During the 2024 carnival holiday in Rio, I had the chance and pleasure to get a daily evolution of the impressive and colossal sunspot AR3576 in different special bands from visible light to narrow band, H-alpha, G-Band and Calcium H- Line. Different optical configurations and techniques were also used for this image, including APO 115, Refractor 60mm and Maksutov 180mm
In the center of the image (solar disk) you can see the solar atmosphere (chromosphere) as well as that image from the second day of the sequence below, recorded in H-alpha and capable of representing a moment of configuration of the magnetic field that drives the complexity of the dance of the mass of the solar atmosphere.
G-Band is a 2nm narrowband filter at the wavelength of 430.3 nm offering great contrast to the photosphere that can be observed in the first and third day of the sequence.
Calcium is another narrow band of light generated in lower regions of the Sun’s chromosphere and distinctive views of many solar features. This is the last day in the image sequence (bottom right) .Calcium atoms that have lost a single electron, the so-called Ca-II (‘calcium two’) ions, emit and absorb light at several wavelengths, most notably at 396.9nm and 393.3nm in the violet region of the spectrum. These are the H and K lines of singly-ionized calcium, respectively. Compared to light from hydrogen alpha at 656.3 nm, these emission or absorption lines are broader in wavelength. So, solar filters that pass Ca-K or Ca-H have passbands of 2-10 angstroms.
Stunning colossal sunspots, some larger than Earth, can be seen in this image that includes a small reference scale. This type of giant sunspot cluster phenomenon usually attracts attention not only because it is large, beautiful and complex, but also because it has a high probability of generating Class M, Class X solar flares and which can pose some technological threats, problems electronics on satellites, blackouts of radio signals, but impressive geomagnetic storms if coronal mass ejection phenomena also occur towards Earth. Scientists at the Space Weather Prediction Center (NOAA) continue to monitor how the extent and complexity of these magnetic configuration structures can produce such explosions.