Stargazing How Can You Improve Your Amateur Solar Imaging Techniques?

[davenn]

Are these stacked or just single images?

Hi ya,
Oops, sorry for the slow response. They are all just single shots

 

[NFuller]

They are all just single shots

Wow, these are very sharp for single exposures! I imagine if you do start stacking these they will come out very well resolved.

 

[davenn]

I imagine if you do start stacking these they will come out very well resolved.

yes, it would very much improve the result
Most of the guys that are into doing that do video clips consisting of around 500 to 1500 frames and then use programs that will take the best ~ 20% of those frames and stack them

 

[davenn]

2017-12-27 The Sun in Ha ...
a couple of nice prominences on the sun today ...

 

[sophiecentaur]

Good image and convincingly sharp!
Not much Sun visible here today.Thick cloud and flurries of rather wet snow, along with rain.
Time to light the log burner, I think.

 

[davenn]

Good image and convincingly sharp!

thanks ... it's still sharper visually than when imaged

Not much Sun visible here today. Thick cloud and flurries of rather wet snow, along with rain.
Time to light the log burner, I think.

been cloudy here for last 4 days. Missed some nice proms 3 days ago
It doesn't snow here at home It does occasionally do so up on the Blue Mountains ~ 8u0km to the west of SydneyDave

 

[sophiecentaur]

thanks ... it's still sharper visually than when imaged

Calls fo Unsharp Mask, perhaps?

 

[davenn]

Calls fo Unsharp Mask, perhaps?

possibly, yes ... I'm aware of the process but haven't played with it yet

 

[davenn]

2018-01-01 The Sun in Ha ...

these next two prominences were large but VERY faint ... really had to wind the exposure time up to see them

Dave

 

[Stavros Kiri]

2018-01-01 The Sun in Ha ...

My first view of the 2018 sun (haven't been out yet) ...

[and the 100th post! Al right! Yeah! ... ]

 

[sophiecentaur]

possibly, yes ... I'm aware of the process but haven't played with it yet

Unsharp mask does the biz for most pictures. It's basically a sharpening process (high pass / boost) with a threshold, below which it doesn't operate. So it enhances transitions but you can hold back for low level patterns / noise. The 'radius' button adjusts the range over which you do the enhancing. You always have to check the whole picture or a sharp edge can have a black / white border.
You really have to try it. It does a lot for craters and highlights in eyes.

 

[davenn]

well, it's been a productive summer holiday in a number of ways.
Got a few things done around the place that had been outstanding for a while. One of them was to finally put my HEQ5 PRO GOTO
telescope mount to use ... it's only taken one and a half years

Below a couple of images of the mount with the Lunt LS60 THA solar scope mounted to it

Dave

 

[davenn]

A couple of images from today 05 Jan 2018

one very large prominence and several smallish filaments

Dave

 

[davenn]

The Sun in Ha for 7 Jan 2018

some nice large prominences and a long filament

Dave

 

[davenn]

The Sun in Ha for 15 Jan 2018
some nice large prominences and a couple of filament near an active region

Dave

 

[sophiecentaur]

@davenn terrific detail. You are getting your money's worth.

 

[davenn]

@davenn terrific detail. You are getting your money's worth.

cheers mate

and I have just spent another AU$1400 today on a better camera
all the guys on various astro forums are telling me I should be using a monochrome camera for getting much better resolution
so I have purchased the ZWO ASI1600MM
https://www.bintel.com.au/product/zwo-asi1600mm-monochrome/

will be interesting to see the results

Dave

 

[davenn]

Hi guys

well the ZWO ASI 1600MM finally arrived ( after the postal system sat on it for 3 days

)
I did some comparisons between it and my ZWO ASI 178MC that had been the main solar cam up till today
The ASI 1600 is a 16MPix Monochrome camera

these first two are unprocessed ( SOOC ) , just resized for the forum
and ALL images are single frame only ( no stacking)

firstly ... the ASI 178MC using mono mode in SharpCap

Now the ASI 1600MM

NOTE:, tho the image from the 178MC looks more detailed. Strong brightness variation can be seen across the image compared to the 1600MM
What I discovered in processing was that the 1600MM image processed so much better and resulted in a significant increase in finer details

ASI178 processed ...

ASI1600 processed ...

There isn't really any comparison between the two ... the ASI1600 shows much better detail. Specially seen around the Active Region

Next post ... prominences

Dave

 

[davenn]

now some limb/prominences
Ohhh golly gosh !
again, these first two are unprocessed ( SOOC ) , just resized for the forum

ASI178MC

ASI 1600MM

The limb and prominences are just so much sharper for the 1600MM

The 1600MM with a little processing

Dave

 

[davenn]

The ASI 1600MM seems to have a better dynamic range ( well I would expect it to

)
it is easier to pull out prominences and still have a non- overexposed surface
please excuse the poor editing blotchiness in the dark area around the outside of the sun ( I don't claim to be the world's best editor

)

Dave

 

[sophiecentaur]

Nice pictures (as usual) Dave. As with the rest of (technical) life, you get what you pay for.
The detail after enhancement makes you want to touch it. It's that lovely illusion (as with the best TV pictures, viewed at the right distance) that you could just go closer and closer with no limit to the image detail.

 

[Stavros Kiri]

Nice pictures (as usual) Dave. As with the rest of (technical) life, you get what you pay for.
The detail after enhancement makes you want to touch it. It's that lovely illusion (as with the best TV pictures, viewed at the right distance) that you could just go closer and closer with no limit to the image detail.

I'm sure it's not just my digital device that ... I magnify, magnify, magnify ... and still get to see a picture of the Sun (huger and huger detail!) ...
Pretty cool!

 

[davenn]

Nice pictures (as usual) Dave. As with the rest of (technical) life, you get what you pay for.
The detail after enhancement makes you want to touch it. It's that lovely illusion (as with the best TV pictures, viewed at the right distance) that you could just go closer and closer with no limit to the image detail.

Thanks buddy

So true it looks like the AU$1400 for this latest camera was worth the expense

I'm sure it's not just my digital device that ... I magnify, magnify, magnify ... and still get to see a picture of the Sun (huger and huger detail!) ...
Pretty cool!

cheers
buddy

and these pix here have been compressed in physical and kb size by the forum software

here's a link to the larger ( but not full size) rendition that I posted on other forums that don't have the restrictions

https://s10.postimg.org/eamdzbxex/180120_ASI1600_Cap001sm.jpg

the finer detail around that active region ( right area centre right, just to the left of that dark filament ) really starts to stand outDave

 

[davenn]

A closer up view of the active region ...

 

[sophiecentaur]

Totes amaze - as they say.

 

[davenn]

The Sun in Ha, 28/01/2018
Finally some clear(ish) skies at a time of the day that I could do some observing and imaging
Some really nice prominences today ...but the surface was pretty much devoid of interesting features

Cheers
Dave

 

[Stavros Kiri]

Wow! It seems it's like "prominence day" today for the sun! ...

 

[davenn]

Wow! It seems it's like "prominence day" today for the sun! ...

yes, very much so
a nice collection

 

[davenn]

The Sun in Ha -- 4 Feb, 2018

Haven't seen much of the sun for the last week ( since last Sunday's images) Lunt LS60THa, ASI 1600MM camera and SharpCap software.
These are single frame images (no stacking)

A couple of cropped to zoom in on the prominences and a couple of full disk ... varying the exposure allows different features to be more easily seen

cheers
Dave

 

[sophiecentaur]

Nice pictures again, Dave. I wonder if it would be worth while tinkering with and stacking multiple exposures to include a bigger range of luminosities. I have a chum who has done this with some regular photographs and increased the contrast range successfully. (Just a thought)