Hi all,
It has been quite some time since my last entry. My apology for my absence. Work, family life, weather, again conspiring
against me.
Today I took the opportunity to sketch the sun following the
prompting from a mate that a big arch prominence was on show.
By the time I set up my Daystar Quark, the arch had
developed into a massive detached arch, resembling a floating fire above the
solar limb.
Either side of the detached arch were other smaller, but
just as detailed proms. One of these was
interacting with the detached prom, with gossamer soft tendrils of material
reaching across between the two.
On the opposite side of the Sun, there was another
fascinating set of prominences on display.
Most stark was a massive inclined pyramid prom – which had a surprise in
store for me… This pyramid was a massive
structure, likely rivalling the height of the detached arch on the other
side. Going clockwise from the pyramid,
immediately beside and sitting beneath the overhanging peak, a lovely platform
prom busied itself, trying its best to ignore its colossal neighbour. Further down clockwise was another platform
prom, though larger and more ‘untidy’ in structure. AND a little further on clockwise again was a
little pairing of a pillar and fork proms reaching across to each other.
I recently picked up a SolarMax II 60, with a damaged
additional double stack unit. The
damaged unit is useable, and not dangerous to use (the internal etalon would
take care of that), but the image is not uniformly illuminated, with a ‘zonal
band’ cutting through the FOV where the double stack effect really pops
out. I set up the SolarMax, and what an extraordinary Chromosphere
appeared!
The lone sunspot
inside from the larger platform prom was distinctly arachnid in
appearance. Plages radiated out
accompanied by masses of fibrils. Just
in from the pyramid was a curious set of four filament waves! I’m actually not sure what the geometric
description would be! And the pyramid
prom showed itself not to be a limb structure, but starting from inside of the
limb – a forked filament reached out from the chromosphere forming the base
structure of the colossal pyramid, reaching out through the limb of the
Sun. Quite a spectacular structure.
The area next to the massive detached arch also had a
fabulously long filament reach across the disc, to kiss the lower set of
smaller proms.
The difference in capability between the Daystar Quark and
the SolarMax is quite stark. Each has
their own unique strength, and together they make for an amazing set of
observing opportunities.
Alex Massey.
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