Monster sunspot imaged by John Chumack

Posted by David Eicher
on Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Check out this huge sunspot captured by astroimager John Chumack in Dayton, Ohio, September 12. It is a striking image of our Sun, the source of all our energy in the solar system, the entity that makes life possible on our planet, and the nuclear engine that will ultimately wipe out life on Earth another 600 or 800 million years from now when the oceans boil away. There’s a positive thought for a Tuesday, huh?!

Credit: John Chumack
John shot the image, which he describes as “kind of looking like Leo or the Loch Ness Monster,” with a Lunt 60mm/50F Hydrogen-alpha solar scope, a DMK 21AF04 Firewire camera, a 2x Barlow, 1/60-second exposures, and 700 frames stacked in Registax 6.

Thanks for sending the image, John!

Comments
To leave a comment you must be a member of our community.
Login to your account now, or register for an account to start participating.
No one has commented yet.
Join our Community!

Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.

ADVERTISEMENT
FREE EMAIL NEWSLETTER

Receive news, sky-event information, observing tips, and more from Astronomy's weekly email newsletter. View our Privacy Policy.

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Find us on Facebook