White Heat

The Sun in white light 20-5-2014 Canon 600d DSLR on Meade 127mm Apo refractor 5x light frames stacked in APS, sunspots are clearly visible on the Sun's surface (the photosphere)

The same image stretched in Registax 6 to show the 'orange peel' affect of thermal convection cells in plasma at the Sun's photosphere

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosphere

As the weather in Lowestoft had taken a turn for the better, I decided to overhaul my telescope's mount and to try out my new 12 volt ac-dc transformer.  I was surprised how rusty stainless steel can get but very easily removed with a plastic pan scourer and some WD40 oil.

The transformer worked superbly well, much better than my old battery so many thanks to 'Modern Astronomy' for the excellent service.

http://www.modernastronomy.com/accessories.html

Whilst I had my gear set up I took some quick images to check the mount's tracking. All the images were taken with my Canon 600d DSLR through my refracting telescope, the enlarged image was taken using a 3x Televue Barlow lens using the video feature on the camera. The video was stacked using Registax 6.

The bright 'filigree' areas around the sunpots close to the Sun's limb are called 'Faculae' (plural of facula). These are hotter areas of the Sun's photosphere created by extreme magnetic fields. These Faculae are present across the whole of the Sun's disc but are only visible in white light towards the edge of the disc (the solar limb)

PLEASE DO NOT STARE DIRECTLY AT THE SUN WITH YOUR NAKED EYE AND NEVER LOOK THROUGH BINOCULARS OR A TELESCOPE OR A CAMERA'S VIEW FINDER AT THE SUN - DOING SO WILL A DAMAGE YOUR EYESIGHT BEYOND REPAIR AND MOST LIKELY CAUSE PERMANENT BLINDNESS. YOUR RETINA DO NOT POSSESS PAIN RECEPTORS SO YOU WILL NOT BE AWARE OF THE DAMAGE YOU ARE DOING.  I HAVE SPECIAL FILTERS AND EQUIPMENT PLUS LOTS OF EXPERIENCE IN IMAGING THE SUN BUT LAST YEAR I MADE A CARELESS MISTAKE AND FRIED A CAMERA COSTING ME OVER £100 IN REPLACEMENT COSTS.  I DIDN'T LOSE MY SIGHT AS MY CAMERA RATHER THAN EYEBALL TOOK THE HIT.