A few more Solar shots of mine.

Damn, never fails to blow me away. The most interesting post here for a long time!
 
Fantastic! Thank you.

I have a question.

How powerful a telescope do you need to see planets as "planets"? As in, often you can clearly see Venus or Mars as very bright lights in the night sky, but through the small 'scopes I had as a kid they just looked like bigger bright lights.

At what power are they viewable as something like the moon looks to us?
 
Rat Finkenstein said:
most excellent pics! do you have any that are higher res? I would like to make some backgrounds for my computer desktop:thumbup:
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Sorry Rat, this is the highest I have.
 
Nordic Viking said:
Larry,

Any chance of snapping pics of the solar eclipse on Wednesday?
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The eclipse will be seen in Africa. By the way the eclipse lasts about 2 min and then if the weather is cloudy you miss it. Now the astronomers can make an eclipse in the lab anytime they want to with special scopes. They can observe the corona when ever they feel like it.
 
tortoise said:
Fantastic! Thank you.

I have a question.

How powerful a telescope do you need to see planets as "planets"? As in, often you can clearly see Venus or Mars as very bright lights in the night sky, but through the small 'scopes I had as a kid they just looked like bigger bright lights.

At what power are they viewable as something like the moon looks to us?
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No matter how much power you use you will never see anything but a white disc with Venus because the whole planet is covered in clouds. You need about 200x to view Mars and then the atmosphere must be stable. Mars is very small in the scope but interesting because it is the only planet where you can see the surface. Jupiter and Saturn are fairly easy to see and usually look great in the scope. You can always see Jupiter with four of its moons. Sometimes if you use too much power you get a fuzzy ball and are better off with a smaller view of the planet but clearer.
 
Cool Larry, thanks. I just noticed too that you're on the same sand bar as I am. At least I know I wouldn't need to be in Montana to sky watch!
 
I find that looking at the sun and solar flares are very humbling.
But in a good way!
 
Larry B. said:
The eclipse will be seen in Africa. By the way the eclipse lasts about 2 min and then if the weather is cloudy you miss it. Now the astronomers can make an eclipse in the lab anytime they want to with special scopes. They can observe the corona when ever they feel like it.
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You can't or you won't :D

Seriously though, I can't wait for more pics.:thumbup:
 
Here is a little info on our Sun. It is almost 900,000 miles in diameter compared to the Earths 8,000. It is half way through it life and will last another 5 billion yrs. After that it will swell to a red giant and will be as large as the orbit of Earth. It will incinerate Mercury, Venus and the Earth. It get 10% bigger every billion yrs. In a few hundred million yrs it will be too hot on Earth for any life. All the oceans will already have evaporated. So I suggest you get your affairs in order.

04_22_01.jpg

_6_14_01.jpg
 
Larry B. said:
Here is a little info on our Sun. It is almost 900,000 miles in diameter compared to the Earths 8,000. It is half way through it life and will last another 5 billion yrs. After that it will swell to a red giant and will be as large as the orbit of Earth. It will incinerate Mercury, Venus and the Earth. It get 10% bigger every billion yrs. In a few hundred million yrs it will be too hot on Earth for any life. All the oceans will already have evaporated. So I suggest you get you affairs in order.
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hey Larry, is that a plug for your accounting services? Is that kind of advertising allowed on the forums?:D


Seriously, I really enjoy the pics. Please keep 'em coming.
 
Larry, have you been able to photograph the sun during a coronal mass ejection? Just wondering if the filter used for these shots is the same one would use for that event?
 
m_calingo said:
Larry, have you been able to photograph the sun during a coronal mass ejection? Just wondering if the filter used for these shots is the same one would use for that event?
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I have seen a few CME's with this set-up and even photographed them. Unfortunately they didn't come out too good. The filter I use is good for CME's and all other solar events. CME's are rare and the last few times I either wasn't home or the weather didn't cooperate. About two yrs. ago I observed one and it was an unbelievable site.
 
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