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“Eight-Oh-Eight”
Description:
This photograph shows the sun with a visible group of sunspots created by intense magnetic fields that cool the surface around them. Captured through a solar filter, the image reveals the dynamic behavior of our star and the patterns that shift across its photosphere from day to day.
Story:
Look closely at the sun in this photograph.
Notice the sunspots?
Call me “crazy,” but the pattern looked like the Hawaiian Islands. Every one of them. From the Big Island to Niʻihau, the land of Aloha drifting across the surface of the sun.
The resemblance made me laugh, but the science behind it is what held my attention. Sunspots form when magnetic fields rise through the photosphere and suppress convection, creating cooler, darker patches. Their appearance shifts from day to day. Their number rises and falls with the eleven-year solar cycle. They are temporary signatures on a star that never stops moving.
To photograph them safely, I used a dedicated solar filter that blocks harmful light and reveals the details our eyes cannot handle on their own. What looks like a simple bright disc is actually a turbulent sphere of plasma shaped by magnetism, rotation, and nuclear fusion. Most of the time the surface looks smooth. On rare days it reveals patterns that feel almost intentional.
So yes, maybe the sun was not actually drawing a map of Hawaii for me. But for one brief moment it offered a coincidence worth remembering. A solar snapshot with a little personality.
-BAP
Location:
College Park
Newberg, Oregon
45° 18' 37.3" N, 122° 58' 00.3" W
Google Map Link
Time: 18:22 PDT
Date: August 2nd, 2022
Camera & Settings:
Single shot
Nikon D810, NIKKOR 200-500 mm f/2.8G, TC-14E III Teleconverter, Thousand Oaks Optical “Solarite” Filter (size S-4250), Harrison Dark Cloth (small), Tripod
ISO 64, 700 mm, f/13, 1/8 sec
📥 Download FREE desktop wallpaper
🖼️ View artwork details & shipping
📸 Request a free wall preview
“Eight-Oh-Eight”
Description:
This photograph shows the sun with a visible group of sunspots created by intense magnetic fields that cool the surface around them. Captured through a solar filter, the image reveals the dynamic behavior of our star and the patterns that shift across its photosphere from day to day.
Story:
Look closely at the sun in this photograph.
Notice the sunspots?
Call me “crazy,” but the pattern looked like the Hawaiian Islands. Every one of them. From the Big Island to Niʻihau, the land of Aloha drifting across the surface of the sun.
The resemblance made me laugh, but the science behind it is what held my attention. Sunspots form when magnetic fields rise through the photosphere and suppress convection, creating cooler, darker patches. Their appearance shifts from day to day. Their number rises and falls with the eleven-year solar cycle. They are temporary signatures on a star that never stops moving.
To photograph them safely, I used a dedicated solar filter that blocks harmful light and reveals the details our eyes cannot handle on their own. What looks like a simple bright disc is actually a turbulent sphere of plasma shaped by magnetism, rotation, and nuclear fusion. Most of the time the surface looks smooth. On rare days it reveals patterns that feel almost intentional.
So yes, maybe the sun was not actually drawing a map of Hawaii for me. But for one brief moment it offered a coincidence worth remembering. A solar snapshot with a little personality.
-BAP
Location:
College Park
Newberg, Oregon
45° 18' 37.3" N, 122° 58' 00.3" W
Google Map Link
Time: 18:22 PDT
Date: August 2nd, 2022
Camera & Settings:
Single shot
Nikon D810, NIKKOR 200-500 mm f/2.8G, TC-14E III Teleconverter, Thousand Oaks Optical “Solarite” Filter (size S-4250), Harrison Dark Cloth (small), Tripod
ISO 64, 700 mm, f/13, 1/8 sec
How the sun appeared through the camera’s viewfinder.
The solar filter that I use. (Correct size for the NIKKOR 200-500 is S-4250)
Link: https://thousandoaksoptical.com/shop/solar-filters/full-aperture-solarlite-polymer/
