Sunspot Belt

Warm, Sunny Afternoon

Afternoon temperature was near 80 degrees on March 11th. Clear skies stretched above. Gentle puffs of warm wind rustled my hair. It was a good day for solar observing.

Initial alignment of the telescope mount was much easier than my previous attempt. I placed the round tripod feet on circular marks drawn during my last observing session. When the telescope slewed to the Sun, eyepiece crosshairs were only about 5 arc minutes away from dead center! Seeing conditions were mediocre again.

Several modest sunspots were spread like a diagonal belt across the solar disc. You can see them in the first image below - a 12-image mosaic made with a 2X Barlow lens. On the left is sunspot 2002. Next, near center, is a pair called 1998. Then comes 2003. Finally, near the right edge, sunspots 2001 and 1996 are about to rotate out of view. Click on the images for a larger view.

Let's take a closer look at some sunspots. The next picture shows large sunspot complex 2002 imaged with a 5X Barlow lens. Unfortunate interference fringes (circular arcs) ruin the scene. I'm ordering equipment that should remove these annoying features. Even with the fringes you can see complex structure and seething white energetic emissions.

The next image, made with a 2X Barlow lens, shows sunspot pair 1998 left of center and sunspot 2003 in the upper right corner.

Now look around the solar limb. The next two images show part of the eastern limb with a prominence and two filaments.

Inversion of the previous image shows filaments floating.

Finally, the next two images show prominences on the western limb.

Departing sunspots 2001 and 1996 can be seen on the upper right in the picture above.

Warm days should be more frequent now. I'm bound to get a day with better seeing.