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[Paulie pchris00]

I saw this great video yesterday on SDO's Facebook page of a plasma rain falling along the solar limb, caught not only by SDO, but also by an amateur in California. I've tried to find a version that I can embed here, but haven't found one. The best I can do is provide a link to the FB video page. I apologize if you can't see it without a Facebook account. It's from a fan page, so if you're on FB, just press the "like" button, and you should be able to access the video.

www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1832525095726

SDO's description of the video:

A sheet of plasma more than 350,000 km wide is rising and falling along the sun's southwestern limb today. It's so big, it makes an easy target for backyard observatories.

A look at NASA SDO's observations over the past 48 hours and then how amateur astronomer Michael Buxton from Ocean Beach, California observed this event.

"I made the movie at 1 minute intervals from 1753-1934 UT on Jan. 18th," Michael explains. "It was a real jaw dropper. Even in my small telescope (a 4-inch Takahashi refractor with a H-alpha solar filter) you could clearly see blobs of plasma falling to the stellar surface."

Credit: NASA SDO, Michael Buxton, Spaceweather.com

Makes me want to do some serious solar observing.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

A dynamic thing, stars are.

With high enough magnification, one can easily observe the granulations and faculae on the surface of the Sun with just simple projection.

I remember my first view of a prominence through a H-Alpha scope. I was in solar certification training at the Adler, using a small PST scope. We all took turns working the scope and when it was my turn - I was amazed! There were several prominences along the limb and I shouted out my excitement. The many attributes of solar objects are easily observed in the larger H-Alpha scope in the Doane Observatory...and over time, one can see the gradual movement of the prominence. When I work the Doane scopes, I like to focus in tight on a limb and prominence/flare, as opposed to viewing the entire solar disk. But visitors, not familiar with what they are looking at, say "all I see is a red blob."

What is exciting for one, is questionable for another.

[Paulie pchris00]

Joe, it doesn't surprise me that some might only see a "red blob." As you well know, so many of our targets offer subtle features, best observed by trained eyes.

I'm dying to see the Sun in H Alpha, and can't blame you one bit for using the power in the Doane for extreme close-ups. I'm going to have to invest in some Baader film soon, and turn the little 60mm refractor I've been using for solar projection into a fully dedicated Ha scope.

With SDO having been sending us great images for almost a year now, and the Sun becoming more active, it's been exciting to learn and see this stuff in nearly real time.

Also, for anybody who hasn't seen it, February's Sky & Telescope has a good article about solar imaging in the Ha and Calcium K bands.