Oh no - not more sunspots............

Jannyfox

Jannyfox

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Jan
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Oh yes. A few more than there have been although they're fairly small. I think, although I'm not 100% convinced, that my original of this shows the prominence from 2571, which is only visible as a pale area right on the edge.
Canon 550D, Sigma 150-600mm

Sunspots by Jan, on Flickr
 
An amazing star I think. very well taken that man, wouldn't have a clue where to start with shooting the sun.(y)
 
sbowler579 said:
An amazing star I think. very well taken that man, wouldn't have a clue where to start with shooting the sun.(y)
Click to expand...

Man..............? Hmmmmm
The hardest bit is knocking up the filter from cereal packets and double sided tape. I grew up without a telly so I didn't get to watch Blue Peter :) It's just big lens, point and shoot really.
 
Read an article yesterday that the amount of sun spots this year will predict a very cold winter, do you subscribe to this ?
 
There is thought to be a correlation between sunspot activity and winter temperature, but I don't think there's any science to back it up. It'd be nice to have some proper winter snow, not just ice like the last cold winter. Even in the Defender getting in and out of the village was taking your life in your hands. The only problem around here is no-one seems to know how to drive in bad weather and they go into each other, into the ditches..........
 
Interesting pic! I was once scanning/panning across the horizon with some bino's in the desert early one morning. I inadvertently scanned across the rising sun, because it was so obscured with desert dust hanging low in the atmosphere. Well, I'd noticed a few black spots on this vaguely dull yellow disc, so had another quick look, half-worried for my retina's as looking at the sun through bino's isn't exactly the smartest thing to do.

The spots were pretty remarkable. I didn't look for long, but did consider taking a camera next time I'm ever in the desert and there's a considerable amount of dust in the early morning air!
 
Never, ever, look at the sun with binoculars. However much you think it's obscured, it's not worth the risk. By the time you know damage has been done it's too late. End of lecture...........:)
I don't think you'd get a very good pic of sunspots using desert dust as a filter. The sun will almost certainly still be too bright for the camera to show them, but you might get spots of a different sort! If the sun is low down an ND filter might well do the job, but if you want good clear spots you really need the sun high up in the clearest possible sky. For the sake of a few quid for a sheet of mylar, if you have a long enough lens you're as well doing the job properly.
 
Good point Jannyfox, regarding NOT looking at the sun through bino's. The amount of dust particles hanging suspended in the atmosphere during that particular dawn must have been considerable to allow the sun to be observed as a very faint and very dull disc through all the dust, with the spots observable through optics.

Now where the heck did I leave my glasses... :hungover:

Edit: As it happens I reckon it would have been dull enough to easily photograph using the LCD for composition as opposed to the viewfinder. Hardly worth arguing over considering you didn't exactly see it yourself.
 
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