Sun and Sunspot - 2 (2014 Jan 07)
In the first days of 2014, an enormous sunspot appeared along the eastern edge of the Sun. Formally known as Active Region 1944 (or AR1944), this feature is actually composed over 60 individual sunspots. The largest of them is several times bigger than planet Earth.
AR1944 is so large that it can be seen with the naked eye provided you use a solar filter to attenuate the Sun's intense light. I've spotted AR1944 with nothing more that a pair of eclipse glasses left over from a past eclipse trip. On Jan. 07, I photographed the Sun and AR1944 with the Astro-Physics 130EDF APO Refractor). See more images below.
For additional information on AR1944, visit Enormous Sunspot in 2014.Technical Details
- Object: Sun and Sunspot - 2 (2014 Jan 07)
- Date/Time: 2014 Jan 07 at 17:01 UTC
- Location: Bifrost Astronomical Observatory, Portal, AZ
- Telescope: Astro-Physics 130EDF APO Refractor (130mm, f/5.9, fl=770mm) + Seiber Optics 3X Barlow
- Mount: Astro-Physics 1600GTO
- Camera: Nikon D7000
- Exposure: 1/125s, f/18, ISO 400
- File Name: Sun14Jan07-008w.jpg
- Processing (Photoshop CS5): Clarity, Unsharp Mask
- Rights: Copyright 2014 by Fred Espenak. All Rights Reserved. See: Image Licensing.
