White light solar observing
Four groups, thirty-six spots, counted at 09:40 in steady air. Seeing good enough to split the two smaller umbrae in the leading region.
| Region | Position | Class | Spots | Extent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AR4271 | N14 W32 | βγ | 17 | 14° |
| AR4276 | S09 E11 | β | 11 | 8° |
| AR4279 | N22 E47 | α | 5 | 3° |
| AR4280 | S17 W58 | α | 3 | 2° |
Positions in heliographic coordinates, estimated off a projected disc rather than measured. Magnetic classifications are read from the public daily report — they cannot be determined in white light, and pretending otherwise would make the rest of the log worth less.
Three days ago this was a scatter of pores. This morning the leading spot has a clean penumbral ring with visible filamentary structure at 120×, and the trailing group has merged into two umbrae inside a shared penumbra.
Best hour was between nine and ten — after that the air over the neighbouring roof started to move and everything above 80× turned to soup.
First morning this month with air steady enough to show granulation properly rather than as a suggestion. It looks nothing like the photographs — much finer, much more mobile, and it comes and goes with the seeing in a way that a still image cannot convey.
Nothing at all. Worth the ten minutes it took to confirm, and worth writing down — a count of zero is data.
A 102 mm refractor with a full aperture film filter, or projection onto white card when the goal is counting rather than detail. Counts follow the standard relative sunspot number: ten times the number of groups plus the number of individual spots, single observer, no correction factor applied.
Solar filters go on the front of the telescope, never the eyepiece end. Eyepiece filters sit at the focus of the full collected beam, they crack, and the consequence is permanent.
Check any filter against a bright lamp for pinholes before every session, and cap or remove the finder — people forget the finder.