Our Star in H-alpha

[nighthound]

This is an image of our Sun I took through a friend's H-alpha Solar Telescope. I used the Nikon Coolpix 4200 attached to a 20mm Plossl eyepiece. Processed in PSCS. A few sunspots can be see as well as a few prominences(flame-like eruptions on the outer rim). The long strand seen at about the three o'clock position is known as a filament. To give you an idea of scale, if Earth were in from of this enormous sphere it would appear as a very tiny speck. Our closest star is not a large star as stars go, so imagine the size of the real giants out there. Giant spheres of nuclear fusion, converting Hydrogen into Helium continuously. The scope used here was a Coranado PST, very affordable at $600. These scopes as well as all the Coranodo scopes are designed specifically for solar viewing. Watching the ever changing surface and features of the sun is really something to see.

NEVER POINT A NON-SOLAR OR UNFILTERED TELESCOPE AT OR NEAR THE SUN, PERMANENT EYE DAMAGE CAN AND LIKELY WILL OCCUR WITHIN SECONDS. Most of you I'm sure are aware of this but it doesn't hurt to repeat the warning. Keep in mind what a magnifying glass would do to a piece of paper in the Sunlight.

The first image is the unprocessed version. The second is processed. Enjoy!

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y67/Nighthd/Astrophotography/rawsun.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y67/Nighthd/Astrophotography/sunjbmethod.jpg

NH

[Kevin]

These are just so fascinating to look at! Thank you for continuing to post these astro shots. Each is just as exciting to look at as the next. It's especially nice when they're as good as yours are, too!

I think there's some type of filter you can buy that will allow you to shoot at the sun with your (d)SLR. It would be kind of fun!

[nighthound]

Thanks Kevin and you're very welcome. You can buy Solar filtering in sheets and make your own. I've not seen them factory made for lenses but they make them for different aperture telescopes. H-alpha fitration is more expensive than what I'm taling about though. Go to OPT(Oceanside Photo and Telescope) and check out the soalr scopes by Coranado. They get pricey with size. But the view/detail is stunning.

NH

[viewfinder]

Very impressive NH!

When you say "processed", what processing are you referring to? Any particular technique compared to normal terrestrial photography?

Thanks for sharing your images of the galaxy, definitely something very different and refreshing, and looked very complicated for the uninitiated. Great work!

Regards,
Jonathan

[MGlennn]

Really interesting.....great work :) :)

[David Cramer]

Just fascinating. And to think, without the sun we wouldn't exist. And we certainly use the light it gives us in our photography. I'm also curious about the "process" from image one to image two.

[nighthound]

Thanks everyone.

Here's how I processed this image. My good friend Jay Ballauer out in Texas is one of the most talented astrophotographers anyone could ever hope to meet. And he's a great person to boot. Jay has helped me a lot along the way for almost 4 years now. This is Jay's tutorial on H-alpha processing:

http://allaboutastro.com/Articlepages/hasolarimagingtips.html

Please stop by his galleries to see how astrophotography is really done, I think you'll enjoy it. Fasten your seatbelt:
http://allaboutastro.com/

NH

[MGlennn]

Wow...that's some gallery :eek: :D :eek: :D