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Friday: Overnight frost. Mist clearing to sunshine behind thin cloud in the south east.
9.45am 41/38F In/ out. Already set up. Disk blank in white light.
Noticeable prom on the eastern limb in H-a. Some surface texture. Waiting for improved clarity with cloud hopefully clearing. Expecting my prism adapters about lunch time. My lucky day! They arrived at 10.30am!
Unbelievable difference compared to my oversized Baader solar foil filter! Instant surface texture near the prom. Rather like the scar from a childhood injection. Moved to 26mm EP for 87x.
Gong now clearly showing the prom "ramp." It was just a fuzzy tuft earlier on GONG's various disks.
The rotating polarizer feature feels very sophisticated. Dimming to personal taste and best clarity. I have only ever had access to a polarizer on a borrowed, brass 'research' microscope in my youth.
11.35am After nearly an hour the temperature of the Lacerta's heat sink has risen to 30C/90F. Warm to the touch but not remotely unpleasant. The 'ramp' prom has changed into a tall, leaning post in front of a smokey bonfire blowing downwind.
11.45am Changed to 15m for 80x. The former 'leaning pole' is now very wavy. With the upwind 'bonfire' now brighter than the smoke. Changing by the minute! Pole now resembles a sloping tornado. The bonfire has detached from the limb and its smoke become very humped. WL[SC] surface detail spreading as a patch further onto the disk.
12.00am The smooth tornado is turning into an ugly twister full of debris. The bonfire has moved behind the twister or simply vanished. Smoke thinning with a bright tip to its tail. Smoke humping, thinning and detaching from the limb. Bonfire smoke more strongly humped with a tapered attached tail reaching the limb. 100x still too much for best clarity. Returned to 87x. Smoke now branching from the tornado, more strongly humped with a fishtail.
12.15pm Tornado getting steadily messier above the base. Lean angle increasing. Small proms on limb nearby. 'Branch' gaining in thickness and density. Tornado has reached 45° lean and thickening. I wish I had my binoviewers!
12.20pm Tornado curving back upright at mid height. Getting thicker above the base. A dark, curved 'shadow' of the tornado has appeared on the disk nearby. Not visible in WL.
12.30pm Twister now heavily knotted and bifurcated at the base. The humped smoke is also becoming knotted. A patch of smoke as appeared upwind of the tornado. Tornado twisting, knotting, losing height and dispersing. Upper tip thickening and brigtening into an arrowhead form.
12.35pm Whole prom becoming wispy and tenuous. Dark thread on disk still visible. Small, bright hump on limb below the former prom. Now gone again. WL Prism heat sink 38C, 100F. Surface feature becoming very hard to see.
12.45pm Prom now hard to find in H-a. Still just there, but very wispy with a slightly brighter tip.
12.50pm 52/49F Downstairs door open for chimney effect. Prom now hardly a shadow of its former self. I'd struggle to find it now unless I knew where it was. Dark line on disk still there as a guide.
13.00pm Nothing visible in WL. Heat sink stable on 38/100. Sun at 21° altitude.
13.10pm Prom now two wispy deltas pointing away from the limb. Thermal effects becoming stronger.
14.30pm 54/51F Back from lunch. Small proms sprouting like weeds from the bottom of the sun. Eastern limb on Gong. Still signs of this morning's very active prom and the dark line on the disk.
WL mottled patch is still visible. Better seen with dim polarization. Heat sink still stable on 38/100.
Now I have to go shopping! ;-(
Unbelievable difference compared to my oversized Baader solar foil filter! Instant surface texture near the prom. Rather like the scar from a childhood injection. Moved to 26mm EP for 87x.
Gong now clearly showing the prom "ramp." It was just a fuzzy tuft earlier on GONG's various disks.
The rotating polarizer feature feels very sophisticated. Dimming to personal taste and best clarity. I have only ever had access to a polarizer on a borrowed, brass 'research' microscope in my youth.
11.35am After nearly an hour the temperature of the Lacerta's heat sink has risen to 30C/90F. Warm to the touch but not remotely unpleasant. The 'ramp' prom has changed into a tall, leaning post in front of a smokey bonfire blowing downwind.11.45am Changed to 15m for 80x. The former 'leaning pole' is now very wavy. With the upwind 'bonfire' now brighter than the smoke. Changing by the minute! Pole now resembles a sloping tornado. The bonfire has detached from the limb and its smoke become very humped. WL[SC] surface detail spreading as a patch further onto the disk.
12.00am The smooth tornado is turning into an ugly twister full of debris. The bonfire has moved behind the twister or simply vanished. Smoke thinning with a bright tip to its tail. Smoke humping, thinning and detaching from the limb. Bonfire smoke more strongly humped with a tapered attached tail reaching the limb. 100x still too much for best clarity. Returned to 87x. Smoke now branching from the tornado, more strongly humped with a fishtail.
12.15pm Tornado getting steadily messier above the base. Lean angle increasing. Small proms on limb nearby. 'Branch' gaining in thickness and density. Tornado has reached 45° lean and thickening. I wish I had my binoviewers!12.20pm Tornado curving back upright at mid height. Getting thicker above the base. A dark, curved 'shadow' of the tornado has appeared on the disk nearby. Not visible in WL.
12.30pm Twister now heavily knotted and bifurcated at the base. The humped smoke is also becoming knotted. A patch of smoke as appeared upwind of the tornado. Tornado twisting, knotting, losing height and dispersing. Upper tip thickening and brigtening into an arrowhead form.
12.35pm Whole prom becoming wispy and tenuous. Dark thread on disk still visible. Small, bright hump on limb below the former prom. Now gone again. WL Prism heat sink 38C, 100F. Surface feature becoming very hard to see.
12.45pm Prom now hard to find in H-a. Still just there, but very wispy with a slightly brighter tip.
12.50pm 52/49F Downstairs door open for chimney effect. Prom now hardly a shadow of its former self. I'd struggle to find it now unless I knew where it was. Dark line on disk still there as a guide.
13.00pm Nothing visible in WL. Heat sink stable on 38/100. Sun at 21° altitude.
13.10pm Prom now two wispy deltas pointing away from the limb. Thermal effects becoming stronger.
14.30pm 54/51F Back from lunch. Small proms sprouting like weeds from the bottom of the sun. Eastern limb on Gong. Still signs of this morning's very active prom and the dark line on the disk.
WL mottled patch is still visible. Better seen with dim polarization. Heat sink still stable on 38/100.
Now I have to go shopping! ;-(
Click on any image for an enlargement.
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