Nice Filament

Best Filament Image So Far

Filaments are somewhat like clouds above the solar chromosphere. They are cooler than their immediate surroundings and cooler than some of the chromosphere below. This relative coolness makes them appear dark against the background solar disk. Filaments are temporarily held in place by magnetic fields. The first image below is the best image I've yet captured of a filament, in this case a hook-shaped one beneath a patchwork pattern of bright activity:

Hook-shaped filament imaged on October 25, 2011 (Click for full detail)

When a filament is seen on the rim of the Sun it is called a prominence. The image above shows the "top view" of a prominence. The following image shows the "side view" of a (different) prominence with sunspot 1327 also visible.

Sunspot 1327 with prominences on the right (Click for full detail)

The original goal on October 25th was to use a Mylar-filtered Celestron-8 telescope mounted for the first time on my Ioptron Mini Tower Pro. I hoped to image the same sunspot in both the photosphere (visible surface of the Sun) and the chromosphere (layer just above the photosphere). I was curious to see if the Celestron-8 would capture any granulation (evidence of rising and falling gases) in the solar photosphere. Unfortunately, the seeing was not good enough to reveal detailed granulation. Intermittent breezes buffeted the telescope and images wavered and danced in the video display. Below are the best results for my photosphere/chromosphere comparison for sunspot 1330. First, the Celestron-8 prime focus photosphere image:

Sunspot 1330 with photospheric granulation barely visible (Click for full detail)

Here is an image of the same sunspot 1330 taken with the Lunt 100mm H-alpha telescope showing sunspot 1330 in the chromosphere:

Sunspot 1330 in the chromosphere (Click for full detail)

Here's a blinking comparison between the Sun's photosphere (purple) and chromosphere (red):

Purple to red moves outward away from the Sun's center.