Sun | Tony's Takes Photography

Sunspot, baby!

January 23, 2023 by Tony

Check this out! I had read that there was a massive sunspot on the sun, the biggest since 1990. Well, after work I decided to slap on the solar filter onto my camera and have a look. Sure enough there is NOAA AR 13190 as it is known by stargazers. To give a sense of scale, that massive sunspot is about five times larger than planet Earth! Crazy.

Solar activity is currently increasing as we near the height of the current solar cycle and is expected to peak in 2025. AR 3190 is so large that if it were to erupt with a solar flare, it could be an X-class event, one that if it struck the Earth could destroy electronics, shut down power grids and have devastating effects.

As you can tell, the sunspot is about to rotate out of view and away from us. An important note… Do NOT look directly at the sun to try to see this event. If you have solar eclipse glasses, those would work to allow you to safely view it.

BTW, the title of this posting is a shoutout to one of my all time favorite singers, Bob Seger , and a song of his that I absolutely love. 😉

A massive sunspot, the largest in decades, is seen on the face of the Sun. (© Tony's Takes) — A massive sunspot, the largest in decades, is seen on the face of the Sun. (© Tony’s Takes)

Red sun on the Colorado plains

July 24, 2021 by Tony Leave a Comment

Kind of a cool shot from this morning. Haze from wildfires continues to impact us and partly cloudy skies further limited the sun’s rays. Our sun was cast in red as it rose above the sunrise and those clouds really made it look crazy cool.

No special filters needed due to the inhibited light, just a bit of darkening in post processing. I really loved the hints of red glow on the surrounding clouds.

Planetary interception as Mercury transits the sun

November 11, 2019 by Tony Leave a Comment

They call it a twice-in-a-lifetime event so I figured I better give it shot.

This morning, the planet Mercury passed between the Earth and the sun giving us a look at the closest planet to the sun. My problem – clouds! While our latest storm system here in Colorado was in the process of moving out, I was worried I wouldn’t get to see it.

Thankfully, not long before the event was over, skies cleared and I got my shot. Yes, it is just a little black dot on an orange ball but the geek in me was excited. 😀

The planet Mercury is 38% the size of our home planet and averages 48 million miles from us.

Did you miss the event? The next Mercury transit visible across all of North America doesn’t occur until May 7, 2049!

The planet Mercury transits in front of the sun. (© Tony’s Takes)

The red sun of Krypton

September 5, 2017 by Tony Leave a Comment

Fans of Superman will get the reference there. 😉

As I mentioned yesterday, the last few days have seen our normally clear, blue Colorado skies obscured with smoke from wildfires in Oregon and Montana. Yesterday morning as I arrived at my photo destination right at sunrise, I couldn’t help but take note of the rather odd coloring of the sun.

The smoke gave it distinctive red coloring and the light was so filtered, I was able to shoot directly at it without any sort of filter. There were even a few sunspots easily visible. Kind of cool but also kind of eerie.

Haze and smoke from wildfires in the western United States colors the rising sun in red. (© Tony’s Takes)

Panorama of the stages of Eclipse 2017

August 23, 2017 by Tony Leave a Comment

Stepping outside my comfort zone here and piggybacking on some ideas for collages I saw online. This one takes 11 images of the various stages of the solar eclipse from start to finish as seen from Goshen County, Wyoming. I am far from a Photoshop pro as I rarely need to use it for most of my work but this one came out pretty good I think.

All images taken with my Canon 7D Mark II and a Sigma 150-600 Sports.

Panorama of the stages of Eclipse 2017 — A collage of images of the various stages of the Great American Eclipse. (© Tony’s Takes)

Partial phases of Eclipse 2017

August 22, 2017 by Tony Leave a Comment

Three years ago my brother mentioned the eclipse to me and we said then we were going to go and I am so thankful that I did. For the photography I did a lot of reading, planning and practicing and it panned out. I captured the event from start to finish and overall think the pics came out quite well.

Here is a series of eight images together – the top four showing the eclipse beginning and the bottom four showing it ending. Me thinks a trip to Texas in 2024 may be in order! 😉

Partial phases of Eclipse 2017 — Various stages of the partially eclipsed sun during the Great American Eclipse. (© Tony’s Takes)

The diamond ring

August 22, 2017 by Tony Leave a Comment

Oh my. I cannot begin to describe what I experienced yesterday. Eclipse 2017 was everything I had hoped it would be. Breathtaking would be a good word for it.

Here you see the ‘diamond ring effect’ – the few seconds right before the eclipse enters totality. Nothing short of amazing!

I had planned on driving home right afterwards but unfortunately traffic kept me in place. I did actually start to head for home and didn’t make it two miles before hitting a monster traffic jam on this little highway in southeastern Wyoming. Rather than fight it, I turned around and spent another night up here. More pictures to come!

Practicing for the 2017 Great American Eclipse

August 9, 2017 by Tony Leave a Comment

I received my solar filter and we finally had some sun this afternoon so I got out and there and started getting things nailed down. Not too bad for my first attempt, even got a little sunspot on there. Focusing just perfect will be a challenge but the exposure part is figured out I think. Totally forgot to turn off image stabilization which I need to remember to do. Going to have to come up with a checklist to have with me. Can’t wait!

Full view of the sun using a solar filter. Note the small sunspot toward the bottom right. (© Tony’s Takes)