Tri-band solar imaging - part 1

In this series of blog postings I will present a method for creating colorful solar images using a narrowband filter. In short, the idea is to tune the filter and acquire three images at different wavelengths. A colorful scene can be created by assigning each image to a different color channel of an RGB image. The resulting color image reveals real spectral changes which
are equivalent to changing physical conditions on the Sun. I call this technique ‘tri-band solar

imaging’.

Tri-band versus single-band H-alpha image (click for bigger view)

An illustration of the resulting view and how it compares to 'normal' colorization of a narrowband H-alpha image is given to the right. The tri-band version displays much more vivid and varying color details and represents sunspot penumbras better than the single-band, on resonance H-alpha image. All you need to make such images is a standard, tunable H-alpha filter and a bit of extra processing work.


Stay tuned to this blog since I'll be posting daily about tri-band solar imaging with the following headlines:

• Background
• A basic example
• Acquisition techniques
• Image processing
• Tri-band pitfalls
• Some colorful examples

I hope that others will find these presentations inspiring enough to try some of their own tri-band work. Please share any thoughts, comments and pictures!