Lunar photo reprocessed

I reprocessed a full disc lunar photo from August 24^th 2011.

Widefield summer constellation shot reprocessed

I took a widefield shot of the summer constellations, including the faint pair of Delphinus and Sagitta.

Constellation shots January 29th

I did a series of constellation shots from 1900 to 1930 GMT. The eastern sky was covered by cloud but the area surrounding Orion seemed quite promising, so I decided to concentrate there. In the first shot, Lepus and Canis Minor are also visible.

Although I couldn’t see the other stars in Canis Major (apart from Sirius) the main ones came out in the photo, even though it was low in the sky.

I also took a second shot of Orion, which I thought was better.

 

The Gemini shot showed the constellation at a different angle from what we see in the UK.

Solar close-up reprocessed

I took a close-up of another region from August 21^st 2011.

Moon through binoculars

I was out again at 2100 snapping the Moon through my binoculars. It was past full but Tycho’s rays were still dominating the moonscape and there was some terminator detail near Mare Crisium.

Zenith shot from Portugal

In the Portugese evening at 1930 GMT I took an overhead shot and it showed Perseus, Cassopiea and the Pleaides.

Sunspot Close-up August 21st 2011 reprocessed

I took a close-up of the sunspot region to show more detail.

Solar "white light" shot reprocessed

On August 21^st I also took a shot of the solar disc through my Maksutov using the normal capture and processing procedures.

Sunspot photo

I checked the Sun with the bins early morning and couldn't spot activity. The Big Bear images looked quite bland, too. I returned out at 1040 GMT with a telescope and camera.

I only saw and captured two sunspots but it was just nice to be out again. Usual method with the Maksutov. Considered the spots too small to want to attempt webcamming them.

Hydrogen alpha shot

This is the fourth/last close-up of the solar hydrogen alpha sequence of August 21^st 2011.

Fake Galaxy Cluster

I noticed that the sunspot group I captured earlier in the month reminded me of some of the galaxies I had seen. I reprocessed the best close-up to produce a fake galaxy cluster.

Solar hydrogen photo reprocessed

This is the third close-up of the solar hydrogen alpha sequence of August 21^st 2011.

Hydrogen alpha photo reprocessed

This is the second close-up of the solar hydrogen alpha sequence of August 21^st 2011.

Moon with Jupiter January 21st

Conditions were poor but I managed to snap the Moon with Jupiter at 2045 GMT.

Solar hydrogen alpha shot reprocessed

This is the first close-up in the solar hydrogen alpha sequence of August 21^st 2011.

Lunar shot reprocessed

One of my favourite lunar features is Tycho and 8 images were used to produce this close-up.

Moon close-up reprocessed

6 more images from August 21^st 2011 were used to show the Appennines.

Jupiter shots reprocessed

In the absence of clear sky, I decided to revisit the Jupiter shots of earlier in the month. I experimented with splitting channels and was amazed to see the blue channel show the most detail.

Solar image reprocessed

August 21^st 2011 was a very prolific day and the next sequence of reprocessed shots feature the Sun in hydrogen alpha light, starting with the full disc.

Moon January 15th

I was hoping to start on the Moon earlier but, unfortunately, had to take my daughter to Casualty. At least she wasn’t as bad as feared and the Moon was still there at 2000 GMT, although getting lower. I did some full disc shots and some close-ups with the webcam, without the 2X Barlow lens. The full disc image was the best 5 of 10 frames.

The first photo from the webcam runs is a mosaic of 3 stacked imaging runs from Registax  5 combined into a single image using Microsoft ICE, with further processing done using Paintshop Pro and GIMP.

The second image consists of the result of a single imaging run.

The third image was composed from 2 separate imaging runs.

The fourth picture was taken from a single imaging run.

The next picture was also taken on a single imaging run.

The mid-region near the terminator showed a lot of detail from a single run.

Another single run produced some detail.

The final photo was a composite of 3 imaging runs.

Solar Drawing January 15th

I spotted Venus just above the horizon from the car on the way to work.

At lunchtime I bin scanned the Sun and it looked rather different from the view on 13^th but still very active.

Sun January 13th

The day had started brightly but by the time I was ready to snap the Sun in hydrogen alpha light at 1025 GMT, thin cloud had covered the Sun. Visually, the only stand-our features were the sunspots I could see much better in white light anyway. I took some full disc and close-up (of the sunspot area) shots in the hope of getting usable data. Only the full disc shot showed anything useful at all.

Having sorted out one or 2 chores, I had another go at the Sun with my PST at 1140 GMT. It was quite incredible in the clearer conditions with some activity all over the disc. The sunspot region looked quite amazing and I could see a small prominence. I took full disc shots and close-ups of the sunspot area and prominence area.

At 1150 GMT, I did a full disc imaging run with the Maksutov but could only capture a few frames before the battery ran out. 4 frames were stacked with Registax 5 (Registax 6 “froze”) and further processing was done using Paintshop Pro and GIMP.

At 1200 GMT I was webcamming the Sun with the Mak and SPC880. I started off with the 2x Barlow lens but seemed to get sharper sunspots without it. I managed to see a lot of detail on the laptop screen, with the sunspots showing irregular patterns and penumbral shading.

As it turned out, the shots without the Barlow lens worked best and the others I discarded. I tried to stitch and stack the files I obtained from Registax but was unable to get higher resolution, so here are the results.

Another view of Plato

Another 5 images were used to produce another image of Plato.

Solar binocular scan

A lunchtime binocular scan at 1340 GMT showed the Sun unusually active.

Zenith shot January 11th

It was cleared when I looked out at 0640 GMT. Ideally, I’d have done a long session but I had to travel for a training course. I took a zenith shot and was pleased to catch Alcor/Mizar and a satellite.

Plato

I combined 9 images to produce this image of Plato from August 21^st 2011.

Another lunar close-up

I combined 10 images, also from August 21^st 2011 to produce this final image.