Our neighborhood star: The Sun. Photographed in hydrogen-alpha light, this image shows the roiling chromosphere of our star with a large filament parallel with the left-hand edge of the picture, sunspots strung vertically across the center, and a good number of prominences along the rim, glowing against the dark background of space. Image has been rotated — east is up, north is right. Imaged 2024-10-26. 18:43 UTC. Credit: James Guilford, Stella-Luna Observatory
White light allows viewing Sun as if we could stare directly at it without the resulting blindness. The Herschel wedge does much the same thing but with, perhaps, a bit more contrast and detail. Both of those white light views allow us to see a layer of the solar atmosphere called the photosphere. In the photosphere the most apparent details are sunspots, standing black against a white background. With enough resolution we can also see granulation — enormous convective bubbles of searing solar plasma.
One layer above the photosphere — yes, above — is the chromosphere. Shining in the wavelength of hydrogen-alpha (Ha), the chromosphere is not visible to us without light filters that exclude all light but Ha. A wholly different view of our Sun is available in that wavelength. Swirling seas of plasma form curves and hash as they are moved by magnetic fields, long filaments float over those seas, as fountains of glowing gas arc from the solar disk contrasted against the blackness of space. On closer examination, the solar limb appears rough, a bit like a fine-toothed saw blade, as innumerable spicules, jets of glowing gas, are seen in contrast. Yes, sunspots are visible but are no longer the primary interest.
After many tries and failures at processing images to best show the chromosphere complete with prominences, I finally learned what some other imagers were using to process their images: Solar Toolbox — a package of programming scripts used with the PixInsight imaging application. I still have much to learn about Toolbox but it has already been enormously helpful to me in the challenging world of solar imaging! Thus, the image above is from very good data recorded about seven months ago, now reprocessed using Toolbox.
The total lunar eclipse of March 13 – 14, 2025 did not disappoint! We resolved to capture images from the late partial eclipse to maximum eclipse, mostly to be able to fit in a little sleep! Catching it all, which we could from our North America location, would have required, essentially, an all-night session. Just a bit too much!
Early partial eclipse. The brighter shadow within the penumbra lights the top portion of this image. Note a bit of reddish tone within the dark umbra. 2:08 AM EDT
I sat on a pad over the paved surface where in the cold, where the observatory is to eventually stand. The old telescope mount ticking away as it tracked the moon across the sky. Occasionally geese and ducks on the nearby pond called out against some unseen disturbance. The stars of Great Orion were sinking behind nearby trees.
Moon is deep within the umbra and last penumbra light about to be left behind. 2:19 AM EDT
In the otherwise quiet chill, I watched the lunar transition, from a bright sliver left over from the night’s Full Moon, to glowing copper orb. With a cable release I manually triggered the camera’s shutter: click — pause — click, to record the event.
Maximum eclipse. Moon is fully within the umbra but because it is not traveling through the center of Earth’s deepest shadow, scattered light from the penumbra brightens the upper limb. 2:58 AM EDT
Shortly after maximum eclipse (shown above), at 2:58 AM EDT, I shut down the telescope and, casting a wistful eye at the still-darkened Moon, went indoors. I fed the waiting cat, changed back to pajamas, and returned to bed. In fitful sleep, somehow still cold, happy to have sacrificed rest for the experienced phenomenon.
Tech: Askar 103 ED telescope, Canon EOS 5D Mk 4 camera, Meade Goto Mount, Photoshop. ISO 400, variable exposure times.
I meant well but still wound up posting new solar images to Instagram and Threads instead of here. Today’s image was particularly pleasing, however, so I’ve posted it in all three places!
Today was another day featuring a cloudy morning and sunny afternoon. This time, however, we experienced excellent seeing for a while — just long enough to record today’s solar portrait. We’re so pleased with the “inset” image that we’re featuring it first — it’s cropped directly from the whole-disk picture. Obviously sunspots AR3713 and AR3712 are dominant features; they also reportedly possess magnetic fields with the potential for M-Class flares.
Doing this the “old-fashioned” way, this image was a single exposure manually selected as best of a larger group of shots. The chosen image is edited to produce the best available picture from the data gathered. Today’s excellent seeing made for an unusually good photo. We’re pretty pleased.
Whole-disk image of Earth’s Sun as recorded June 14, 2024. Sunspot active regions are labeled.
The first DSLR image of the night turned out to be the most spectacular.
It turned out to be a stronger impact than forecast, and the strongest thus far of this solar activity cycle; the geomagnetic storm of May 10 – 11, 2024 produced auroras (Northern and Southern Lights) visible at night from locations nearly pole to pole.
The Responsible Spot: The morning of the aurora, we photographed Sun, capturing this close-up of AR3664, the source of coronal materials that caused the Northern Lights or Aurora storm. It was a most impressive feature and remained intact and spewing powerful flares as it disappeared over Sun’s western limb!
The forecast of possible aurora prompted me to step outside at about 10 PM (EDT), when twilight had faded, to check the skies. At first I saw what I thought might be clouds but knowing auroras can be feeble, I watched. Sure enough, there was movement in those “clouds”.
NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center’s depiction of the expected extent of aurora May 10, 2024.
Glancing overhead I saw what I found hard believe — aurora ray features directly overhead … at 41º latitude, a rare sight, indeed! Rushing back indoors, I pulled together camera, fisheye lens, and tripod and headed back out.
What most people saw with their unaided eyes resembled thin clouds. Watching those “clouds” as they ebbed and flowed, and subtle coloration betrayed their true nature to those who knew what to look for. The auroral streaks pictured here were directly overhead in Medina, Ohio — 41º latitude.
The aurora still presented itself as cloudy streaks with, perhaps, hints of color. Now also armed with my smartphone, I activated its camera and aimed it at the sky. There on the screen, light amplified by the phone’s electronics, glorious, eye-popping colors filled the sky! I’d never before experienced an aurora like it.
First image of the night came from the iPhone 13 camera, revealing the true extent of the ongoing aurora.
Only occasionally, during the time I was out, did the aurora’s color become visible to me; apparently being just below the limits of my, and others’ visual perception. Another local observer noted color was more visible shortly before I stepped outside to check on things — the actual peak of the display must have happened as twilight was ending and before 10 p.m.
During the hour we watched the show in the sky, the event slowly faded, then returned bringing forth another burst of color. The balance of images here are from a Canon EOS 5D Mk. 4 DSLR camera with a Sigma fisheye lens. The DSLR exposures are ISO 400, f/2.8, and 4 to 8 seconds.
I observed and photographed the aurora from shortly after 10:00 until about 11:30 EDT and in that hour or so, the intensity faded and then re-surged before fading away again which was my signal to shut down. I might have stayed out longer but had a commitment for the next day — sleep was needed — so, satisfied I’d seen the phenomenon at its best, I put away the camera gear.
Looking very nearly straight up, these rays appear to be emanating from a position in the east-northeastern sky. The extent of the aurora was impressive, visible well into the Deep South of the United States. The aurora australis was widely visible in the southern hemisphere.
Knowing it would be all over the news, I submitted my most spectacular shot of the night to the local newspaper — a daily that publishes on Saturday but not Sunday. It was too late for the Saturday edition but the editor gave my photo a three-column, Page 1 spot on Monday.
Colors rain down on a quiet residence, perhaps poured out from the Big Dipper seen here in an inverted position. The north star, Polaris, is a tiny dot near the center of this picture. (Note how two stars of the Dipper’s bowl point toward Polaris.) The short horizontal streak to the right of Polaris is a moving airplane’s navigation lights, captured in the several seconds of the camera’s exposure.
Our Sun is still in its peak activity period, by some accounts it won’t hit solar maximum until some time in 2025, so there may be more auroras in our near future but this was one for the history books!
Page 1 of the Medina County Gazette, Monday, May 13, 2024.
The Sun: March 24, 2024, 15:46 UTC, as seen from Medina, Ohio, USA. Canon EOS 6D Mk. 2, Askar 103 APO telescope @ f/6.8, Spectrum Telescope filter, ISO 250, 1/2000 second.
Taking advantage of a rare day with clear skies, I set up the new-ish Askar 103 APO telescope and got a bit more solar imaging in. The huge sunspot group at the center of the image above is designated AR3615 — it and the isolated sunspot above it (AR3614) exploded in tandem on March 23, directing their CMEs (Coronal Mass Ejections) at Earth. When the CME hit our planet, the result was a severe geomagnetic storm. While not specifically practicing for the upcoming solar eclipse, the experience doesn’t hurt, either! This period of activity makes the sun’s photosphere interesting to observe as features visibly change day-to-day and even more rapidly, if one looks close enough. Sun is nearing the predicted peak of its 11-year cycle of activity which is expected in 2025. That means a couple of more years (at least) of interesting things to see on our nearest star.
Stella-Luna Observatory 