Limb Fireworks

Cool Day, Hot Sun

Breezy conditions and chilly 40 degree temperature on March 29th made observing conditions almost uncomfortable. Seeing was poor, but absolutely clear skies were hard to resist.

Although most of the Sun was blank, one good-sized sunspot and a spiky eruption on the western limb made my efforts worthwhile. The first picture below is an 8-image mosaic made with a 2X Barlow lens. It shows the solitary major sunspot, 2305, below center and a dramatic jet associated with departing sunspots shooting out from the western limb on the right.

Thirty minutes later the erupting spikes had changed as shown in the following image.

It would have been nice to make a time lapse movie of these erupting features, but I decided against this for two reasons. First, no sunspot umbra was nearby. I use a relatively stationary umbra to align video frames and correct inevitable image drift over the duration of a time lapse movie. Second, seeing was really terrible! At times the solar surface was completely blurred.

During one short period of slightly improved seeing I recorded the following solo image of sunspot 2305.

This is far from the most detailed image I've ever made, but it's not bad considering the generally poor seeing conditions during today's observing session.