June 2018

June 30^th 1600 GMT

The Sun seemed quiet in hydrogen alpha light, apart from some activity around the edges.

June 29^th 2155 GMT

The Moon was low and just past full. I took a few full disc frames at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/160 second exposure.

June 27^th 2150 GMT

I had a quick session with the DSLR. I took a set of full moon shots, Jupiter’s moons and Saturn with the moon. The Moon photos did not work but I caught Jupiter with its moons.

The photo of Saturn with the Moon was OK-ish.

June 27^th 0640 GMT

The Sun looked very quiet in hydrogen alpha light.

June 26^th 2150 GMT

I was unable to get the Bresser Electronic Eyepiece to work at all, without crashing the computer! I resorted to using afocal photography to capture the discs of Venus and Jupiter. I used the Mak and DSLR at 1.54m focal length, ISO 6400 and 2/3 second exposure to capture Jupiter’s moons and another try at a shorter exposure to capture the disc.

The first Jupiter was taken afocally and the second directly with the DSLR.

I also used the DSLR on its own to capture the Moon.

June 26^th 0655 GMT

I checked the Sun in hydrogen alpha light early, as temperatures were predicted to be uncomfortable later. The Sun seemed rather quiet.

June 25^th 1500 GMT

The Sun was quiet in hydrogen alpha light again.

June 24^th 2150 GMT

I had a rather frustrating session with my Mak and Bresser Electronic Eyepiece. My PC started crashing and Sharcap needed restarting a few times. Eventually, it worked on the Moon for a while but it was way past my bedtime and, after a final PC crash, gave up and went to bed. 

June 24^th 1035 GMT

The Sun seemed quiet in hydrogen alpha light.

... and even quieter in normal light.

June 24^th 0000 GMT

Conditions were quite poor but the best that they had been following my early morning solar shoot the day before. Cloud was scattering moonlight and Jupiter was nearby. By the time I was ready, Jupiter had disappeared behind cloud! I took a few full disc frames of the Moon instead, with my Mak and DSLR.

I then had a go at Jupiter, with some shorter exposures to capture planetary detail and longer exposures to catch the moons. I did not feel too hopeful about either.

I then tried to catch the Moon and Jupiter in the same frame with just the DSLR.

Well, sort of but not that great.

I finally switched my attention to Alcor and Mizar, using my Mak and DSLR with ISO 6400, 1.54m focal length and 2/3 second exposure.

June 23^rd 0740 GMT

I checked the Sun in hydrogen alpha light. Visually, it seemed more quiet than the day before. I took some full disc frames.

June 22^nd 0740 GMT

The sunspots were clearly visible in my PST in hydrogen alpha light. I took some full disc frames.

June 21^st 0940 GMT

As the Big Bear images were showing sunspots, I took some full disc shots with my Mak and DSLR. Focal length was 1.54m, ISO 100 and 1/4000 second exposure.

I followed on with some full disc shots of the Sun in hydrogen alpha light.

June 20^th 1920 GMT

Cloud had been moving backwards and forwards across the Moon for over half an hour. It finally cleared and I took some full disc frames of it. I used 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure.

June 15^th 2300 GMT

I took some frames of Jupiter with its moons with my DSLR at the usual settings.

June 14th 1225 GMT

I started off with the wrong eyepiece but proceeded to take some shots anyway. I changed to the right one and took some full disc shots that showed some activity. I processed the best full disc shot first.

Some of the close-ups with the wrong eyepiece showed some interesting detail.

June 12^th 2200 GMT

I took my DSLR and Mak out for a quick shoot before bedtime. It would have been better to use my Meade Electronic Eyepiece but I did not want a long session, as I had work the next day.

I snapped Venus at 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/200 second exposure.

I tried a slightly longer exposure of 1/100 second for Jupiter. It didn't work, as I didn't catch the cloud belts.

I tried a longer exposure of 2/3 second and ISO 6400 in an attempt to capture Jupiter’s moons. I liked the result.

June 11th 1535 GMT

I took a few frames of the Sun in hydrogen alpha light and found some activity.

June 10^th 0000 GMT

I photographed Jupiter’s moons with my DSLR at the usual settings.

June 9^th 0620 GMT

The Sun was low and conditions were hazy but I snapped the Sun in hydrogen alpha light with my PST, as the weather forecast for later was thick cloud.

I processed another frame later.

June 6^th 0920 GMT

The Sun appeared slightly more active in hydrogen alpha light.

June 3^rd 0935 GMT

I checked the Sun in hydrogen alpha light. Although it was quiet, I saw some albedo features.

June 2^nd 2230 GMT

It was not a fantastically clear night but I went out, as I did not have work the next day. I started off with the camera at 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 2 seconds exposure. My targets were Jupiter and the area around Antares.

The Jupiter shot was slightly out of focus but showed the moons and background sky well.

The Antares shot suggested some background Milky Way stars.

I then adjusted the camera to 70mm focal length, ISO6400 and 8 seconds exposure. Targets were Albireo, the centre of the cross in Cygnus, Cassiopeia and another go at Antares.

Albireo was near the top of the frame.

Central Cygnus caught M29.

Cassiopeia turned out well, despite the conditions.

The Antares shot was swamped with cloud.

June 2nd 1640 GMT

The Sun seemed quiet in hydrogen alpha light.