Sunspot AR1734

Guest post by Leonard Ellul-Mercer

Telescope PST+40mm Solarmax Ha filter with DMK21 ccd.camera.

On the 30 April & 1st. May an impressive sunspot AR1734 made its appearance on the surface of the Sun. From the look of it, many solar imagers realized that this sunspot was going to give a great show. In fact I started imaging it from the 5th May onwards. Unfortunately, the seeing conditions on the 5th, 6th and 7th May, were not that great, however, I still decided to capture some images, including close-ups which luckily turned out rather well.

As it transited across the sun, its shape evolved as one can see from the images taken between the 5th and 9th May. On the 9th May, this sunspot exited in a grand way. On the rim of the Sun, next to this sunspot a colossal prominence formed, covering 250,000km approximately.

I was extremely lucky to have captured this prominence, as it soon collapsed without any trace.

5th May Full disk image – Seeing conditions: bad

6th May Full disk image – Seeing conditions: moderate
http://leonardellulmercer.zenfolio.com/p366019448/h5e753574#h5e753574 

7th May Full disk image – Seeing conditions: moderate
http://leonardellulmercer.zenfolio.com/p366019448/h5e753574#h5e769d1a 

9th May Full disk image – Seeing conditions: moderate to good
http://leonardellulmercer.zenfolio.com/p366019448/h5e753574#h5e769d1a  
http://leonardellulmercer.zenfolio.com/p366019448/h5ed9a65c#h5ed9a65c

Close-up – 6th May http://leonardellulmercer.zenfolio.com/p366019448/h5ed9a65c#h5e759da8

The Sun is one object which is constantly changing and full of surprises. That is why imaging the Sum makes it so interesting.

Leonard