5 January 2014, 14:02 local time (13:02 UTC)

AR 1944 is a huge complex about 100,000 miles across. This group started to rotate into view on 1 January 2014 and that is what prompted me to take a look.

It's always a good idea to record what you see. In this case, I decided to image it with a point and shoot hand held camera. Although it was difficult to align the camera to the eyepiece, I managed to capture the event.

Sunspots generally have a darker centre (umbra) surrounded by a lighter region (penumbra). The sunspots represent cooler regions on the Sun's surface and are associated with intense magnetic fields.

Afocal
Canon Powershot G7
C5 SCT
Baader Mylar Solar Filter

Comet Pan-STARRS

by Ana Russo

These images of Comet Pan-STARRS were taken on 13 March 2013 at 21:40 and 21:41 respectively. It was a small comet that could be seen in the evening sky over the mountains across the Bay of Gibraltar and avidly followed by the Comet Section of the Society for just over 2 weeks. For further information on this comet please refer to our Comet page here.

22 October 2014, 17:00 local time (15:00 UTC)

AR 2192 is a very active region of the Sun, producing many solar flares. The size of the active region is comparable to the planet Jupiter. 

Afocal
Canon Powershot G7
C5 SCT
Baader Mylar Solar Filter