Solar Chromosphere in Hydrogen-Alpha Light
Wednesday, August 19th, 2026 at 8:14:30 PM · 2026/Astrophotography
This exceptional hydrogen-alpha image of the Sun reveals the intricate structure of the solar chromosphere in remarkable detail, captured at 656.3nm wavelength using a Lunt LS60THa 60mm f/8.3 Ha telescope. The granular texture of the chromosphere is visible across the entire solar disk, with dark filaments — suspended channels of cool plasma tracing magnetic field lines — visible as elongated, thread-like dark structures scattered across the surface. A notable solar prominence extends above the upper-left limb, arching plasma held aloft by magnetic forces, while additional prominences glow in reddish-orange at the lower limb. The golden-amber false color palette is characteristic of hydrogen-alpha solar imaging, and the edge-darkening (limb darkening) produces a deep orange-red glow around the solar perimeter. This image was produced using multi-exposure HDR processing combined with lucky-imaging stacking of the sharpest frames with 2x drizzle upscaling on a Sky-Watcher EQ6 tracking mount.
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