Though now beyond the crest of the most recent solar maximum, the Sun always puts on a grand display in the Hydrogen-alpha band! Active Region 0456 marches across the south central portion of the disk, while in the Northern hemisphere several filaments blast through the chromosphere.
The image scale I use to produce full-disk views requires two sets (upper and lower) each for both the surface detail and fainter prominence detail. This yields a relatively large (3072x3072 pixel) master, which provides the basis for large-scale (13" x 19") prints or smaller-sized low res web-images as seen above.
This grayscale image (right) and the one below it are full-scale croppings (not reduced) taken from the master plate, and show complex structure with greater detail (the filament is the one seen in the eastern central disk and the prominences are those from the Northeast quadrant).
I prefer to go to a larger image scale however (when atmospheric conditions allow), to capture smaller surface details or prominence activity, as this allows closer scrutiny of the focus. The generous (3072x3072 pixel) format allows
considerable size reduction during processing, which in turn "tightens" the image up substantially.
Image Info: Canon EOS 10D digital SLR, Coronado Solarmax90/T-Max, and 30mm blocking filter attached to a Takahashi FS128 via T-mount TeleVue 2X Powermate. Processing was done in Images Plus and final polishing in Adobe PhotoShop. |
