The Sun on January 22, 2025

The Sun on January 22, 2025

I had a beautiful mild day to get out and have a look at our star.

January 22, 2025

Tags: Solar Astronomy, Astronomy, Astrophotography, Photography

WARNING: When observing the Sun, be sure to do so safely! Use only equipment that is designed specifically for that purpose and is produced by reputable manufacturers. Follow their directions closely. Do not improvise your own filter material for solar observing. If you are careless, you risk instant and permanent vision loss or injury.

This is a tough time of year to be an observer of the Sun. At its lowest altitude, our star hugs the southern horizon. Any telescope fitted with safe solar observing gear has to slice through a lot of atmosphere. On clear days, the Sun’s warmth heats the air, causing pronounced convection currents that make matters worse.

But sometimes, it’s just nice to sit outside on a mild winter day and have a look at the Sun.

In spite of the poor seeing, I did manage to snap one decent shot of the Sun. I used a higher shutter speed to try to freeze some of the atmospheric turbulence that blurs out surface detail in an image.

Canon EOS R8 with Meade Series 390 90mm f/11 Achromat lens, Lunt Herschel wedge, and lens cell from 2x Orion Shorty Barlow, ISO 320, 1/1000 sec., f/16.5.

As far as photospheric activity is concerned, there wasn’t too much going on besides a few nice sunspot regions.

With much of the country is mired in bone-chilling cold, I was fortunate to have a beautiful sunny day to spend some time using my solar observing gear.

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