2. Weather

Solar

My solar gallery dedicated to our star, the sun, centred in our solar system. Our very existence depends on the sun as the energy of the sunlight supports almost all life on Earth. Over 100 times wider than Earth and consisting of mostly (3/4) hydrogen with rest mostly helium. Less than 2% consists of heavier elements, including oxygen, carbon, neon, iron.

I am fascinated by the sun and equally challenged by capturing images . This in itself is no easy feat. To do so one requires special equipment in the form of a special solar filter for use on cameras or telescopes. I have constructed my own hand made filter for my camera lenses using Baader safety film, which is superb for solar observation. It is made for observing the sun with telescopes, binoculars, camera or video-lenses. This foil reduces the intensity of sunlight by 99.999% (neutral density 5.0). An A4 sheet of this stuff costs about £15 and making a mount to hold the film is very easy.

Until I can invest in a dedicated solar telescope all images in this gallery are captured with a camera and good quality zoom lens. Olympus E5 camera (some E3) combined with the superbly fast 90-250mm lens. In order to really push the focal length I attach x2 teleconverter (EC-20). This results in a solar spotting focal length of 1000mm (35mm equiv).

The solar filter is great for capturing sunspots but will not detail coronal holes or flare ejections. I will have to wait till my next purchase, to capture these :-)

Hope you enjoy my solar gallery.
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  • Feb 4th Sun

    Feb 4th Sun

    Captured from back garden on 4th Feb 2022. Plenty of sunspot activity at present with 5 (numbered) on the daily sun. Thin cloud conditions. EM1iii, 100-400mm, X2TC High Res shot mode f13, ISO 250, 1/500s Colour adjusted software post processing.

  • Feb 16 2011. Photo of the sun captured with Olympus E3, 90-250mm lens with x2 teleconverter (EC-20). Lens fitted with solar filter (hand made using Baader film). Sunspot 1158 & 1161 clearly visible. 1158 is very active with solar flares.

    Feb 16 2011. Photo of the sun captured with Olympus E3, 90-250mm lens with x2 teleconverter (EC-20). Lens fitted with solar filter (hand made using Baader film). Sunspot 1158 & 1161 clearly visible. 1158 is very active with solar flares.

  • Feb 27 2011. Photo of the sun captured with Olympus E5, 90-250mm lens with x2 teleconverter (EC-20). Lens fitted with solar filter (hand made using Baader film). Sunspot 1164 just popping up on the NW horizon. Sunspot 1163 is barely visible yet very active, already producing M class flares.

    Feb 27 2011. Photo of the sun captured with Olympus E5, 90-250mm lens with x2 teleconverter (EC-20). Lens fitted with solar filter (hand made using Baader film). Sunspot 1164 just popping up on the NW horizon. Sunspot 1163 is barely visible yet very active, already producing M class flares.

  • March 02 2011. Photo of the sun captured with Olympus E5, 90-250mm lens with x2 teleconverter (EC-20) using dramatic tone art filter. Lens fitted with solar filter (hand made using Baader film). Sunspot 1164 is huge. Its largest point could swallow 2/3 earths....amazing.

    March 02 2011. Photo of the sun captured with Olympus E5, 90-250mm lens with x2 teleconverter (EC-20) using dramatic tone art filter. Lens fitted with solar filter (hand made using Baader film). Sunspot 1164 is huge. Its largest point could swallow 2/3 earths....amazing.

  • March 13 2011. Photo of the sun captured with Olympus E5, 90-250mm lens with x2 teleconverter (EC-20). Using the multi exposure (4 No) and PClix time lapse controller I set the camera to expose each of the 8 exposures every 90s. The camera's multi exposure mode does all the rest and after the final image is shot, in-camera layer flattening produces the final shot. Shot 2 x 4 composites & brought together in software. A great little feature on the E5. Lens fitted with solar filter (hand made using Baader film). Sunspot 1166 bottom right and 1169 just above.

    March 13 2011. Photo of the sun captured with Olympus E5, 90-250mm lens with x2 teleconverter (EC-20). Using the multi exposure (4 No) and PClix time lapse controller I set the camera to expose each of the 8 exposures every 90s. The camera's multi exposure mode does all the rest and after the final image is shot, in-camera layer flattening produces the final shot. Shot 2 x 4 composites & brought together in software. A great little feature on the E5. Lens fitted with solar filter (hand made using Baader film). Sunspot 1166 bottom right and 1169 just above.

  • March 13 2011. Photo of the sun captured with Olympus E5, 90-250mm lens with x2 teleconverter (EC-20). Using the multi exposure (4 No) and PClix time lapse controller I set the camera to expose each of the 4 exposures every 90s. The camera's multi exposure mode does all the rest and after the final image is shot, in-camera layer flattening produces the final shot. No need for messy software layering any more. A great little feature on the E5. Lens fitted with solar filter (hand made using Baader film). Sunspot 1166 bottom right and 1169 just above.

    March 13 2011. Photo of the sun captured with Olympus E5, 90-250mm lens with x2 teleconverter (EC-20). Using the multi exposure (4 No) and PClix time lapse controller I set the camera to expose each of the 4 exposures every 90s. The camera's multi exposure mode does all the rest and after the final image is shot, in-camera layer flattening produces the final shot. No need for messy software layering any more. A great little feature on the E5. Lens fitted with solar filter (hand made using Baader film). Sunspot 1166 bottom right and 1169 just above.

  • 08 March 2011. Cracking sunrise this morning. Clear skies and a blood red sun rising through the pollution layers made for a cracking shot. Just got away without a solar filter. Captured with Olympus E5, 90-250mm & EC-20 (x2 TC).

    08 March 2011. Cracking sunrise this morning. Clear skies and a blood red sun rising through the pollution layers made for a cracking shot. Just got away without a solar filter. Captured with Olympus E5, 90-250mm & EC-20 (x2 TC).

  • March 06 2011. Photo of the sun captured with Olympus E5, 90-250mm lens with x2 teleconverter (EC-20). Lens fitted with solar filter (hand made using Baader film). Sunspot activity picking up with 3 No clearly visible. X-class flares possible in coming days.

    March 06 2011. Photo of the sun captured with Olympus E5, 90-250mm lens with x2 teleconverter (EC-20). Lens fitted with solar filter (hand made using Baader film). Sunspot activity picking up with 3 No clearly visible. X-class flares possible in coming days.

  • 04 March 2011. Clear skies....hoorah! Glorious colours on the sun setting tonight. Sunspot 1166 visible to the naked eye too....sweet. Captured with Olympus E3, 90-250mm & EC-20 (x2 TC).

    04 March 2011. Clear skies....hoorah! Glorious colours on the sun setting tonight. Sunspot 1166 visible to the naked eye too....sweet. Captured with Olympus E3, 90-250mm & EC-20 (x2 TC).

  • 04 March 2011. Clear skies....hoorah! Glorious colours on the sun setting tonight. Sunspot 1164 &1166 visible to the naked eye too....sweet. Captured with Olympus E3, 90-250mm & EC-20 (x2 TC).

    04 March 2011. Clear skies....hoorah! Glorious colours on the sun setting tonight. Sunspot 1164 &1166 visible to the naked eye too....sweet. Captured with Olympus E3, 90-250mm & EC-20 (x2 TC).

  • Feb 24 2011. Photo of the sun captured with Olympus E3, 90-250mm lens with x2 teleconverter (EC-20). Lens fitted with solar filter (hand made using Baader film). No visible sunspots as the sun was pretty much cloud covered. Looked nice mind :-)

    Feb 24 2011. Photo of the sun captured with Olympus E3, 90-250mm lens with x2 teleconverter (EC-20). Lens fitted with solar filter (hand made using Baader film). No visible sunspots as the sun was pretty much cloud covered. Looked nice mind :-)

  • Feb 12 2011. Photo of the sun captured with Olympus E3, 90-250mm lens with x2 teleconverter (EC-20). Lens fitted with solar filter (hand made using Baader film). Quite an active sun with sunspot1157, 1158 & 1159 clearly visible.

    Feb 12 2011. Photo of the sun captured with Olympus E3, 90-250mm lens with x2 teleconverter (EC-20). Lens fitted with solar filter (hand made using Baader film). Quite an active sun with sunspot1157, 1158 & 1159 clearly visible.

  • June 26 2011. Spanish Plume brings blistering 30C temps and sun to the UK. A good opportunity to get the solar filter out and put together a montage. Very quiet sunspot wise. All captured with Oly E5 & 90-250mm (middle section with x2Tc).

    June 26 2011. Spanish Plume brings blistering 30C temps and sun to the UK. A good opportunity to get the solar filter out and put together a montage. Very quiet sunspot wise. All captured with Oly E5 & 90-250mm (middle section with x2Tc).

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