Today was one of those rare occassions where I had a quiet day at work and the sky was clear. I decided to bring along my 100mm refractor, camera tripod and a solar filter. I had in mind to do a little solar viewing from the office parking lot.
Around 2:30pm I took a break from work and set up in the parking lot. I had seen some scattered clouds in the west and I didn’t want to wait until the sun set low enough to be affected by them. So with the sun still high, I set up the scope in the lot and took a look at the sun (thank goodness for the diagonal or my neck would be really sore).
The sky was pretty steady for mid-day which was nice and the breeze was light. I was very pleased to see a cluster of sunspots just off the equator. There were 2 medium spots and 3 or 4 smaller ones all grouped together. I started with my Skywatcher (Synta) 20mm LET eyepiece to give me a wide view. I then tried to zoom in on the spots with my 9mm LET, but I couldn’t get a good focus. I remembered I had borrowed a 12mm Xcel from Mike Spicer so I gave that a try. It did a great job of bringing up the spots in more detail. I could see some detail of the spot edges which was great considering the camera tripod isn’t the most steady mount I own.
I pulled out my camera to try and take some photos through the eyepiece by hand. Unfortunately I forgot to bring the transfer cable, so if the photos worked out, I’ll have to post them later. Maybe some other intrepid club member had the same idea and might have a few good photos to share.
A few curious people stopped by to take a look while I was observing. They were surprised that someone would look at the sun. And without exception, when they saw the sunspots, they asked if it was dirt on the lens. (I eventually got paranoid and had to double-check to make sure I wasn’t seeing things >just kidding.)
Eventually the work called me back to reality and I packed up. It was a nice afternoon break from work. I hope this evening at Binbrook will be just as rewarding.
