February 2025

February 18th 1025 GMT Sun 

The Sun was out but the sky was a bit hazy, so I used an exposure time with my Maksutov telescope and DSLR camera of 1/400 second, instead of 1/500 second. I used my normal focal length and ISO settings of 1.54m and 100.

February 17th 1745 GMT Venus 

Venus was high in the west. I had a session before it set below our fence. 

I took one set of shots with my Mak telescope and DSLR camera at 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/200 second exposure.

 

I took another set of shots with my Mak telescope and DSLR camera at 4.62m focal length. ISO 100 and 1/20 second exposure.

Although the disc was larger in the longer focal length, the image was sharper in the shorter focal length image.

February 17^th 1355 GMT Sun

There was a lot of moving cloud but I managed to see a sunspot through the gloom.

February 16th 1955 GMT Jupiter, Mars and Orion 

It was still a bit hazy, especially to the east. I used my phone camera at default settings to photograph Jupiter and Mars. It did not work, as only Jupiter registered on the camera.

Despite the conditions, I was brave (stupid??) enough to photograph Orion with Jupiter in the top right corner and Sirius in the bottom left corner. It did not work properly, as the stack did not align. Jupiter and Sirius turned out to be just smudges, so I cropped them out.

February 16th 1810 GMT Venus 

The cloud from the morning and afternoon had broken up, somewhat!

I snapped Venus with my DSLR at 300mm focal length and ISO 100. I tried various exposure times from 1/500 to 1/100 second to see what worked best.

February 13th 2140 GMT Moon 

After a week of cloud, conditions improved enough for me to see the Moon. There was a lot of cloud around, so when I took some photos, I used an exposure time of 1/500 second, with my DSLR camera, instead of the usual shorter exposure I use for the Moon near its full phase. I used a focal length of 300mm and ISO setting of 100.

February 6th 1940 GMT Moon with Jupiter and Mars

I photographed the Moon with Jupiter and Mars with my phone camera at default settings.

December 6th 1820 GMT Moon and Planets 

I took some shots of the Moon with Jupiter with my DSLR camera at 135mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/200 second exposure. I processed the Moon in GIMP and brightened Jupiter.

 

I tried again with my camera set to 70mm focal length. This did not work

I took two sets of lunar shots with my Maksutov telescope and DSLR camera at 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure.

 

I photographed Venus with my DSLR camera at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure. It showed the phase quite well.

I changed the exposure to 1/200 second to photograph Jupiter. I caught the disc but no cloud belts. 

I changed the exposure to 1/50 second to photograph Mars. Against all odds, I caught some features, quite rare with this setup.

I set my camera to 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 1/30 second to attempt Jupiter's moons. I caught two.

I overlaid the Jupiter image I took earlier to produce a better representation.

February 6th 1325 GMT Sun 

I photographed the Sun using my Coronado PST and DSLR camera used afocally. I used a 32mm Plossl eyepiece.

I took some shots on automatic settings at automatic settings and various focal lengths from 35mm to 55mm.

 

I repeated this with manual settings on my camera at ISO 400 and exposures of 1/40 to 1/20 second.

I combined the two images to form a composite showing surface and edge detail.

February 6th 1110 GMT Sun 

I photographed the Sun with my DSLR camera and Mak telescope at 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure, as usual.

February 5th 2350 GMT Jupiter and Mars 

I took several shots of Jupiter and Mars with my phone camera at default settings.

February 5th 2345 GMT Moon and Jupiter 

I snapped the Moon with my DSLR camera at 300mm focal length. ISO 100 and 1/500th second exposure.

I snapped Jupiter with my DSLR camera at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/200 second exposure.

I photographed both at 70mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 1/200 second exposure.

February 5th 1910 GMT Moon and Jupiter 

I photographed the two objects together with my phone camera at default settings. under hazy conditions.

February 5^th 1200 GMT Sun

I checked out the sun with my binoculars and filters and saw that the sunspot pattern had changed from 2 days before.

February 4th 2100 GMT Moon and Jupiter 

 

I photographed the Moon with my Mak telescope and DSLR camera at 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/320 second.

 

I changed the settings to 4.62m focal length, ISO 100 and exposures from 1/30 second to 1/8 second to take some lunar closeups.

 

I attached the star diagonal to take some full disc shots of the Moon at the previous settings.

 

As both stacked images (with and without the star diagonal) chopped off parts of the moon, I processed a single image to capture the full disc.

The star diagonal worked well with Jupiter and solved the problem I had a few days ago when Jupiter was too high in the sky. I took some shots of the disc at 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/200 second exposure. Although I captured a nice, round disc, I did not catch any cloud belts. 

I took some further photos at 1.54m focal length, ISO 6400 and 1/15 second exposure to try for the moons. It sort of worked and I stacked about 12 images from 30.

I produced a composite of the two images.

 

I could not use the same method on Mars as the finderscope and camera got in each other's way!

February 4th 1915 GMT Moon and Jupiter 

I photographed the two objects together with my phone camera at default settings.

February 3rd 1930 GMT Planets

I set my DSLR to 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 1/40 second exposure. I took several photos of Jupiter,  hoping to catch some moons.

I set my DSLR camera to 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/250 second to try and catch Jupiter's cloud belts.

I increased the exposure to 1/160 second in the hope of catching something on Mars.

I did not capture anything useable.

February 3rd 1720 GMT Dusk Shoot 

The Moon and three planers were clearly visible in the dusk sky. I shot the Moon with Venus, the Moon with Jupiter and Jupiter with Mars at my phone camera default settings.

I shot the Moon with my Mak telescope and DSLR camera at 1.54m ISO 400 and 1/320 second exposure.

I shot Venus at the same settings.

 

I shot Venus again at 4.62m focal length, ISO 400 and 1/30 second exposure. Unfortunately, the images were out of focus.

February 3^rd 1420 GMT Sun

After a cloudy and, sometimes, wet morning, I was able to see the sun through my binoculars and filters. I could see one large and two small sunspots.

February 2nd 2235 GMT Jupiter and Mars 

The sky was not clear but I was able to capture Jupiter and Mars with my phone camera at default settings.

February 2nd 1515 GMT Moon 

The clear conditions persisted into mid-afternoon. I photographed the thin crescent Moon with my DSLR camera at 300mm focal length, ISO 400 and 1/250 second exposure.

February 2nd 1245 GMT Sun 

 It was the first outing of the year for my Coronado PST. I used a 32mm eyepiece and my DSLR camera at 45mm focal length afocally at automatic default settings. I saw a filament and plage, with some sunspots. The filament and sunspots did not appear in the photo but I caught some small prominences and spicules.

February 2nd 0850 GMT Sun 

I kicked off the month with a photo shoot of the Sun at 1.54m focal length. ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure.

January 2025

January 31st 0930 GMT Sun 

Against the weather forecast, there was some clear sky. I photographed the Sun with my Mak telescope and DSLR at 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure.

January 30th 2205 GMT Constellation Shoot 

 I had tried to do a photo shoot of Jupiter and Mars with my Mak telescope and DSLR camera. Unfortunately, the viewing angle was too steep and the legs of my telescope tripod had not worked properly for ages. I gave up, as my frustration levels were near their limit. Not wanting to waste a clear night, I opted for a constellation shoot instead. That got off to a bad start with me needing to clean my camera lens after the first two shots.

 

I set my DSLR camera to 18mm focal length, ISO 1600 and 30 seconds exposure.

 

First up was Orion.

 

I then tried for Lynx, capturing Mars in Gemini and Cancer but, alas, only part of Lynx.

I got a couple of shots of Auriga at 30mm focal length, ISO 1600 and 15 seconds exposure before cloud rolled in.

January 30th 1950 GMT Mars and Jupiter 

 I took some shots of Mars and Jupiter with my phone camera at default settings.

January 30th 1905 GMT Planetary Shoot

 I set my DSLR to 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/400 second exposure. I aimed at Venus. I caught the phase.

I tried the same settings on Jupiter then Mars. Few details on Jupiter and none on Mars.

 

I changed the settings to 70mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 1/25 second exposure and took multiple images of Mars with Castor and Pollux.

 

I changed the settings to 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 1/40 second exposure and took multiple images of Jupiter, hoping to catch the moons. I caught two.

  

I tried the same settings on the Orion Great Nebula (M42). They did not work.

January 30th 1120 GMT Sun 

I photographed the Sun with my Mak telescope and DSLR camera at my usual settings of 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure.

January 30th Scorpius Reprocess

I reprocessed a photo of Scorpius from September 2013, originally taken with my Konica Minolta DSLR camera from Aruba in the Caribbean Sea.

January 29th Canis Major Reprocess

I reprocessed an old image of Canis Major from an unknown date.

January 29th 0215 GMT Leo

I photographed Leo with my phone camera but was unable to run a stack, so processed a single image.

January 28th 1950 GMT Jupiter and Mars 

The weather had been awful but a gap appeared in the cloud which allowed me to do a quick shoot of the two objects together.

January 25th 1950 GMT General Shoot

 

I had a go at Jupiter at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/250 second exposure in an attempt to capture surface details.

I tried Jupiter's moons at 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 1/2 second exposure.

I had another go at 70mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 6 seconds exposure.

I used the same settings for the Orion Great Nebula and Orion's belt.

 I then used the same settings to capture Mars with Castor and Pollux.

The only clear image was the Orion shot, as all others had too much distortion.

January 25th 1925 GMT Planet Shots

 

I did a quick shot of Venus with Saturn at 70mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 1/50 second exposure.

 

I used the same settings for Jupiter's moons but afterwards thought I should have used 300mm focal length. I should, as nothing showed. 

I snapped Venus alone at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/250 second exposure. It suggested (falsely!) a larger phase than my telescope shot a few days before.

January 25th 1900 GMT Planets Widefield 

I went out with my phone camera. I shot Venus with Saturn and then Jupiter with Mars. I used it at default settings.

January 25th 0955 GMT Sun 

 I woke up to bright sunshine, so proceeded to photograph the Sun with my Mak and DSLR at my usual settings of 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure.

January 24^th 1410 GMT Sun

I checked the sun with my binoculars and filters. I saw the same large sunspot as the day before and it had rotated nearer to the edge of the disc.

January 23rd 1420 GMT Sun

Between heavy showers, the sun appeared. I checked it with my binoculars and filters but I was only able to see a single large sunspot.

January 22nd 1920 GMT Jupiter and Mars 

 

It had clouded over since I photographed Venus and Jupiter. I could see Jupiter and Mars, so did some shots of them with my phone camera at default settings. Mars had been travelling retrograde, so was close to Castor and Pollux. I also caught a satellite trail.

January 22nd 1730 GMT Venus and Jupiter 

Following a cloudy day, the sky unexpectedly cleared after sunset. Venus was high in the south west. I snapped it with my Mak telescope and DSLR camera at 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure.

 

I used the same settings to snap Jupiter. I underexposed it but still managed to catch the cloud belts/

 

 I adjusted the ISO setting to 6400 and exposure time to 1/50 second to try to capture Jupiter's moons. I caught one.

I combined the two photos.

January 21st 1125 GMT Sun

The cloud was thinner than the day before and I was able to see a 4^th sunspot.

January 20^th 1255 GMT Sun

I saw sunlight but when I checked, the sun was behind cloud. However, enough sunlight got through, at times, and I was able to see three fairly large sunspots through my binoculars and filters.

January 15th 1955 GMT Moon and Mars 

 

I was going to do a Moon shot with my Mak and DSLR but fog had started to roll in. I snapped the Moon with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/800 second exposure. 

 

I snapped the Moon with Mars with my phone camera at default settings.

I combined the two to produce a composite image.

January 15th 1730 GMT Planetary Shoot

 

Venus and Saturn were close. I could even get them into the field of view of my DSLR camera at 300mm focal length. I set the ISO to 6400 and 1/50 second exposure.

I used the same settings on Jupiter, hoping to catch some moons. Only one shot was sharp enough but the Exposure function in GIMP did the trick.

 

I rest the ISO to 100 and exposure to 1/200 second to try Jupiter. I caught the main cloud belts in one photo.

I combined the two photos to show Jupiter with moons.

I tried Mars with an exposure of 1/100 second. Unfortunately, the resulting disc was too small to show any detail. 

I ended up increasing the exposure to 1/50 second to try Saturn. This did not work either, for similar reasons. 

The Venus and Saturn shot was the only one I realistically expected to work but I'm not adverse to trying things out. I managed to get some cloud belts on Jupiter, which as happened before but is rare. I think the quick shot showed it is potentially possible to catch its moons without any need for a tripod. Cause for more experimentation.

January 15^th 1635 GMT Venus

Venus was high in the west. I snapped it with my  DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure.

January 15^th 1525 GMT Sun

The sky was clear but the sun was low in the south west, barely above our fence. I checked it with my binoculars and filters and saw what looked like a single, large sunspot.

January 12th 1920 GMT Venus, Saturn, Moon, Jupiter and Mars 

Conditions were somewhat hazy but I was able to do a shoot with my phone camera.

The first was Venus with Saturn at default settings but a zoom of 2.5 times.

 

I reverted to zoom level of 1.0 and took photos of the Moon with Jupiter, Moon with Mars, then all 3 together.

January 11th 1105 GMT Sun 

I photographed the Sun from inside the house, with the back door open. I used my Mak and DSLR at 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure. I only saw small sunspots.

January 10th 2035 GMT Moon and Jupiter 

 I tried the shot again later when the sky had cleared.

January 10th 1845 GMT Moon and Jupiter 

I was recovering from illness, so I wasn't ready to go out. I snapped the Moon and Jupiter with my phone camera at default settings from an upstairs window.

January 6th 1655 GMT Moon and Venus 

 

It was dusk and there was some moving cloud around. I set my DSLR to 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/400 second exposure and took some separate shots of the Moon and Venus.

January 3rd 1630 GMT Moon and Venus 

After putting the shopping away, I took my telescope and DSLR camera out.

I photographed the Moon at 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/200 second exposure. I stacked 5 images in Autostakkert and finished in GIMP.

 

When I photographed Venus, I reduced the exposure to 1/500 second exposure. Despite it being theoretically better than the overexposure of the evening before, it did not work.

I disconnected my DSLR camera from my telescope and attached a zoom camera lens. I set my camera to 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/200 second exposure to capture the Moon and Venus. The stack did not work, so I processed a single shot.

January 3rd 1520/1605 GMT Moon and Venus 

I did some shopping and. when I arrived at the car park, I could see the moon very clearly. I could see Venus above it, even though the sun was above the horizon. The sun was still above the horizon when I got back, so I snapped the together with my phone camera at default settings.

January 3rd 1130 GMT Sun 

I had some clear sky again, so photographed the Sun with my Mak telescope and DSLR camera at my usual settings of 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure.

January 3rd 0225 GMT Mars in Gemini 

 I took a few shots of Mars in Gemini with my phone camera at default settings. The images were out of focus, for some reason.

January 2nd 1835 GMT Saturn and Venus 

I used my phone camera at default settings to capture Venus with Saturn. Unfortunately, this did not work.

January 2nd 1640 GMT Moon and Venus 

 The sky was still clear at dusk. Venus and the moon were close. I took some Moon shots with my Mak and DSLR at 1.54m focal length. ISO 100 and 1/125 second exposure.

 

I used the same settings for Venus, perhaps unwisely.

 

I switched to my DSLR camera alone and snapped the two objects together at 45mm focal length, ISO 400 and 1/40 second exposure.

 

I tried Jupiter at 45mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 1/40 second exposure, in the hope of catching something. I( didn't capture any moons (as hoped) but did catch a hint of the cloud belts. This did not load in Blogger.

January 2^nd 1020 GMT Sun

 

I awoke to bright sunlight and got into action immediately. The Sun was showing lots of small sunspots and I photographed it with my 127mm Maksutov telescope and DSLR camera. The settings were 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure.

January 1st 2250 GMT Sirius, Orion and Jupiter 

I took a few shots of Sirius and Jupiter each side of Orion with my phone camera at default settings. 

January 1st 2050 GMT Jupiter and Mars 

 

I was putting a bag of rubbish out when I noticed that there was some clear sky from Betelguese upwards. I snapped 20 frames of Mars and Jupiter and a few more dark frames.