The whole Sun. Sunspot 11522 had only appeared about 4 hours before I took this picture, and sunspot 11518, about 20° to the east (right on the picture) had disappeared only about 24 hours earlier. At the time of writing, 14th July, 11522 had not developed much more and remained a tiny spot. Spot 11523 appeared about the same time and currently has developed a little but it does not look as though it will rival 11520.
Date and Time: 12 July 2012 10:28 UT
Camera: DMK 21AF04
Telescope: 270 mm SLR
Capture: ICCapture. Exposure 1/1757", gain 445, 3335 frames
Processing: Registax6. 150 frames stacked. Wavelets 1-2=10.
Sunspot group 11520 and friends. I have seen this group described as an archipelago, which is a very apt description. The main group, 111520, was large enough to be seen without optical aid other than a solar filter. Move your mouse over the image to see the designations of the spots. A superb picture of 11520 appeared on APOD for 14th July. My picture is a mosaic of two pictures because the extent of this whole group was too great for my camera and optics. Conditions were poor with lots of cloud about and, unfortunately, the two pictures were very different despite being given the same exposure and processing. I have managed to adjust the pictures so that the joins are not too apparent but if you look carefully you can see the overlap. The left-hand part was the poorer picture.
Date and Time: 12 July 2012 09:53 to 09:57 UT
Camera: DMK 21AF04
Telescope: ETX125 with Astronomik CLS filter
Capture: ICCapture. Exposure 1/308", gain 445
Processing: Registax6. 4 alignment points, 150 frames stacked per alignment point. Gaussian wavelets Scheme 3
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