Bi-polar Sunspot Group 2960

 

Bi-polar Sunspot Group 2960. Meade 90RA Mak telescope on a Star Adventurer Equatorial mount. QHT-11 mono video camera. 75% stack of 3000 video frames at f=1250mm. Colour added post acquisition and cropped using Affinity Photo software. Credit: Kurt Thrust.

"As the sun was shining and becoming more active, I decided to try and capture some sunspots. The magnetically Bipolar Group 2960 is quite large and on 02-03-2022 was facing our way. I haven't used our oldest scope, the Meade 90RA Mak, for some time but with a focal length of 1250mm, it is just right for capturing a large sunspot group. Unfortunately, the glass and mirror were coated with dust and were well over due a clean! There was also a lot of high level cloud about today which, together with the dust, blurred the image somewhat. All the team are looking forward to using our big refractor for imaging the Sun on a cloud free day" - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Sunspot Group 2960 showing position relative to the Sun's limb.