On Tuesday, heavy rains broke off leaving flash flood warnings and a few clear patches behind. I left my office at the university at 5:15 in mist that seemed to have settled for another day. Instead, I ran into brilliant sunshine only a few minutes later. As I was still a mile from home, I put my driver's license at risk to have time to set up the telescope before clouds closed in again. Near real-time images on the web in He-II had earlier suggested that a hydrogen-bright feature might be rotating into view.

With the upgraded energy-rejection filter bracket (a Maxwell House coffee can newly baffled and freshly painted), I expected higher contrast. The hard blue sky after 48 hours of rain helped, too. On the southern trailing limb, I found this beautifully detailed prominence. Clear skies lasted only five minutes -- you can see clouds beginning to encroach in this view.

The sky closed down so quickly that the telescope got rained on before I could bring it inside. Nothing to worry about -- it's been wetter in morning dew and melting frost. [1996 August 13 17:30 EDT]

Next Observations: Wednesday.
Previous: Getting Started.

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