The buzz from the recent total solar eclipse plus a nudge from an enthusiastic friend gave me the bug for imaging once again.

A couple of years ago I got my hands on a used Coronado PST solar telescope for visual use duing this solar maximum. I had made a few imaging attempts along with the ASI 120MM, but was left dissapointed with a lack of any surface detail despite it being visible through the eyepiece. Forgetting the frustration, I let them gather dust in the spare room until this summer’s eclipse. Having recently splurged on a much more sensitive ToupTek G3M 678M monochrome camera, I had high hopes that this would do the trick. After being frustrated once again, the penny finally dropped that a UV/IR cut filter was also needed for the job!

Here’s a second image taken a couple of days later with a slightly different etalon tuning and a little different post-processing treatment.

I found that settling on the best workflow for stacking and processing is probably the trickiest part of solar imaging. However using this excellent guide from Astrofotografie aus Norddeutschland on YouTube really helped produce the results I was looking for.

A few days later I had a quick visual glance at the sun through the PST which revealed an absolutely monserous prominence on the western limb. I quickly rigged up the ToupTek 678M and managed to capture the huge structure through the passing clouds. If we ever get any cloudless days again I may try an animation – this sort of target would be ideal!