Location: Atlanta, GA (33.7384° N, 84.4234° W)

Date and Time: 2024-01-13, 11:25 – 11:55 EDT

Sky conditions: Seeing – Good, Transparency – Average

Instrument: Apertura 60mm FPL-53 Doublet APO Refractor @ f/12 – Aperture: 60mm, Focal Length: 360mm, Daystar White-light Universal Lens Solar Filter

Mount: Advanced VX

Eyepiece: N/A (Imaging)

Reticle Device: N/A

Imaging Equipment: ZWO ASI 174MM mini, 2x Barlow, ZWO UV/IR cut filter

Image type and sensor: CMOS, Sony IMX249 1/1.2″ sensor

Image capture details: 31s AVI capture, Start capture: 11:26 EDT, Exposure: 1 ms, Gain: 140, best 20% stacked of 516 frames
Software: ASIAIR, Planetary System Stacker, Photoshop

Sunspots are slightly cooler locations on the sun that are places where strong magnetic field lines emerge from the surface. They can be observed using the projection method or with proper solar filters for your telescope. Never look at the sun without proper filtering, it can damage your eyesight permanently. The projection method involves using either a very small telescope, or a piece of paper with a pinhole in it. In either case, sunlight passes through and is projected onto a white piece of paper. You then look at the image on the white paper. Observe the sun and make a full-disk sketch of the sun showing all visible sunspots. At least one sunspot is required. Note the umbrae and also the penumbrae that are visible. Record the date and time of your observation. If you are interested in further study of sunspots, check into the AL’s Sunspotters Program.

When I opened up SpaceWeatherLive, the first thing I thought was, “Man…that’s a lot of sunspots!”. I set up my telescope and with okay seeing I was able to observe almost all of the named sunspots. On the larger sunspots, AR3545 and AR3549, I am able to make out the umbrae and penumbrae. I can also see faculae along the east and west limbs

After stacking and processing, I was able to bring out surface granulation and nearly all of the named sunspots as seen in the comparison below.

I also used the ASI120MM-S to capture some close ups of the sunspots. With the narrower field of view, I was to see two light bridges within AR3545, and the umbra and penumbra of the smaller sunspots.

After stacking and processing, I was able to see surface granulation and bring out more detail around the smaller sunspots. The following images are stacks 20% best frames of 716 frames at 1ms exposure and 25 gain. I’ve included labeled images to denote the North and West directions as well as the solar features I was able to observe.