A few weeks ago,
Astronomy Editor David J. Eicher visited the astronomy and equestrian village at Rancho Hidalgo near Animas, New Mexico. While Dave was there, developer Gene Turner surprised him by unveiling a
second Astronomy Magazine Observatory, just to the east of the first one.
The goal is to stream images from the observatory (or observatories!) to our web site. As fiber-optic Internet lines become operational and as Rancho Hidalgo acquires new equipment for the process, images are beginning to flow our way. The solar image you see here is one example.
Along with the image, Gene sent all the relevant information:
“Michael, this is an H-alpha shot through Astronomy’s solar setup at your observatory at Rancho Hidalgo. The instruments used were a Tele Vue 101 refractor with a 100mm double-stacked 0.4-Angstrom Isle of Man Solarscope Hydrogen-alpha filter and a 3x Tele Vue Barlow lens. The camera was a Meade Pictor 1616. As you know, we piggybacked the whole setup on a 14-inch Meade LX200 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. David Eicher and I shot this image February 12, 2010. Note the strong sunspot regions along with the intense filaments in multiple locations. Solar maximum is on its way, and the pictures are starting to show increased activity on the Sun.”
They sure are.