What a surprise to see this huge prominence of the western limb of the Sun today with delicate sprays of plasma being ejected away from the solar surface… it was a beauty! 

 Images were taken with a Lunt 60mm solar telescope and Canon 700D camera with 2x Barlow lens attached. Two sets of images were taken with different exposure times then stacked in RegiStax6 and combined in PS.

​The monochrome image is not a composite image it was just processed in PS.

~ 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

Presented by Noeleen Lowndes from the Southern Astronomical Society
https://www.sas.org.au
https://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/libraries/Home
 
What a lovely morning I had with all the people from the Savvy Seniors group at the Helensvale Library here on the Gold Coast.
 
 I was invited again to give a presentation on astronomy and this time because of solar activity on the Sun during this year of solar maximum; I chose to talk about our awesome Sun.
 
These presentations are always a lot of fun because I can show and talk about all my solar images, and then enlighten people on how important this celestial object is for life on our planet Earth.
 
A great day was had by all, Noeleen :-)

~ The Sun: Our Spectacular Star at Runaway Bay Library ~
 
I had a wonderful time at the Runaway Bay Library presenting one of my lectures on our amazing star the Sun. This topic is very close to my heart as I’m an avid solar observer and I was able to share all my solar experiences with everyone who came along to the presentation.
 
These included showing all my images of the Sun, solar eclipses and beautiful aurora along with rare pictures of the two transits of Venus.
 
Everybody learnt how dynamic the Sun really is and how safely they can observe solar events themselves with the right equipment.
 
A great time was had by all and thanks you again to the librarians from the Runaway Bay Library who provided a safe and happy place for the event.
 
Please find some photos below from the evening, happy and safe solar observing, Noeleen Lowndes :-D

​~ The most sunspots on surface of Sun for Cycle 25 on the 10th August 2024 ~
With huge sunspot group AR3780
 
Today the solar surface has so many sunspots on its surface with the huge sunspot AR 3780 featuring prominently near the centre of the Sun.

My images were captured with a ZWO SeeStar S50 smart telescope with the solar filter attached, 20 images captured and stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS.
 
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has just made this statement below….Wow!
https://www.noaa.gov/
 
SOLAR CYCLE 25 LIKELY REACHED THE HIGHEST SUNSPOT NUMBER IN OVER 20 YEARS:
​published: Friday, August 09, 2024 18:27 UTC
https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/news/solar-cycle-25-likely-reached-highest-sunspot-number-over-20-years
 
Solar Cycle 25 likely reached the highest sunspot number yet - a value of at least 299. The Space Weather Predicition Center (SWPC) non-official, estimated daily sunspot number for August 8th was 337, a value not observed since March 2001.
 
However, the official SSN is determined by the World Data Center - Sunspot Index and Long-Term Solar Observations (WDC-SILSO) and it's Solar Influences Data Center (SIDC) at the Royal Observatory in Belgium; and their initial daily estimate for August 8th was 299.
 
They will report out the official number by September 1st.
​Visit their webpage at: https://www.sidc.be/SILSO/home and as always visit our webpage for the latest space weather information and forecasts.

With the (Ha) solar scope there was a lovely arch prominence firing away on the lower eastern limb of the Sun late this afternoon with quite a few wispy prominences all around the whole solar limb.

In the little white light refractor telescope you could see a completely different view with lots of small sunspots sprinkled across the solar surface. Sunspot AR 3727 & AR 3719 that are at opposite sides of the Sun look like twins as they are the same size and shape as one another…. quite surprising to see two sunspots that look so alike!

The white light image was taken with Orion 80mm refractor telescope with glass solar filter attached and a Canon 700D camera plus 2x Barlow lens. The Ha images were taken with a Lunt 60mm solar telescope and a Canon 700D camera with a 2x Barlow lens.

~ Imaging equipment (Ha) Lunt solar telescope & Orion 80mm refractor with Canon 700D plus 2x barlow lens ~

​
Three Large Sunspot AR3712, AR3713 & AR3716
on surface of Sun on the 19th June 2024 

​The sun looked awesome late this afternoon with those three large sunspot groups on the surface of the Sun, AR3712 is looking huge!
Looking through the Lunt (Ha) solar telescope you could see solar activity around each sunspot area.
 
After taking pictures of the Sun I looked around and saw a beautiful waxing gibbous in the eastern sky and took a couple of images once it got dark.
 
The white light images of the Sun & Moon were taken with a small Orion 80mm refractor telescope and a Canon 700D camera plus 2x Barlow lens. The Ha images taken with a Lunt 60mm solar telescope and a Canon 700D camera with a 2x Barlow lens.

By late this afternoon new sunspot group AR3712 had grown even larger on the surface of the Sun. The other sunspot AR3716 also appears to be getting bigger and is an interesting shape. There were a couple of active prominences around the limb and a dark filament on the solar surface as seen in the (Ha) solar telescope.
 
We are now having some beautiful clear sunny days, perfect for solar observing :-)
 
The white light image was taken with Orion 80mm refractor telescope with glass solar filter attached and a Canon 700D camera plus 2x Barlow lens, exposures were 1/500th sec and ISO200.
 
The Ha images taken with a Lunt 60mm solar telescope and a Canon 700D camera with a 2x Barlow lens, this is a composite image with one set of images for disc (exposures 1/320th sec and ISO200) and one set for faint prominences (exposures 1/20th sec and ISO200).

​Giraffe Shape Filament :-)
 
After taking some white light images of the Sun I turned my attention to viewing the solar surface with my (Ha) solar telescope and to my surprise there was a huge giraffe shape filament on the south eastern solar limb
Can you see it! 
 
Images were taken with 60mm Lunt solar telescope and Canon 700D camera with 2x Barlow lens attached. 25 images were captured with an exposure of 1/320th second and ISO200, images then stacked in RegiStx6 and processed in PS.

Yay…At last we had a bit of clear sky late this afternoon, so I ran outside to take some pictures of the Sun and what did I see but a huge prominence erupting from western limb…Wow! 
 
Images were taken with 60mm Lunt solar telescope and Canon 700D camera with a 2x Barlow lens attached.

Two sets of images were captured one set for the solar surface and one set for the faint prominences, images then stacked in RegiStax6 and combined in PS.
​White light image taken with 80mm refractor and Canon 70D camera.