Solar Gallery: Images of Our Nearest Star

Solar Gallery

These images represent my efforts to record the changing face of our Sun. Hopefully you will also see my progress in documenting it. I was shooting solar images virtually every day since summer 2024, when conditions allowed, and will continue to frequently do so as we fade from solar max. I’ve been cutting back to imaging as interesting features and best seeing conditions appear.

First effort at imaging in Calcium-K (CaK), on a day of poor seeing. 2025_11_17

A semi-circle view of the solar disk shows several sunspots, including the complex known as AR4274 at the upper center of this image. Several serpentine lines called filaments crawl around the visible sunspots. The blackness of space forms the picture's background. The second image is the same as this but has labels for three sunspot active regions.

Hydrogen-alpha view of Sun with surface details including sunspots, granulation, and filaments. Around the solar limb are prominences, both large and small.

The Sun Endures. The partly-cloudy sky today offered plenty of openings to deep blue sky, 26℉, and light winds produced good seeing for an interesting cluster of active regions!

AR3976 was reportedly the source of a powerful, sub X-Class flare January 31. The resulting CME is expected to narrowly miss Earth on February 3.

August 24, 2024

My typical setup for daily imaging of Sun consists of a Baader film white light solar filter, Canon EF 400mm, 1:5.6 L lens, Canon 2X extender, Canon EOS 7D or 6D DSLR camera (6D pictured), with right-angle magnifying viewer to aid in focus and neck relief. The black wire is an electrical cable release. Typical settings: ISO 400, f/16, 1/800 second, though I have experimented with those settings.

AR3751 in a tight crop of a whole-disk solar image, July 16, 2024.