Cornelis van Zuilen

The Sun in Hydrogen Alpha 🌞

During the Dutch National Solar Observation Day on July 5, fellow astrophotographer and chairman of Stichting Sterrenwacht Saturnus, Paul Volman, suggested that we take advantage of the next sunny day to photograph the sun with the observatory's Coronado SolarMax 60mm telescope. Astrophotographer Mark Bossen and I immediately loved the idea. All we had to do was wait for a sunny Saturday afternoon, and as luck would have it, the focast was great for next weekend!

On Saturday, July 11, 2026, at 2:00 PM, the time had come. Mark, Paul, Hans, and I were ready with the Coronado telescope and two cameras. The observatory's Player One cooled mono camera and my own ZWO ASI224MC. Our solar expert, Paul, who has been photographing the Sun since 2011, explained how to use the telescope and shared the techniques needed to capture detailed solar images.

Thanks to Paul's guidance, we managed to capture this image, showing not only the Sun's surface with a lot detail but also the prominences extending beyond the solar limb. A huge thank you to Paul for an enjoyable and educational day. This is definitely something we'll be doing again!

Acquisition details:

2-panel mosaic
- Panel 1: 45% of 1,000 frames stacked
- Panel 2: 72% of 1,000 frames stacked

The solar rig:
🔭 Coronado SolarMax 60mm
⚙️ EQ DX mount
📸 ZWO ASI224MC

#astro #astrophotography #space #astronomy #youresa