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~ (Ha) Sun with filaments, sunspots & prominences 26th June 2025 ~

6/26/2025

The (Ha) Sun with filaments
Sunspots AR 4117 to AR 4120 & active prominence on western limb
26th June 2025

There are some nice active features on the solar surface today in (Ha) with quite a few long dark filaments, those smaller sunspots at this stage are not very active but that little prominence on the western limb is firing away :-)

(Ha) image taken with a Lunt 60mm solar telescope and attached Canon 700D camera, two sets of images were obtained with different exposures.

The exposure times I used were 1/320th second with ISO 200 for the disc and 1/15th second exposure time with ISO200 for the faint filaments. 25 images were captured and stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS.

The white light images were captured with the little Seestar S50 telescope and the attached solar filter, 20 images were captured and stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS.

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~ Winter Solstice Sun in Southern Hemisphere 21st June 2025 ~

6/21/2025

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Credit: Weatherzone at: http://www.weatherzone.com.au

~ Winter Solstice Sun in Southern Hemisphere 21st June 2025 ~

Today marks the Solstice here in the southern hemisphere in Australia and we are right in the middle of our winter, unlike the northern hemisphere that are now in the middle of their summer…it’s all to do with the tilt of our Earth and its captured orbit as it goes around our amazing star the Sun.

I only just got this image in a five minute break in the clouds because it’s been fully cloudy all day today! This is the beauty of this little Seestar S50 smart telescope within a few minutes after putting it down on the table it finds the Sun and I’m off taking image, just fantastic when all these clouds are about :-)

Images taken with a Seestar S50 telescope with its attached solar filter, a video was captured which was stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS.

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~ Large sunspot group AR 4115 on surface of Sun 16th June 2025 ~

6/16/2025

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There is another large sunspot group on the solar surface that is very active and will most likely produce a CME in the next couple of days.

While taking my images high cloud came across the sky and produced a lovely solar halo around the Sun, I took these images through a thin layer of cloud.

Images taken with a Seestar S50 telescope with the attached solar filter at 1x and 2x magnification, 20 images captured which were stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS.

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~ Huge solar prominence ejects on north western limb of the Sun ~

6/14/2025

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~ Huge Prominence on Sun ~
14th June 2025

I got such a wonderful surprise today when I set up my Lunt (Ha) solar telescope to have a look at the Sun…Wow, right there before my eyes was a stunning prominence firing away on the north western limb of the Sun.

Earlier in the day I had taken some white light images with the little Seestar telescope with the attached solar filter.

The (Ha) images were taken with a Lunt 60mm solar telescope and a Canon 700D camera, 20 images each were captured then stacked in Registax6 and processed in PS.

This is a composite image, as you need two different timed exposures to capture the disc of the Sun and the faint prominence.

To find out what the daily Sun is doing everyday please go to the National Solar Observatory website at:
https://gong2.nso.edu/products/tableView/table.php?configFile=configs/hAlpha.cfg

Credit: NSO GONG H-Alpha data

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~ Full Moon on 11th June 2025 also known as Strawberry Moon ~

6/14/2025

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Every month we have a full moon as the moon orbits our planet, this full moon is known as the strawberry harvest moon as it lines up with the start of the strawberry season in the northern hemisphere.

Here in the southern hemisphere it’s known as the cold moon because we are in the middle of winter and it is close to our winter solstice. You’ll notice from my image that from here in the southern hemisphere the orientation of the moon appears to be upside down…it’s all a bit tricky isn’t it :-)

There was another very interesting astronomical fact about this June full moon and that is its position in the sky, which was positioned as the furthest point in the southern skies. This is know as lunar standstill and it happens every 18.6 years, the last time it occurred was in 2006 and it won’t happen again now until 4043.

Images taken a Seestar S50 telescope,
20 images were captured then stacked in Registax6 and processed in PS.

Credit: EQUINOX PUBLISHING LTD

If you would like to understand more about this celestial lunar movement please go to this paper
Written by Erica Ellingson and Fabio Silva at:
https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JSA/article/view/28181/28654

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~ Eight Day Old Moon with V shape on terminator 4th June 2025 ~

6/4/2025

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~ V shape on Terminator ~

At around the first quarter Moon phase sometimes if the angle of light on the terminator line is just right, you may see an optical phenomenon and see a letter V or a letter X on the lunar surface!

You will only see this for a short period of time as the sunlight marches on across the lunar surface; on this evening I was only able to capture the letter V along the terminator. But this is not the usual V shape; it’s another one that I’ve captured on this night, how good is that!

What is happening here? This kind of phenomenon is referred to as a ‘claire-obscure’ effect and occurs when the interplay between light and shadow leads to the chance formation of familiar sharps on the Moons craggy terrain.

Have some fun trying to find some other recognisable object on the lunar surface features, here is an article by astronomy.com that may help you at:

Observe shadow play on the Moon
The effects of light and dark on the lunar terminator offer some great observing fun.

https://www.astronomy.com/observing/observe-shadow-play-on-the-moon/

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~ First Quarter Moon on the 3rd June 2025 ~

6/3/2025

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At last we have a clear sky tonight and there’s a beautiful first quarter Moon on show. I took the little Seestar S50 outside to capture some images, I just love this little telescope it’s so easy to use on the Sun and Moon and it shows excellent detail on the lunar surface.

I was hoping to capture the V or the X on the terminator line but it’s not there, if it’s clear tomorrow night I’ll try again as it’s a bit elusive around the first quarter Moon phase. It really all depends on how the illumination happens along the terminator line at a certain time…lets see how we go for tomorrow night :-)

Image taken with the little Seestar S50 telescope twenty images captured which were stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS.

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~ (Ha) Sun with filaments, sunspots & prominences 26th June 2025 ~

~ Winter Solstice Sun in Southern Hemisphere 21st June 2025 ~

~ Large sunspot group AR 4115 on surface of Sun 16th June 2025 ~

~ Huge solar prominence ejects on north western limb of the Sun ~

~ Full Moon on 11th June 2025 also known as Strawberry Moon ~

~ Eight Day Old Moon with V shape on terminator 4th June 2025 ~

~ First Quarter Moon on the 3rd June 2025 ~

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