Today there was a very big group of sunspots visible (nr. 0652). In the early morning while the sun was rising through the mist it was even visible to the naked eye (use eclips-shades!). The group looked spectacular through the telescope at all magnifications!

Later I shot some images using a 4-inch refractor (Tal 100RS) and a Nikon Coolpix 4500.

1. Overview of the Sun

This overview image was processed out of 25 stacked images of 1600x1200 using Keith's Image Stacker. Unsharp masking and Wavelet denoise was applied. The original images where shot with a 20mm Vixen Lanthanum eyepiece, Baader AstroSolar Film ND=5, no optical zoom, 1/1000s f 2.6, ISO 100.

2. Detailed image of sunspot 0652

This detailed image was processed out of 20 stacked images of 1600x1200 using Keith's Image Stacker. Unsharp masking and Wavelet denoise was applied. The original images where shot with a 20mm Vixen Lanthanum eyepiece, Baader AstroSolar Film ND=5, 4x optical zoom, 1/60s f 6.2, ISO 100.

3. Detailed image of sunspot 652 using Baader AstroSolar Film ND 3.8 and continuum filter

This detailed image was processed out of 20 stacked images of 1600x1200 using Keith's Image Stacker. Unsharp masking and Wavelet denoise was applied. The original images where shot with a 25mm Vixen Lanthanum eyepiece and a 3x Barlow (TAL), Baader AstroSolar Film ND=3.8, 4x optical zoom, 1/30s f 3.9, ISO 100.