DIY Astronomer Captures Solar Eruptions From His Backyard

No, these photographs weren't taken by an astrophysicist or whipped up in a special-effects lab. Photographer Larry Alvarez takes these pictures of the sun in his backyard using a camera, a telescope, and some homemade gear. With some tips from Alvarez, you can build your own solar telescope camera, too.

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To get good images of the sun, you have to "take the law into your own hands," Alvarez writes. His site includes instructions on how to build a build a white light filter system out of cardboard and filter material, or a slightly fancier version made of plywood, glue and velcro. He also teaches how to convert your Coronado 60mm, 70mm or 90mm MaxScope telescope into a focuser for solar images. I love his workbench with the Rubik's cube next to his hacked telescope and camera equipment.

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this one, and the one below it are my favorites.

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Amazing that some average joe can mod a camera and telescope to take such incredible pictures from his backyard.

This on top of the very high quality lunar photos coming out from amateur photographers (astronomers) is starting to make me hopeful for the feature of earth based space exploration.

EDIT TO ADD: Sorry guys, my new (5 month old) nephew showed up from DC with my brother and sister in law (as I was putting the finishing touches on the thread), it was the first time I've met him, so I was fairly excited and just hit post without really finishing.

here is the link to the source, please forgive my haste

Link to Source



[edit on 12/15/2009 by Alaskan Man]

Link please, I want to check out his stuff.

Nice pictures!

Yes a link would be nice.

Those are exceptional images for an amateur, thanks for sharing.

Once we get out of this solar minimum there may be even more of interest to photograph.

mysite.verizon.net...

There you go Looks legit thus far but I haven't had much of a look yet.....

very beautiful. You could sell originals for cash money y'all.

k.. so, what do they need trillions of dollars for? 0_o

Wow the pictures are so cool, Better than most professional observatory's!

omg those are friggin amazing and absolutely beautiful.

I wish i were around to be able to see close up pictures of suns in distant galaxies that are 100 times that size. Imagine the different types of energy patterns out there..

Every so often there are threads that have pictures claiming to be awe inspiring, but these..

truly are...

b

omg those are friggin amazing and absolutely beautiful.

I wish i were around to be able to see close up pictures of suns in distant galaxies that are 100 times that size. Imagine the different types of energy patterns out there..

Every so often there are threads that have pictures claiming to be awe inspiring, but these..

truly are...

b

wow these are the best pics i have ever seen of the sun.
Nice find
I'm gonna try and do this myself

Excellent photographs, I have only scanned the interconnecting links. What people, not scientists, can do simply amazes me sometimes.

Of course someone getting paid billions or millions of dollars should be able to get photographs like these, but when someone without those types funds do something like this, you just have to say-WOW.

Sorry for the short post, wanted to subscribe so I could bookmark the info. Just got the latest Dexter and have to watch my favorite Mass Murderer.

WOW!!!!!
That looks amazing;
Flag and Star

[edit on 15-12-2009 by DjSharperimage]

Flagged and starred!

There's some fantastic images there, and I think I've found a new project or two for those dark winter nights.

This is what backyard astronomy is all about - normal people doing great things witht he tools they have available to them.

How soon before this guy gets payrolled by an agency....

Absolutely stunning!

I agree with wycky! I want to try this myself. This may have to be my main project over the winter with my kids. Nice find OP!

Wow nice pictures. I hope those eruptions are normal though.

The first thread I ever made here on ATS, was titled Unbelievable Close-up Images of the Sun: www.abovetopsecret.com...

In it I reference images from this website: www.boston.com...

There are some beautiful images there that compliment this thread nicely.

Enjoy!

OP

S&F

First off, awesome pictures. I've never seen anything like this.

Second, in reference to a few of the posts about being amazed that an amatuer or an average joe can take pictures like this, what makes people think that "normal" people or "non-professional" people can't do anything that's worth a crap? Sometimes we forget that it was just an "average joe" that decided to use his BRAIN one day, and now we have cars, skyscrapers, and space travel. Also HDTVs, I like those.

If he can take such high quality pic's with homemade stuff, why can't someone get him to take some close up pic's of ET's on the moon?

Woooow. Found some videos on his website. Check this out.

mysite.verizon.net...

That arch is at least the size of 4 earths.

Ok so if this guy makes this out of plywood and cardboard for next to nothing... Someone could make this out of plastic or metal for the same price plus the cost of the metal or plastic...

Sooooo!... How come it cost NASA millions to take the same kinda photo's!?