Quick update

I still went by the observatory late this afternoon. I wanted to air out the observatory and as the clouds were threatening but there were some openings on the clouds. I decided to try to get a quick look at the sun using the Lunt Solar Scope.

Warning: I cant forget to mention in each post about solar viewing, only use a special telescope or filter designed to safely view the sun. Don't look at the sun without using proven safe solar viewing equipment.

The sun was amazing in the hydrogen alpha solar scope. I wish I could have taken some photos but I ran out of time and the iPhone is just terrible at taking photos through the solar telescope.

There were many large prominence/flares flying off the sun. I've never seen that much large flare activity up to this point. Four very active flares. I've only been observing the sun with this type of scope for six months or so. The sun is very active today. There was a large sunspot group as well that Nasa mentioned on their website. And some dark lines as well which were loops of solar flares blasting off the surface, but not visible near the edge of the solar disk. These loops look like sharp black lines on the disk with hydrogen alpha viewing. A lot of activity and I wish the weather would have allowed the observatory to show this to visitors today.

Soon the clouds covered the sun and I was on my way to other errands. The sun peeked a bit through the clouds. I took a quick snapshot with the iPhone while at a stop light. This is through my windshield so it's not the best quality but you can get an idea how nice the sunset was from Lincoln Park.




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