ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY GALLERY

A huge solar prominence

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Jay Bolt, Crigglestone, West Yorkshire, 18 July 2022

Jay says: "I had been capturing sunspots when I noticed a huge prominence forming on the Sun's limb. The seeing was unusually good early in the morning, allowing for very precise focusing and capturing of the plasma eruption. Solar activity has been steadily increasing over the last few years, and I am particularly pleased with the magnetic detail that processing has brought out on the chromosphere."

Equipment: Altair Hypercam 174M camera, Explore Scientific AR127mm refractor, Daystar Quark Chromosphere Ha eyepiece filter, Sky-Watcher EQ6-R mount

Exposure: 1,500 frames of SER format video, best 20% selected

Software: AutoStakkert!, Photoshop, Astra Image, Topaz DeNoise, Topaz Sharpen

Jay's top tips: "For solar imaging using a Quark Chromosphere, aim for exposures of 5-10ms for the chromosphere to 'freeze' the effects of seeing. I use gain and the histogram to achieve exposure rates of 5ms on my Altair 174M, and take 2,000 to 3,000 exposures, with the histogram peaking around 60 per cent and taking care that the top end is not clipped. For the prominences, ignore the histogram and increase exposure to bring out the detail. Typically this is around max gain and 20ms on my camera. I then shoot for 20-25 seconds. My image is a composite: the prominences are overlaid onto the chromosphere, then colourised."

Supermoon over the Needles