First attempt at solar imaging (Daniel Pascucci)

Contains: Solar system body or event

First attempt at solar imaging

Acquisition type: Lucky imaging

First attempt at solar imaging

Acquisition type: Lucky imaging

Recently bought a used Lunt LS60tha and this was my first effort to create an image of our nearest star. I welcome any input on acquisition or processing to get better final images.

For this shot, I took 1000 frames in SharpCap on a QHY5III174 mono without the double stack etalon (single stack only). I didn't take any flats. The sun was small enough in the frame that I'm not sure how I'd be able to get a flat enough illumination across the frame to do so but didn't notice any significantly bothersome dust in the footage.

The 1000 frames were analyzed and 50 stacked in Autostakkert, then wavelets applied in Registax. In photoshop, I applied some levels adjustments (mostly pulling in the black and white sliders but also took down the whiteness of the white). I also applied a high pass filter to sharpen (using soft light and a duplicate image so I could blend them in a merge with reduced opacity). I also colored using the channel mixer in levels and cropped. Finally, I used lightroom to enhance clarity a bit, bring up the blacks, soften the contrast and deepen the color -- particularly in the midtones.

In the original stack, there were some prominences but they were super faint and not worth saving in the levels adjustment. With the same telescope but an eyepiece, they're pretty pronounced so I'll try to play with exposure, gain and focus to get them next time.

All criticisms and input on process welcome.

SDAA AISIG Group
SoCal Astrophotography
Cloudy Nights

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