Winter Sun

Earliest Images Yet!

I've never captured solar images in February because the low winter Sun has always been blocked by trees and houses at my Lynchburg observing site. Now, my new unobstructed site in Williamsburg makes year round observing possible. On February 24th the sky was beautifully clear, and afternoon temperatures reached the mid 50's. The gusty breeze was a bit too strong, but it seemed like a good day to use my telescope for the first time in Williamsburg.

It took longer than usual to set up because I hadn't yet painted alignment marks for the tripod legs. After leveling the mount and pointing it north, the initial slew to the Sun was inaccurate mostly in elevation. I adjusted the mount and quickly centered the Sun in the eyepiece. The first video clip was obtained at about 2:40 pm! Observing at 2:40 pm was always impossible at my old site because the Sun was inevitably behind tree branches then. So I began my first imaging session with the Sun west of the meridian. Seeing conditions were mediocre. Frequent strong wind gusts blew some of my equipment around.

A few modest sunspots were scattered across the solar disc. The first image below shows active region 1987 to the right of center, sunspot 1989 near top center, and emerging sunspot 1990 near the Sun's limb at lower left. Sunspot 1990 was returning for its third trip across the Sun after spending almost two weeks rotating around the side facing away from Earth. It was called 1944 on its first trip and 1967 on its second trip. Click on the image for a larger view.

The next image shows a large complex active area with many small sunspots. The largest one on the left is 1982, and the one on the far right is 1981. This group looked more dramatic in white light images than it did in hydrogen-alpha. Click on the image for a larger view.

I'm looking forward to getting more efficient at my new observing site and taking full advantage of improved conditions there. I'm particularly curious about seeing conditions. So far it's been windy almost every day. It's too early to tell if wind will be a year round problem.

New Observing Site

No Trees!!

Since moving to Williamsburg I've been excited about my new solar observing location and curious to see how well it works. My new house has an unobstructed back yard facing south, and I arranged to have a convenient walkway leading to a nice level concrete observing pad. This spot is a bit more private than my previous front driveway location. Also, my telescope is now stationed on a slight rise in the midst of level land, not in a low depression like my previous site.

Land surrounding the telescope is relatively open. Newly constructed houses and ongoing construction are nearby, but none of these buildings significantly block my view of the Sun.

The small blue box attached to the rear of the telescope is a video camera. The cardboard box on top of the folding table contains a laptop computer which controls the telescope and camera. The maroon cloth on the box drapes over my head and blocks bright daylight so I can see the computer screen without glare and reflections. Equipment cases lie near the table.

Notice the lack of tall trees or obstacles in the pictures above. The next picture below shows a view toward the southwest. The trees are far away and don't interfere until a few degrees above the horizon.

I can now observe any time from early morning until late afternoon - no more severely limited observing windows like I had at my previous site where trees and buildings blocked much of the Sun's arc across the sky.

I do worry about loss of elevation at my new location. I've lost 742 ft (226 meters) of elevation coming down from the Virginia Piedmont to nearly sea level. Now there will be a thicker layer of air between my telescope and the Sun. I wonder if this will affect seeing. Only time will tell.

The Greensprings Trail

New Running Route

Since moving to Williamsburg I've enjoyed exploring new running routes. One of the nicest routes is the Greensprings Trail winding through woods near my home. I enter the trail by walking only about 200 meters from my front door! The first picture below shows the spot where I start running. It's a sunny day in late winter and the trees are bare.

 After an initial straightaway the trail turns left.

Wooden platforms cross over frequent patches of soggy ground.

Several signs along the way tell about trail history, wildlife, and ecology. One of these signs can be seen on the right in the next picture.

The path passes through pleasant wooded sections. Green holly leaves are abundant.

A left turn brings the trail onto a wooden bridge spanning one of the larger wetland areas.

There's a nice view over open water at the middle of the bridge:

On this day a turtle enjoyed the afternoon Sun and two geese shared a log.

After leaving the bridge the trail goes on to join the Virginia Capital Trail at a wooden entrance ramp:

A short distance on the paved Virginia Capital Trail brings me to a left turn where the Greensprings Trail continues through lovely wooded areas.

This particularly beautiful flat section of hard-packed white sand runs beside a large open field (off to the right, not shown), one of the oldest continually cultivated fields in the USA. This field has been farmed since early colonial days in the 1600's.

Here's the final stretch returning to the starting point near our new home.

Don't these trail pictures beckon you to run or walk?

Butterflies From Iceland

Light and Shadow

Check out these interesting wall ornaments we found during our recent trip to Iceland. Three single shiny metal butterfly wings are mounted perpendicular to our living room wall. When light shines from above the metal reflects a bright butterfly wing up and casts a dark shadow butterfly wing down. It's a wonderfully beautiful 3D effect!

Our new house has four windows facing south. I finally have a good place for my "garden" of solar powered flip-flop flowers!

These happy fellows make me laugh when they all madly flap in a beam of sunlight under our bedroom window.

Moving

Half The House At Twice The Price

We have moved to Williamsburg, VA.

I've moved into a new house twice before. The first time, in 1955, I was 7 years old. Our house in West Caldwell, NJ was newly built as shown in the picture below taken on July 3, 1955. I'm sitting on the curb in front of the house. My baby brother, my Mom, and my Grandmother share the scene.

I lived in this West Caldwell house for 15 years and considered it truly home for years afterward.

Twenty five years later, in 1980, I moved into a house for the second time. I was then married with a baby daughter. It was a thrill to own a home after 10 years living in apartments. Our Lynchburg, VA house was 8 years old in 1980 and looked like this.

Our dog, Sandy, is on the front lawn in the picture above. Notice the size of the tree and bushes. The next picture below shows the house in 2013. Since 1980 the trees and bushes have grown, the dog is dead, and a satellite dish has been installed on the chimney.

We have lived here for 33 years, more than half my life. I've learned the secrets of the house and all its good points and imperfections. I've grown quite comfortable in this dwelling where so many memories reside. It's not just a house. It's a monument to all the years of work invested, all the money spent on upkeep and improvements, and all the sweat expended caring for the lawn and grounds. Roots are fairly deep here. Pulling them out is painful.

I'm leaving the few friends I have. I'm leaving a doctor and dentist I've grown to trust. Left behind are my reliable plumber, the friendly barber who cuts my hair just right, and the excellent, patient optometrist who gives me exact eyeglass prescriptions. I'll miss familiar running and biking routes. I'll miss the relatively low cost of living. I'll miss the Blue Ridge Parkway.

There are things I won't miss about Lynchburg. I won't miss caring for my huge uneven lawn. I won't miss cleaning up fallen branches and fallen leaves from backyard trees. I'm very happy to leave behind the fundamentalist Falwell empire spreading like kudzu further into the Lynchburg community with each passing year. It will be nice to escape the pervasive right wing republican majority in my voting district.

We are "downsizing" to a smaller house. Our new home is half the house at twice the price! As a result, we've had to discard many things, including many treasured items. It really, really hurt to throw some things away. Out went my daughter's school work and prize winning projects. Trophies and medals earned over the years were flung in the trash. Nostalgic items belonging to my Mom and Dad, gone. A tower of paper more than a meter high containing mathematical calculations, research work, course preparations, and unfinished projects, tossed in a garbage can. Fifteen years of variable star data, gone. Favorite posters and pictures, gone. Beloved old furniture, pulverized in a garbage truck. Mementos of wonderful family trips, gone. After a while I got numb. I tried not to think about tossing stuff in the trash, and yet, as I saw it lying in the garbage can, a jolt of sadness shot through me. I looked away quickly, tried not to dwell on it, and threw the next item in the can.

Imagine working more than 30 years hand carving a beautiful wooden clock. Then, there's no room for it, so you throw it in the trash and watch it getting crushed by a garbage truck. Years of careful effort now has the same status as yesterday's banana peels! That's how I felt about discarding my academic work.

On the bright side, Williamsburg is a very nice place to live. We'll be very close to my daughter, son-in-law, and my precious granddaughters. Just look at these little sweethearts:

In Williamsburg we'll have beautiful bike paths, and great running trails just a short walking distance from our front door. I'll never have to run in traffic again! My lawn will be wonderfully small and flat! I'll have a new, much improved observing location for my solar telescope - no more trees and buildings blocking my view of the Sun! I'll also have a custom observing platform in the back yard. Everything is brand new in our newly constructed house. It's well insulated and very energy efficient with a sophisticated heating and cooling system. We'll have access to good public libraries, curbside recycling, and all the pancakes we can eat.

But the best feature of Williamsburg is being close to my daughter and her family. A ten minute drive or 15 minute walk connects our two houses. We'll be able to share meals, babysit, and attend our granddaughters' school performances and sporting events. We can be part of their extended family in a more intimate old fashioned way.

So, off we go into the next stage of life. It's a sunny prospect in our new house.

  .

Bad Luck Sun

Observing Train Wreck

Back on November 8th huge sunspot area 1890 had rotated to the center of the Sun's disk. In spite of the cold morning and low altitude of the Sun, I decided to set up my telescope to capture the best sunspot in quite a while. It wasn't long before the train wreck started.

First, I had forgotten about the change from daylight savings time to standard time. I thought I was setting up with plenty of time before the Sun would be blocked by an obscuring tree. In fact, I was an hour late. When I was ready to get the first image, the Sun just started passing behind the tree! So I had to wait an hour and 20 minutes before the Sun emerged clear of the branches. I then managed to quickly capture four video clips before the next problem popped up: the communication link between the telescope and the computer broke. By the time I reestablished communication, the seeing conditions had deteriorated significantly. The Sun's surface was swimming around and tremendously blurred. I waited a while for the atmosphere to settle, but soon noticed clouds moving across the Sun. I looked up from the computer to see many clouds moving in from the west. At this point I had spent about 3.5 hours trying to image the Sun and obtained only four images for my efforts. It was time to give up.

When I later examined the four images, only one was reasonably sharp. Sunspot 1890 was really spectacular a few days earlier. I couldn't capture its full glory then because it was cloudy. Just my luck. Here's the one decent picture I captured of sunspot 1890 with a 2X Barlow. Click on the image for a larger view.

This sunspot had a complicated structure with many small sunspots trailing the largest one. The smaller spots showed up much better in ordinary white light than they did in the hydrogen-alpha image above.

Observing season has ended for the year. Next year I'll observe from a new improved location free from obscuring trees and buildings which have plagued me in the past.

Sun Wakes Up

Finally! Some Features!

Back in October it seemed like a long time since the Sun displayed significant features. More than a month had passed since my last solar observing session in September. When some cool clear weather finally arrived on October 20th, I was ready to image a variety of sunspots and filaments spread over the eastern half of the Sun.

The following 8-image mosaic, made with a 1.5X Barlow lens, shows features on the Sun's east side. Large sunspot 1877 is in the lower left, and smaller sunspot 1872 is on the lower right near the image edge. Sunspot 1875 is a pair below the two nearly parallel dark filaments. Sunspot 1873 is the white area near the center accompanied by a c-shaped structure. Click on the image for a larger view.

The biggest sunspot, 1877, with interesting activity to its left, is shown in more detail below.

The other sunspots, 1875 and 1873, are shown in the next image. 1875 has a double structure below center. 1873 is smaller and dispersed to the upper right accompanied by a c-shaped structure. I experimented with a new pale blue color in this image.

Filaments near sunspots 1875 and 1873 show nice "float" in the following inverted image.

Finally, I imaged two prominences. First, two dim, spike-like prominences are displayed below.

Another brighter prominence was also present.