Nice to start seeing sunspots again. It's been a long solar minimum ...  

Here are two recent photos of the Sun from Port Orchard, Washington. The first was taken on Friday, May 14 and the second on Saturday, May 15. Equipment used was a Coronado SolarMax II 90mm BF30 scope with an ASI174 camera. Processing was done in Autostakkert and Paint Shop Pro. Enjoy! (1st photo: Gain 100, 1200 frames, best 50 stacked; 2nd photo: Gain 25, 1200 frames, best 50 stacked). The images are not identical because of different exposure and processing settings. Which do you like the best?

This is M-82 the Cigar galaxy. This is still a work in progress, Id like to get at least two more nights on this small target. This is over 100 images stacked in DSS with two different filters so far. I plan on adding a couple more filters to the image as soon as the weather clears again. It's not Hubble but I'm trying to get as good of pic as I can doing un-guided photos. Taken from my backyard, Gig Harbor WA. Enjoy.

Meade Series 6000 115mm APO, ZWO ASI 183.

Yes, it was a very warm day for the Pacific Northwest, with highs pushing 80 degrees in places.  And all that light and heat from from the sun - the glorious yellow orb in the sky. This is what the sun looked like today from a solar observatory in Port Orchard, Washington. No sunspots and only minor prominences too faint for this photo, but some intriguing surface detail. Gotta love everything about today in our little Pacific Northwest town!

This is 40 -3 min subs stacked in DSS with 15 dark frames. Processed with Affinity Photo. Taken with the 8" Orion Astrograph from my back yard in Gig Harbor WA. I also used a 2" Ultra High Contrast filter. I pushed my scope almost to the hard stops going past the meridan. I finished before midnight 👍 Enjoy! I used my Nikon D5200 and Backyard Nikon.

This is just a very small part inside the North American Nebula which is huge! I may try to add OIII to it if we get better weather, and I figure out how 😁

No tracking, just good polar alignment. 

I found this image the other day ... It's a photo I took of my very first telescope! I remember how proud I was of this fine instrument. It's a vintage Sears 60mm refractor telescope, and that's about all I know ... Close to model number #6343 but I haven't been able to narrow it down any more. I owned this scope for several years and totally loved it. My favorite use was to project the sun on that solar screen that extends beneath the eyepiece. Maybe that's why to this day I am so fond of solar observing!

Another very small target, the Cocoon Nebula. This is 28-3 min subs stacked in DSS and Sequator. Colored in Affinity Photo and Gimp. I also used a Optolong L-eNhance filter on this target. CGEM mount, Orion Astrograph scope and a Nikon D-5200 DSLR, taken from my back yard in Gig Harbor WA..

Well, this is my first try on this target, I didn't know it was so small. I took 3 min subs and stacked 30 of them in DSS also in Sequator, I actually think Sequator might have done a better job. Remember I'm a rookie when it comes to processing so this is what you get 😁 Colored in Gimp and Affinity Photo. I also used an Optolong L-eNhance filter on this target. 

Taken from my back yard in Gig Harbor WA. 

Yes, with temperatures nearing 100 degrees (or more) over the entire western Washington area,   I thought it would be fun to see what the sun looked like today. Interesting, there are no sun spots, no visible prominences and no areas of interest. Of course, we are at the tail end of a solar minimum so that's to be expected, but just last week there were sunspots and active prominences. I guess today we just get skunked. And baked. Photo taken from a local Port Orchard solar observatory.