Re: Solar activity?


"Chris L Peterson" <clp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:ubvn92568m41up9jbogskmibdnbflmfn11@xxxxxxxxxx
On 23 Jun 2006 07:37:44 -0700, ldarryls@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

I got my first sheet of Baader film Wednesday, spent the night in the
kitchen making a filter cell and ring. I hurried home from work
Thursday and grabbed the scope (6" Newton) and ran outside prepared to
be wowed by solar flares and sunspots. I spent about an hour going
around and around the rim, and looking across the surface, but saw
nothing but a bright disk. Magnification was 75.

Is the sun often completely quiet so there is nothing to see? Do I
need more magnification to see solar activity?

Well, the Sun _is_ quiet now. But you need to be aware of just what you
can and cannot see when viewing the Sun in white light (which is what
you get with the Baader material). Sunspots will show very nicely- this
is the main viewing target with white light filters. Some solar flares
will also show, but these are really big ones that are especially rare
now that we are near solar minimum. Such white light flares show up as
bright spots on the disc of the Sun.

You won't ever see anything along the edges of the Sun with your filter.
Prominences and other mass ejections can only be seen in very narrow
band hydrogen-alpha filters.

Even though the face of the Sun is empty of sunspots at the moment, you
may still be able to tease out a bit of detail with your new filter and
a 75x scope. You can try higher magnification, but seeing tends to be
poor in the daytime and it may not be useful. The best strategy with the
Sun is just to wait a few days or weeks if you don't see anything. This
solar minimum cycle has been unusual for the amount of activity still
present.


Laura pretty much answered those questions already. As for being an
"unusual" solar minimum,
could you please explain that? The sun seems to be doing exactly what it is
supposed to be doing
during a minimum.


.

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