of which appear to be magnetically
connected. As with the first sketch,
this prominence’s appearance was also changing very quickly.
Object: Striated
hedgerow prominence
Gear: ED80, Daystar
Quark, 23mm eyepiece, 110X
Date: 14th
June, 2016
Location: Sydney,
Australia.
Alex.
