The Sun on July 18, 2024

Since the day after the Fourth of July, we’ve had a long heat wave during which temperatures neared or exceeded 100 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s been hot. The last thing I’ve been wanting to do was to lug out my solar observing gear and sit in that heat even during the relatively cooler but still uncomfortably warm morning hours.

Yesterday marked somewhat of a cooldown. We got up to around 90 degrees, which felt like a cold snap. This morning, it was pleasant enough to have a good look at the Sun.

In H-alpha, the chromosphere showed some pleasing features without anything truly remarkable jumping out at me:

The view in white light was equally pleasing, which is unusual considering that I find observing the chromosphere typically to be more satisfying than the photosphere. Today, there was a nice smattering of small sunspots across the entire solar disk:

In both images, the solar equator runs horizontally. You can plainly see that sunspot activity is limited to the middle third of the sun centered around the equator, which is the way it usually is.

It was fitting that, for the white light view of the Sun, I was using my 4-inch Orion Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope. Two days ago, it was ten years since I recorded my first observing session with that scope, the first serious one I came to own.

During the summer of 2014, I remember needing a hobby to serve as a diversion from the cold world of professional computer programming. Amateur astronomy fit the bill perfectly. Although you can get just as technical with astronomy as you can with sitting in an office and giving instructions to a computer, I chose the completely manual route. Simple was better, I reasoned. After chasing my tail for a while as I struggled with making a decision on what to get, made up my mind and placed an order with Orion Telescopes and Binoculars, which was based in the Bay Area in California.

Sadly, I learned through this report by Sky and Telescope last week that Orion has apparently ceased operations and laid off its staff. Oddly, their website at telescope.com is still active and accepting orders even as I write this post. If this report is true—and that’s a big if considering that there only seem to be rumors and no official statement from the company—perhaps there is no one left to turn that website off.

I’m more than a little bummed by this news. Orion didn’t sell top-of-the-line astronomy gear. But they filled a market niche for people like me a decade ago who are just getting their feet wet in the hobby. Fewer choices in the astronomy gear market hurts everyone.