Space photographer took photos of the Sun from his backyard!

Experienced space photographer Mark Johnston, who lives in Arizona and is NASA’s solar system ambassador, amazes with the sun photographs he takes from his garden. Photographing the sun is an area of ​​interest for space photographers, especially during periods of high solar activity like now. Johnston also explained how he captured these phenomenal images with his specially designed large aperture solar telescope.

How did Mark Johnston take photos of the Sun?

Johnston is a space photographer who has been photographing the sun for years and specializes in this field. The adventure of taking sun photographs started by projecting telescope images onto a TV via a PC at public events during the Covid period.

He progressed further with the images he collected during this process. “I recently built a custom large aperture solar telescope and was looking forward to testing it. “All of these images were taken in July 2024.” says Johnston.

Equipment and methods used in sun photography:

• 160mm refractor telescope: It is protected from the sun with an energy-reflecting filter.
• Two hydrogen alpha etalons: It is used to isolate the 656.28 angstrom wavelength.
• High speed monochrome astronomy camera: It is used to obtain high resolution images.
• 2000 x 10 millisecond frame capture: The software selects the best 200 frames and combines them.
• Post processing: Images are sharpened, noise is reduced and adjustments are made.

Johnston obtains high-resolution photographs with special techniques he developed to capture the sun in this detail. In these photographs, many details such as the sun’s chromosphere, prominences and spicules at the edge, filaments and sunspots on the surface, and active plasma movements can be clearly seen. These details help us understand the magnetic events on the surface of the sun and the effects of these events on our world.

According to Johnston, imaging the sun is very interesting because it offers a different view with each shot. “The Moon, planets, galaxies and star clusters are generally the same, except for rare events such as supernovae. But the sun can suddenly throw a prominence in 30 minutes.” says.

Arizona is an ideal place for space photography. Good weather conditions and clear night skies, combined with the mountains providing the opportunity to rise above the thick atmospheric layer, offer an excellent observation and photography environment.

Johnston advises those who want to photograph the sun to become comfortable using astronomy equipment visually: “Reach out to photographers whose work you like and ask for recommendations.”

Also himself on YouTube channel similarly shares his wealth of knowledge on how to capture great images. What do you think about the Sun photos? Please don’t forget to share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.