Solar Imaging Session - July 15, 2012

The sky this morning is not so clear as there is a thick haze surrounding the sky thus making my solar imaging session this morning a little harder. Despite some body ache probably caused by signs of flu,I still proceeded with my plans to image AR11520 before it totally exits the Sun's SW limb in the days to come. I decided to revert back to using the ATK-1HS II webcam after some test with the Canon video mode. I also tested the collimation of the Meade 8" f/10 SCT on the Sun as well to see how it goes with the Baader 3.8 solar filter since I cannot use the SCT with the Herschel Wedge as it is optimized for refractor use only. I started out doing Ha wavelength imaging with the Coronado PST-Ha and can see the very active AR11520/21/19 region which displays numerous dark filaments and flares as well as numerous moderate size eruptive prominences near the SW limb. New AR11523 Sunspot Group is showing signs of getting active but is still pale compare to the AR11520/21/19 region. AR11518 Sunspot Group is very silent in its core. I also got to do high resolution shot of AR11520 and AR11521 Sunspot Groups through the 8" and AR11520 Sunspot Group almost fill the entire frame even without using a 2x barlow lens. I also got to image the Sun in full disk white light with the Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 with EF 1.4x II extender through thick haze which got worse when I was about to image the Sun in full disk :( Overall, I'm happy with the results today despite the weather condition.