The Sun Through Haze

Nice Filaprom!

Observing conditions have been awful for the past five weeks. When clouds finally cleared, and winds diminished in early June, it looked like a clear window might open for a few days. Unfortunately, Canadian wildfire smoke drifted overhead making the sky milky white and hazy. On the afternoon of June 3rd some version of blue sky seemed to develop, so I rushed outside with my solar telescope. The smoke plume had moved mostly east of my location (red dot) as you can see in the following satellite view.

Normally, I prefer to use my telescope before noon when temperatures are mild and seeing is best. On June 3rd I didn't begin imaging until 4:00 pm when it was near 90 uncomfortable degrees. Seeing was surprisingly good in spite of the heat.

Only two substantial sunspot groups were present near the Sun's western edge as you can see in the next 4-panel mosaic. 

The upper collection of four umbras, now numbered 4100, was a long-lasting sunspot group now nearing the end of its third trip across the Sun's Earth facing disc! It was first seen in late April when it was given the number 4055 during its first appearance. On the second trip across it was numbered 4079. So this is quite a long-lasting sunspot! Below 4100 is the double umbra of sunspot 4099. Both groups can be seen in good detail when you enlarge the next cropped image.

In addition to sunspots a magnificent "filaprom" was present on the northeastern limb. Dark filaments on the solar disc float above underlying surface and appear as prominences when viewed on the limb. This "filaprom" shows the transition from prominence to filament as solar rotation brings it around the eastern limb.

The next inverted image highlights the floating, cloud-like filament. 

Other prominences appear on the eastern limb in the next 5-panel mosaic.

I darkened background level in the previous image to make the sky look uniformly black. Unfortunately, this always removes fine detail from limb activity. You can see this increased detail in the next image which includes the bothersome background noise as well.

I always regret losing limb detail when removing background noise. You can see the effect in the next two images of a prominence on the lower western limb. The darkened image is first, and the unaltered image is second.

By the end of this somewhat frantic imaging session I was sweating heavily and exhausted. Heat drains me. Looks like persistent clouds  will move in again for the next weeks ahead.