Witnessing Solar Giants: Capturing Enormous Sunspots with the Earth for Scale
A beautiful morning offered a perfect opportunity to turn my gaze towards our nearest star, the Sun. What greeted me were several colossal sunspots, a dramatic reminder of the dynamic nature of our solar system. Capturing these celestial behemoths with a sense of scale is a fascinating challenge, and I decided to include a representation of Earth to help visualize just how immense these solar features truly are.
The Immensity of the Sun and its Spots
Imagining and truly grasping the vastness of astronomical objects is one of the most difficult feats. To help put these sunspots into perspective, I've included a visual comparison: the small black dot on the Sun's surface represents the Earth. It's a stark visual that underscores the sheer scale of these solar phenomena, considering the Sun's diameter is approximately 109 times that of our home planet!
Technical Details of the Observation
Here's a breakdown of the data and equipment used to capture this incredible view:
Sun Data:
- Date: 31.08.2025
- Time: 09:20 UTC
- Sun Angular Size: 31.7'
Equipment:
- Telescope: Celestron NexStar Evolution 8” EdgeHD with Mount
- Solar Filter: Baader Digital Solar Filter OD 3.8
- Camera: Canon EOS R5 MarkII
Acquisition Details:
- Focal Length: 2032mm
- Focal Ratio: f/10
- Frames Captured: 550
- Shutter Speed: 1/8000s
- ISO: 320
Location:
- My garden, Illnau, Switzerland
Processing the Solar Spectacle
Transforming the raw data into the final image involved several careful steps:
- Adobe Lightroom Classic: The initial CR3 files were cropped and exported as TIFF files for further processing.
- AutoStakkert!4: The "best 25%" of the captured frames were stacked to enhance detail.
- RegiStax6: Wavelet sharpening was applied to bring out the finer structures within the sunspots.
- Adobe Photoshop: The image was desaturated. Curves adjustments were then used to increase overall brightness and contrast. Finally, individual color curves were adjusted (RED Input 84 Output 139, GREEN Input 95 Output 20, BLUE Input 218, Output 65) to achieve a vibrant, colorful representation of the Sun – an artistic choice to highlight its dynamic beauty. The Earth was then added as a black dot for scale comparison.
