Witnessing Solar Giants: A Stunning View of Sunspots
Today, the sky offered a breathtaking spectacle, and I seized the opportunity to photograph our Sun once again. The star of our solar system is currently adorned with several prominent sunspots, and I was eager to capture their magnificence.
Comprehending Cosmic Scale
One of the most challenging, perhaps even impossible, feats in astronomy is truly grasping the sheer scale of celestial objects. However, I attempted to convey this by adding a small black dot to the image, representing our Earth in comparison to the Sun. It's a stark reminder that the Sun's diameter is approximately 109 times that of Earth. This visualization powerfully illustrates the colossal size of these sunspots.
Sun Data:
- Date: 31.08.2025
- Time: 09:20 UTC
- Sun angular size: 31.7'
Equipment Used:
- Celestron NexStar Evolution 8” EdgeHD with Mount
- Baader Digital Solar Filter OD 3.8
- Canon EOS R5 MarkII
Acquisition Details:
- Focal length: 2032mm
- Focal ratio: f/10
- Frames: 550
- Shutter speed: 1/8000s
- ISO: 64
Location:
My garden, Illnau, Switzerland
Processing Steps:
- Adobe Lightroom Classic: Cropped and exported all CR3-Files as TIFF-Files for further processing.
- AutoStakkert!4: Stacked the best 25% of the frames.
- RegiStax6: Applied wavelet sharpening.
- Adobe Photoshop: Desaturated the image, adjusted brightness and contrast using curves, and applied color curves (RED Input 84 Output 139, GREEN Input 95 Output 20, BLUE Input 218, Output 65) for an artistic, colorful rendition of the Sun. The Earth was added as a black dot for scale comparison.
This capture is a testament to the dynamic nature of our Sun and the incredible tools available to bring its wonders closer to us.
