Hydrogen Alpha imagery of the Sun unlike you've ever seen before!
Photos by Fred Bruenjes, using a DayStar 0.45Å Hydrogen Alpha solar filter on a 5" refractor with a custom built camera.
November 8 2006: Transit of Mercury
Can you spot it? Silhouetted against the prominence! This image has been highly processed to show the prominence, images below are more natural. Nevertheless, this is a single frame exposure with no stacking or masking.
Mid transit. Atmospheric seeing is worsening as the Sun sinks lower in the sky, so the photos are getting blurrier.
Here's the equipment used for today's transit imaging. The optical path is: front aperture red ERF, 5" F8 refractor, 4x powermate, Daystar 0.45Å H-α filter, 0.63x SCT reducer/corrector, camera (based on KAI-0340DM chip), all mounted piggyback on an 8" F10 LX200. Yes, the mounting is VERY unstable and I had a lot of problems with wind shaking the scope.
November 8 2006: Photos of sun before transit
All text and images are © 2006 Fred Bruenjes - All Rights Reserved. Image inlining is strictly prohibited. Email for permission before using an image or text.