Best Mosaic Yet!

November 8, 2011

A multitude of interesting solar features were displayed on November 8th. Several sunspots, filaments, and prominences were visible and there were periods of good seeing during my three hour observing window.

Sunspot 1338 (Click for full detail)

 Some interesting dark filaments near sunspot 1340:

Sunspot 1340 with filaments (Click for full detail)

Nine separate overlapping images were blended together to produce the image below, the best mosaic I've been able to produce so far. You really need to view this image full size to appreciate all the detail present: a huge prominence on the upper left, two spectacular arcing filaments, bright white active areas, and four sunspots! The bottom part of the big prominence on the upper left curves down onto the solar disk where it appears as a broad dim filament. I'm really excited about this image!

L to R: Sunspots 1343, 1341, 1342 and 1339 (Click for full detail)

For 25 minutes from 12:41 PM to 1:06 PM EST the seeing was good enough to record some activity in the upper left region of the mosaic above. After 1:06 seeing drastically deteriorated and further imaging was futile. What a shame! Another 30 minutes or so would have revealed even more curling, undulating gas plumes and waving filaments. Please be patient while the movie loads and begins to play smoothly.