Object: Sunspots -Before the Storm
Location: Las Cruces, NM
Date: 10/27/03, 10:12am MST
Camera: Nikon CoolPix 995 afocal through a TeleVue 32mm PLOSSL
Exposure: 1/500 sec
ISO Speed: 100
Telescope: TeleVue 85mm APO refractor
Processing: Grayscale conversion and levels in Photoshop
Comments: This image won Best of Show at the Lodestar Astronomy Center 2004 Astrophotography contest! It was taken less than one day before a X-17 class coronal mass ejection (the third largest solar flare ever measured) erupted from the lower sunspot complex.© Dave Dockery 2003
