I have a new toy!!
Well actually it is a solar filter from Thousand Oaks Optical and is a 58 mm screw-in type filter. It simply screws into the lens as would any other filter. It’s coatings only allow 1/1000th of 1% of sunlight to pass through, and the filter material gives the Sun a yellow-orange color. The filter is a visible light (light that we see) filter so in addition to decreasing the light intensity, and filtering out UV and Infrared, it allows viewing of the photosphere (what is usually called the Sun’s surface), its granulated texture, as well as sunspots.
4 September – (3 merged pictures)
This picture is a merged or stacked set of 3 pictures. Each picture had a different aperture setting but used the same shutter speed and ISO. The ideal setting seems to be an ISO 200; shutter speed 1/40, and aperture around f10 to f15.
So what is my setup? I use a Canon Rebel T3i, a 50-255mm lens, and a solar filter as described above. Once I am aimed at the Sun and satisfied with the focus I then control the picture taking from my laptop using software that came with the camera. The one thing I cannot do from the computer is adjust the focus. The cardboard shoe box top is for shading the camera to help it stay cool. I usually have a the laptop under a box shade as well, or use the table umbrella for shade.
Click to view slideshow.
Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for more observing information for this month.
Filed under: Astronomy, Astrophotography, Classroom, Observing, Solar, STEM, Sun Tagged: astrophotography, camera settings, observing, pictures of the sun, solar filter, sun, sunspots, technology, visible light, visible light images, white light
