Copyright ©2017 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
I read at Spaceweather.com over the week-end that the latest sunspot AR2665 was HUGE, and the biggest sunspot of 2017 so, not having photographed the Sun for sometime I thought it would be interesting to make an image of this Sunspot on the Sun. I dug out my solar filter then Monday morning set up my camera in the backyard and waited for the morning sun to climb above the mountain tops. I cropped this image in 25% so we can see the spot a bit better.
“Sunspot AR2665 has grown into a behemoth almost as wide as the planet Jupiter: Stretching more than 125,000 km from end to end and containing dozens of dark cores, the active region is an now easy target for backyard solar telescopes. Sunspot AR2665 has a ‘beta-gamma’ magnetic field that harbors energy for M-class solar flares.. “~http://spaceweather.com/
I’ll add you can see it with a Telephoto lens, and Solar filter. Caveat: Don’t ever attempt to photograph the sun without a Solar Filter. You can permanently damage your eyes, and your camera’s sensor.
M-Class Solar Flares are Medium sized flares. They can cause brief radio blackouts that affect Earth’s polar regions.
I use an Orion 4.10″ ID Full Aperture Solar Filter. It fits snugly over my lens allowing me to look directly at the sun and photograph it by blocking 99.999% of incoming sunlight for safe observation and astrophotography. I’ve had this filter for several years and it’s worked perfectly, and is easy to use. It fits my 300mm f/4 perfectly. It slides over my 200-500mm’s 82mm front end element, but not so far that I’m able to secure it with the screws so, to make sure it wouldn’t fall off I taped it to my lens barrel. Gaffers tape or Painters tape works.
I linked to the filter so you can check it out if you’re interested. I am not affiliated with Orion and do not receive any compensation or products for using their products or mentioning them.
Nikon Df| Nikkor 200-500mm @500mm| SanDisk Digital Film| PS CC 2017
more to come…
Circadianreflections Blog 
This was much bigger than I expected, Deborah! This size was big enough, I just could not believe my eyes! 🙂 Thank you for warning people and doing the proper care so you don’t hurt your beautiful eyesight. xo 💖
Wow! Cool photo! Thanks for the interesting solar flare and sun photography information. I love learning about the sky from you! 😊
Thank you so much Myriam! xx 🙂
fantastic Deb!! Impressed!!
Thank you so much! 🙂
Wow.
Thanks! 🙂
Wow! That is amazing! Are you planning to photograph the solar eclipse next month?
Thank you so much Amy! I’m not able to travel to see Totality, but am hoping to have the morning free to photograph the Partial. Fingers crossed!
After I cleaned the dirt of off my computer screen, I could see the actual sunspot vs the miscellaneous stuff 😉
To see the spot that clearly, (a) it must be huge, (b) your zoom lens is amazing 🙂
That was a very interesting post, Deborah!
Thank you so much!
great job!!
Wow, is all I can say.
Thank you so much John!! I’m so glad you like it and the image made you think Wow! 🙂
That was my initial reaction
🙂
🙂
Another great sky shot, Deborah. I think you’ve mentioned an app that you use to help you find information about the sky. I poked around (I thought you mentioned it reently) but I couldn’t find it. Do you use an app?
Thank you so much Dan!
Apps for I use to help me plot, plan star, sun, and moon images are:
Photographer’s Epheremis : the desktop version is free, the cell phone app costs $$
PhotoPills- cell phone app $$
…and a free desktop called Stellarium
Hope that helps!
It does, thanks!
🙂
This is an amazing shot, and since I already have major eye issues, I’m going to leave photographing the sun and its spots up to an expert – you. 🙂
Oh gosh I’m no expert,far from it! However, I am flattered and thrilled that you like the image Judy! xx
Super, Deborah!
janet
Thank you so much Janet!