The complete solar disk as recorded in hydrogen-alpha light. The “worm-shaped” shadows seen in several areas are filaments. The dark spots are, yes, sunspots. And around the rim or limb of the solar disk are seen prominences — geysers of solar plasma riding magnetic field lines before crashing back into the sun. False color applied.
In addition to photographing Earth’s Sun in white light nearly every clear day, we occasionally set up the heavy telescope mount and bring out the new hydrogen-alpha (Ha) telescope for a bit of visual observing and unique imaging. It’s a bit of work since, without an observatory building we usually feel we need to take down and store away the mount after each session, so we don’t do that every day.

On November 8 we had clear skies, good atmospheric conditions, and the inclination to do the Ha setup and were rewarded with splendid views plus our best Sun images yet.
Using a Barlow lens to zoom for a closer view, we see large and small prominences and hints of spicules along Sun’s limb, and several large filaments. The dark spots in the upper left-hand corner of this picture is a group of sunspots at active region 3889.
Across the solar disk were visible large and distinct filaments — prominence loops seen from “above” — as well as sunspots and swirling patterns in the solar atmosphere around them. All around the Sun’s limb could be seen prominences glowing against a background of black space. Some of the prominences, which are fountain-like sprays and loops of magnetically-charged plasma, were quite large.

A major part of producing good images is what happens away from the telescope. Our usual practice is to record video of the telescope view and use software, in the office, to sort through thousands of video image frames, then stack the best few hundred to form a single still image. The still image is then edited to bring out as much detail and tonal range as possible. This process, which is common in astrophotography, produces a sharper image than what might be acquired via any single photographic “snapshot” owing largely to atmospheric turbulence.
Using a Barlow lens to zoom for a closer view, we see large and small prominences and spicules along Sun’s limb. The dark spot just above the center of this picture is a large sunspot at active region 3879.
There’s room for improvement, and we’re seeing excellent progress, but the images shown here are our best yet of Sun in hydrogen-alpha light.

Note: H-a light is that which Sun is producing in its chromosphere — the solar atmospheric layer between the outer corona and the lower photosphere — and is invisible even to protected human vision and white light cameras. Specialized optics are required to block other wavelengths found in white light and allow observation of Ha. When we observe or image in white light, we’re actually viewing features such as sunspots while looking through both the corona and the chromosphere!

Safety Note: It is not safe to look directly at the sun without specialized eye protection for solar viewing, and safe solar filters for telescope, binocular, or camera use. Permanent damage to vision can result from improper viewing of the sun.
The complete solar disk as recorded in hydrogen-alpha light. The “worm-shaped” shadows seen in several areas are filaments. The dark spots are, yes, sunspots. And around the rim or limb of the solar disk are seen prominences — geysers of solar plasma riding magnetic field lines before crashing back into the sun. Image was recorded and presented here in monochrome.
stellalunaobservatory.space/20…

#astronomy #astrophotography #science #solar #solarimaging #solarobserving #space #sun #sunspots

🥰 So fulfilling! 🥰 A friend just brought their little daughter over to my place, because she had a journal with a 3 wheel combination lock on it, and she'd forgotten the combo.

I showed her how to decode it, and eventually she got it open! We changed the combo and locked it again so she could practice more.

After a bit, she was asking about other kinds of locks, so I happily brought out an assortment of antique and miniature locks from my collection.

A couple hours later they had to leave, and she was beaming! Today she had picked 2 warded locks, a pair of police cuffs, raked open a 4-pin tumbler, and decoded a combination lock!

I sent her off with a smiley yellow binder clip and a minuscule warded lock to practice on.

They asked to come back next week to learn more. 💜

I feel like the Yoda of lock-sport. 🙂

---

Update: Friend just texted me to say their daughter is thinking of starting a YouTube channel to document her growth in lock-sport, and wanted advice on gear/setup stuff.

---

#LockSport #Locks #Adorable #Teaching #LockPicking #Security #Hobbies #GirlPower

So, my plan to build an entourage of friendly crows that follow me around is coming along.

@taedryn and I just put on some gothy attire and filled a sandwich bag full of bread bits for our morning walk. We normally just greet each crow with a friendly "hi crow" as we pass by, but this time we escalated to also throwing a bit of bread along with the greeting.

By the end of our walk, we had a reasonably sized murder of crows escorting us home 😁

It's pretty amusing to walk past neighbors, looking like Wednesday Adams, with a full accompaniment of crows announcing you.

#Crows #TheBirds #Halloween

I casually talk to the jaybirds and crows in my garden. My neighbour pointed out that it's somewhat unusual, but I think it's unusual and more than a little rude to ignore our feather-adorned neighbours.

Here's Peanut jr looking puzzled at my explanation of the concept of window washing.

#birds #birdsofmastodon #crows #cute

Good morning Ms. Crow.

#CrowUpdate Nothing too special these past few days. The invaders come regularly but never seem to stay long.
On Sunday, one of them tried to intimidate Ms. Crow but she stood her ground (well, her cable) I tried to film, but do you know how hard it is to film crows flying around?
However, I'm back at worrying about Mr. Crow. His wings seemed pretty much healed last September, but they're damaged again.

(1/? 🧵 ⤵️ )

#birds #corvids #crows

Nachruf auf Schriftsteller Jürgen Becker: Autor mit leisen Tönen

Gedichte, Romane, Erzählungen und Hörspiele: Jürgen Becker war einer der bedeutenden deutschen Autoren der Nachkriegszeit und wurde vielfach für seine Werke ausgezeichnet. Jetzt ist der Kölner im Alter von 92 Jahren gestorben.

➡️ tagesschau.de/inland/nachruf-s…

#JürgenBecker #Nachruf #Schriftsteller

Chronist des Alltäglichen: Zum Tod des Schriftstellers Jürgen Becker

Er war ein Erforscher unserer Bewusstseinslandschaften und hat ein vielgestaltiges Werk geschaffen: Gedichte, Romane, Erzählungen und Hörspiele. Jetzt ist Jürgen Becker im Alter von 92 Jahren gestorben.

^{Christel Wester (wdr.de)}

A spike in #COVID deaths has driven a decline in Australian life expectancy for the second year running

Tic toc
abc.net.au/news/2024-11-08/aus…

A spike in COVID deaths has driven a decline in Australian life expectancy for the second year running

A COVID-era surge in the death rate has shaved months off the life expectancy of Australians, who remain among the longest-lived people in the world.

^{Josh Robertson (ABC News)}

New laptop, new stickers.

I really like the #mastodon sticker of @digitalcourage . Big fan of the mission badge design.

The chaos knot is also available there.

#laptopstickers

shop.digitalcourage.de/digital…

What Not to Do

- Do not remain neutral when a hate group attempts to infiltrate the library. [...]

Confronting White Nationalism in Libraries: A Toolkit. (2022). Western States Center. westernstatescenter.org/librar…

Confronting White Nationalism in Libraries: A Toolkit — Western States Center

Libraries are increasingly on the frontlines of defending democracy, and resisting growing efforts to disrupt LGBTQ+ programming, ban books focused on inclusivity, and attack critical race theory.

^{Western States Center}

Wie steht's eigentlich um die Reputation von Modern Solution? Ich frag ja nur ...

#ModernSolution: Berufungsgericht bestätigt Schuld des Sicherheitsforschers | heise online heise.de/news/Modern-Solution-… #CyberCrime #Hacking

Modern Solution: Berufungsgericht bestätigt Schuld des Sicherheitsforschers

In der Berufung des Programmierers, der eine Sicherheitslücke in einer Software von Modern Solution aufdeckte, bestätigte das Landgericht den Strafbefehl.

^{Fabian A. Scherschel (heise online)}

wieviel (in Volumen) Platz braucht der deutsche Atommüll eigentlich?

So langsam bin ich ja der Ansicht, dass man einfach allen Müll an einem Atomforschungsinstitut lagern sollte, die nebenbei daran forschen, den irgendwie langfristig kleiner und unschädlicher zu machen. Wenn da nutzbare Energie wie Strom oder Wärme rausfällt, netter Nebeneffekt.

Hauptsächlich sorgt es aber dafür, dass man a) weiß wo das Zeug ist. b) wie viel man hat, c) in welchem Zustand es ist und d) eine Organisation schafft, die das im Idealfall dann auch noch in ein paar Jahrhunderten und Jahrtausenden im Auge behält.

infosec.exchange/@koehntopp/11…

koehntopp ~ : (@koehntopp@infosec.exchange)

Attached: 2 images Ein Mysterium.

^{Infosec Exchange}

Ich bin gerade "Freund von #ByteFM" geworden.
Es hat mich durch das #Wochenende begleitet und tolle Musik erleben lassen. Es war wie eine Entdeckungsreise, ohne aufdringlich zu sein.

Mein #Spotify ist gekündigt und der monatliche Beitrag geht jetzt nach #Hamburg

Das Webradio ist frei zugänglich und absolut einen Blick wert:
byte.fm/

#Webradio #Musik #entdecken #Tipp #Linktipp

ByteFM

Moderiertes Internetradio mit handverlesener Musikauswahl. ByteFM bringt alles, was in der modernen Pop-Musik wichtig ist – gestaltet und moderiert von Journalisten, Musikern & Kennern der Szene.

^ByteFM

Ihr Lieben!

Ich möchte mich an dieser Stelle noch einmal ordentlich von euch verabschieden.

Dieser Account wird vorerst stillgelegt und ich werde auch kein anderes Konto im Fediversum oder anderswo bespielen. Von meinem Pixelfed-Konto einmal abgesehen, wo ich wohl alle paar Monate in meinen Augen gelungene Fotos hochlade. Ob ich irgendwann noch mal wiederkomme - wohl erstmal nicht, aber ich schließe es nicht aus.

--->

Lindner warnt im Bericht aus Berlin vor "Ampel-Light"

"Ich bin Experte für SPD und Grüne", sagt Ex-Finanzminister Lindner. Im Bericht aus Berlin warb er für sich und seine FDP als Koalitionspartner einer möglichen CDU-geführten Regierung. Schwarz-Rot oder Schwarz-Grün - das sei "Ampel-Light".

➡️ tagesschau.de/inland/innenpoli…

#AmpelAus #BaB #Lindner

Lindner warnt im Bericht aus Berlin vor "Ampel-Light"

^{tagesschau.de}