Rain and Sun

Rainbow and Sunspots

Sunlight is rare these wet days in Williamsburg. My lawn has never been greener. Although clouds and rain make solar observing impossible, occasionally, the Sun does break through. Late in the day on May 14th an amazing intense rainbow appeared behind my house. Unfortunately, the 6-panel mosaic below failed to capture the very top of the secondary rainbow. I wish I had raised the camera a bit higher! (Click on the image for a larger view.)

The primary rainbow is very bright and shows up nicely against dark background clouds. The higher secondary rainbow is dimmer with colors arrayed in opposite order compared to the primary rainbow. Inside the primary rainbow supernumerary bands are seen, particularly near the top of the arch. View the enlarged image to see the supernumerary bands more clearly. This is the best rainbow I've ever seen!

Two days after the rainbow's appearance the sky finally cleared for several hours. Viewing conditions were nearly ideal with gentle puffs of wind and temperatures in the mid to upper 60's. Seeing was good as I began solar imaging at about 2:00 pm EDT.

The Sun finally showed a few significant features which are displayed in the following 40-panel mosaic made with a 5X Barlow lens. On the left, large sunspot 2546 is located near an accompanying white active area. On the right is smaller sunspot 2544 with its own active area. The large prominence on the upper left limb was particularly bright in the eyepiece. (Click on the image for a larger view.)

The previous image has been reduced to one third of its original size. The full-sized image is a 13.4 MB monster measuring an amazing 6849 by 6411 pixels! This is nearly the best full disc mosaic I've ever made. It took many hours to construct and enhance the picture.

The next picture shows a closer view of large sunspot 2546. Good seeing allowed resolution of fine details around the sunspot and on the limb.

Smaller sunspot 2544 had an interesting umbra structure.

Finally, here's a closer view of the brightest prominence on the northeastern limb.

Soon after the nice clear sky on May 16th clouds and rain returned. I'm glad I made the most of such a pleasant observing day.