April 30th 1935 GMT Venus
The cloud had returned but there were some gaps. I used the
Moon as a sighter to get focus, then took some DSLR shots of Venus. I used the
same settings as before.
April 30
th 1815 GMT Moon
The end of April was more traditional, with lots of showers.
There was some clear sky and the Moon was very close to first quarter. I took a
few shots with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 400 and 1/250 second
exposure.
April 27th Betelgeuse
Looking back, I should have watched the fading and re-brightening of Betelgeuse more closely. There was no doubt that it was fainter than it had been in my lifetime, fading to 1.6 and re-brightening rapidly. Scientists had speculated all sorts of things, like it going supernova. My guess was that it had expelled a lot of carbon, blocking some of its light. I drew a graph, using Microsoft EXCEL but inverted the magnitude to show brighter values at the top.
April 26th 2030 GMT Moon and Venus
I tried again at a later stage of twilight and also tried to
catch earthshine on the Moon.
First, I caught the two together.
The Moon shots did not come out.
I did a bit of constructive cheating, using the Venus image from the day before and the Moon image from an hour earlier to form the final image.
April 26th 1930 GMT Moon and Venus
I
repeated the shot from the evening before but was able to get the two objects
together at 100mm focal length.
Unfortunately, it was too early for Venus. I couldn't capture it without over-exposing the sky background.
April 25th 2145 GMT Meteors
I had another go, like on the previous nights.
After about 7 minutes, I caught a bright sporadic meteor near Draco.
I caught another one just afterwards that I thought was part of the shower.
The third was also a matter of seconds after the last.
I caught a shower meteor after about an hour.
April 25th 1930 GMT Moon and Venus
My prime target was Venus with my Mak and DSLR. However, the
Moon was around so I used it as a sighter and snapped it at 1.54m focal length,
ISO 400 and 1/200 second exposure.
I snapped Venus with the same settings.
I then took more shots with Venus at 4.62m focal length.
I finished off with a widefield shot of the two at 55mm
focal length, ISO 400 and 1/15 second exposure.
Finally, I combined this with the other photos to get the final image.
April 25th 0925 GMT Sun
The Sun was quiet, even in hydrogen alpha light but I took a shot anyway.
April 24th 2100 GMT Meteors
After one photographic detection that was not even a shower
member, I decided to stay with a camera “trap” instead. I set up my DSLR and
intervalometer to take photos every 12 seconds with a 6 second exposure. I used
ISO 6400 and 18mm focal length.
I caught a meteor at about 2240 GMT. I'm not sure whether it was a shower meteor or not.
April 24th 2130 GMT Visual Session (Binoculars)
One advantage of using an intervalometer with a camera is
that it allows me to photograph the sky while doing other things. As the sky
was clearer than predicted, I decided to have a session with my 15x70
binoculars. I started with Venus and the phase appeared to be about 40%, as
opposed to the “official” figure of about 30%. It looked quite similar to my
photograph from two days earlier. I saw no cloud detail but if I had, it would have
been a remarkable “pot”. Next on my list was the star cluster M35. I could see it but only just, mostly due to
its low elevation. By contrast, the Beehive cluster (M44) looked a lot better.
Although far from its best, I could see the main stars. Next was Melotte 111,
the cluster in Coma Berenices that appears like a “Y” in photos but more like a
“V” in my binoculars. Although I searched in vain for some galaxies and
globular clusters, I drew a blank. I managed to see a few double stars, such as
Epsilon Lyrae (which appears quadruple through my Maksutov on a good night),
Delta Lyrae, Nu Draconi and Alcor/Mizar. Despite the low elevation, I managed
to split Albireo (Beta Cygni), even though it was barely visible without my
binoculars.
I finished the session with a look at Melotte 20. It
appeared very sparse. Even though I saw just Venus, some open star clusters and
some double stars, it was a nice session. Although I felt slightly cold by the
end of the session, it was great to observe in shorts and T-shirt.
April 24th 1130 GMT Sun
The weather forecast for the next few days was not good, so
although the Sun looked quiet, I thought I’d get a look and photograph.
April 24th 2315 GMT Meteors
I
was going to start earlier but it was cloudy earlier but it finally cleared
enough to show a few stars to the east, fortunately where I was expecting to
see some Lyrid meteors. With a low rate, I was not especially optimistic. I caught a meteor with a short trail, just to the right of the dragon's head. It was not from the shower, though.
April 22nd 2110 GMT Meteors
I had to get early the next day, so I was not going to
finish at 2AM or later. I left the camera out for a short while at 18mm focal
length, ISO 6400 and 6 seconds exposure, more in hope than expectancy.
I caught an aircraft trail and two satellite trails but no meteors. Although the shots of the area looked much better than I expected under the conditions, I already had some photos of the area, so did not process any.
April 22nd 2015 GMT Venus
It was cloudy but Venus was shining in the west. Unfortunately, I could not see it with my telescope from the back garden, as it was behind a tree and I felt too lazy to carry it to the front. I was not going to ignore it completely, so I snapped it with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 400 and 1/250 second exposure. I tried the technique I often use on the Moon, which is to very the focus, taking multiple photos and choosing the best one. After some colour adjustment, I caught the phase. Note that it appeared a larger phase than with my DSLR and Maksutov at 4.62m focal length (15 rimes what I was using). I call this the "Pugh Effect" and it means that the smaller the aperture and magnification, Venus appears to have a larger phase, due to the resolving power being lower in smaller instruments.
April 21st 2100 GMT Onwards: Meteors
I made my first check at 2100 GMT and looked for about five minutes, more in hope than expectancy. The wind from earlier in the day had dropped completely, feeling pleasant enough to go out without much clothing. Vega had cleared the houses in our neighbourhood but it was not fully dark. I did not see any meteors and decided to save my camera battery for later.
At 2135 GMT, I was out for about 15 minutes. I saw two faint shower meteors and a bright meteor that came from the Draco region and was travelling north west. Magnitude was about zero, same as Vega and Arcturus.
At 2220 GMT, I set my camera at 18mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 6 seconds exposure. I aimed at a point in the sky above Lyra but kept the star near the bottom of the frame. My test shot was not too encouraging, with lots of skyglow near the horizon but Vega and two of the stars from Draco (the dragon) were visible. I took a few shots manually but saw no meteors, just aircraft for 15 minutes. It was clear that the peak had not started. I set my intervalometer and left the camera running while I went indoors for a snack.
At midnight on 22nd (2300 GMT), I was out again. The smaller and younger of our dogs, Oliver, accompanied me and sat with me. I moved the camera and was pleased to see that the radiant (where the meteors appear to come from) had risen higher and was into a clearer patch of sky. I only saw one meteor in my 20 minute watch, so there was no sign of the predicted peak but it was very bright (of about magnitude -3), being about as bright as Mars and Jupiter when they are at their brightest. It was moving north east.
At 2350 GMT, I was out again and I was joined by Andy as well as Oliver! I reset and moved the camera and was disappointed at a view on the monitor of the last photo that showed mist and skyglow. It really was not a good night for regular stargazing, as many stars, especially near the horizon. I saw a faint meteor at about 0000 GMT moving north towards the Pole Star (Polaris).
0100 GMT: I went out and checked the camera. It looked like the battery had given up after about three hours.I waited for ten minutes and did not see any meteors. As I thought that the peak was not going to happen, I started to pack up the camera but the battery apparently sprung back into life. I reset the timer and was rather pleased that the sky looked quite clear.
0140 GMT: I rechecked the camera and it had run out of battery. I hoped I had caught at least one. in the last few minutes.
The rates were lower than I expected but it was the first time that I had observed the Lyrid shower. I went to bed, hoping to check the photos the next day.
It was not until I reached the 282nd photo that I detected the first meteor. It was at about a 45 degree angle to the right and left of Vega. It was a short trail, so would have been approaching me at an almost vertical direction.
That was it, just the one.
April 20th 2210 GMT Meteors
I went back to my normal settings of 18mm focal length, ISO
6400 and 6 seconds exposure. Unfortunately, there was some thin cloud in that
part of the sky, reducing the chance of catching some meteors, although not
eliminating it entirely.
Unfortunately, I caught nothing apart from a few stars and trees waving in the wind. I did not even capture a satellite or aircraft trail. Due to the conditions, there was no point in processing any constellation images, as I had photographed the same area of sky several times in the preceding days.
April 20th 2120 GMT Constellations
While I was waiting for Lyra to rise a bit higher, so that I could catch meteors, I took some quick constellation shots at 18mm focal length, ISO 1600 and 30 seconds exposure.
First was Auriga that I composed from a stack of 3 frames and caught parts of Gemini and Perseus.
Second was Cassiopeia and this photo also showed parts of neighbouring constellations.
The third, and final target was Leo and it showed Melotte 111 at the top right and the Beehive (M44) on the right.
April 20th 1320 GMT Sun
I had managed to capture the Sun with a larger image size
afocally with my DSLR at 70mm but the solar disc was not illuminated evenly. I
tried another camera lens, with 55mm then 45mm and the results seemed to be
better. The Sun was still rather quiet, though.
April 19th 2100 GMT Meteor Hunt
Vega
was clear of the horizon, so it was time for my usual. As I hoped for a long
session, I increased the exposure time to 10 seconds. I also waited for a few
minutes for any meteors I could see but saw none.
The first meteor came up on the second frame. I could not definitively claim it as a Lyrid shower meteor, although it did not appear too far from the predicted location of the radiant.
At about 23:04 GMT, I caught a meteor that seemed like a true Lyrid.
April 19th 1900 GMT Venus
I was not sure whether the Sun had set or not but I could see Venus quite clearly. The plan was quite simple, to photograph Venus with my Mak and DSLR. I used 1.54, then 4.62m focal length, ISO 400 and 1/100 second exposure. The shots at 1.54m focal length did not work and the shots at 4.62m had ghost images, which I cropped out.
April 19th 1140 GMT Sun
After two days of rain and cloud, it finally cleared. In a
bright, blue sky, I photographed the Sun with my PST and DSLR. I thought I saw
a prominence but it could have been wishful thinking! It was. Nothing in the photo.
April 16th 1535 GMT Sun
The Sun still looked quiet in hydrogen alpha light. I took
some full disc shots, hoping for some detail. I did not get any!
April 15th 2115 GMT Meteors
It was my final attempt to catch some early Lyrid meteors,
with the shower predicted to start the next day. Part of me questioned my
wisdom, as there were other targets to snap, as I was considering some serious
close-ups of Polaris, the Pole Star. However, the night was clear, but far from
perfect. I aimed my camera just above a neighbour’s house, close to Vega. I had
a quick visual look for meteors but did not see any.
I caught a short trail at about 2127 GMT. Initially, it looked like a satellite trail but it seemed to be a bit short and I did not detect it on surrounding frames. Although the direction suggested that it might be an early Lyrid, the shortness of the tail suggested that it was a sporadic meteor.
At about 2300 GMT, I caught an object that was not in any of the preceding or following frames. I could rule out an aircraft trail or satellite and if it was a meteor, it was a very strange one.When I zoomed in, I saw a short white object and a green trail. Very strange.
I caught another sporadic meteor about 2 minutes later.
As the above shots showed the sky background quite well, I did not process any separate constellation photos.
April 15th 2115 GMT Meteors
It was my final attempt to catch some early Lyrid meteors,
with the shower predicted to start the next day. Part of me questioned my
wisdom, as there were other targets to snap, as I was considering some serious
close-ups of Polaris, the Pole Star. However, the night was clear, but far from
perfect. I aimed my camera just above a neighbour’s house, close to Vega. I had
a quick visual look for meteors but did not see any.
April 14th 2115 GMT Meteor Scan
I set my camera and my intervalometer in the hope of
catching an early Lyrid meteor. I used settings of 18mm focal length, ISO 6400
and 5 seconds exposure.
I did not catch any meteors but caught the Plough, with Canes Venactici and Coma Berenices in the same frame. Although I aimed the camera higher than intended, it tuned out better, as there was a lot of murk near the bottom of the frame, which I cropped out.
April 14th 1930 GMT Venus
I
decided that it was about time I photographed Venus through a telescope. I used ISO 100 and 1/60
second exposure for both sets of shots. The first set was at 1.54m focal
length and the second set was 4.62m focal length.
April 12th 0100 GMT Moon
The Moon was low in the south west. I took some shots at
300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure but changed to 1/320
second later, as the image was quite faint.
April 11th 2215 GMT
It was too early for the Lyrid meteor shower, so I aimed my
camera at Bootes instead. As the sky background was still rather light, even at
high elevation, I set the exposure time to 5 seconds, with ISO 6400 and 18mm
focal length, as I normally did. I left the camera running with my
intervalometer. I did not get any meteors but caught Bootes and Coma Berenices.
April 11th 2140 GMT Deep Sky
My original plan was to photograph the Beehive (M44) and M35
in Gemini. However, conditions were too murky near the horizon, so I went for
Melotte 111 instead.
I took two sets of frames of the Beehive at 70mm focal
length, ISO 6400 and 6 seconds exposure, then 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and
2 seconds exposure.
I
then took a set of frames of Melotte 111 at 70mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 6
seconds exposure.
April 11th 2040 GMT Venus
Venus was behind a tree and the only way I could catch it
was to walk about 50 yards with a heavy (at least to me!) telescope. By
hand-holding my camera and using 300mm focal length, ISO6400 and 1/1000 second
exposure, I hoped that I might get something.
Despite the cloud, enough comparison stars were about to
convince me that Betelguese had brightened to about magnitude 0.65.
April 11th 1620 GMT Sun
The images on the Big Bear and Learmonth observatories were
not inspiring but I saw some amateur photos taken on the day that were
inspiring. I had a go with my PST and DSLR and tried some close-ups, in
addition to full disc shots.
April 10th 0100 GMT
Conditions were hazy but a few bright stars were visible. I
photographed the Moon with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/1000
second exposure but found finding focus quite difficult.
April 9th 2150 GMT Binocular Scan
There was a period of time between the fall of darkness and moonrise, although I had missed it by a few minutes. It did not seem significant, as the Moon was hugging the horizon and visible only through some trees. I was hoping to photograph some deep sky objects before switching my attention to the Moon later but I decided to see what I could find in my binoculars. I looked up the position of Comet 2019 Y4 (Atlas).
Unfortunately, the background skyglow was very bad. I started off by looking at the Beehive cluster (M44). I could see the overall cluster shape and most of the main stars but it was rather faint. I moved to another of my favourite targets, Melotte 20. This is usually a reliable star cluster, even at low elevation, but was sparse. I could not find M35, although the cluster Melotte 111 showed well, if rather faint. I searched for about 100 square degrees for the comet but did not see anything remotely un-star-like. As I was unable to see the globulat star cluster M13, it was not surprising that I could not see the comet.
Although it was not a great session, I had a look at some familiar objects and it was nice to be able to observe in shorts and a T-shirt.
April 8
th 2150 GMT Moon
The
conditions were quite hazy but the Moon was in a clear patch of sky. I took
some shots using the same settings as the evening before.
April 8
th 0010 GMT
The Moon was in a patch of relatively clear sky, so I
snapped it with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/1000 second
exposure. The effect of lighting up the neighbourhood, as it was a “supermoon”
was very noticeable.
April 7th 1900 GMT Moon and Venus
I had a look outside. Venus was high in the west and the
Moon was very low in the south east. I did not want to photograph Venus, as I
suspected that its phase would not have changed noticeably from 3 days before.
I checked it with my binoculars and confirmed that it was a half-moon type
shape.
The Moon showed its maria but no craters, as the conditions
were too hazy with thin cloud.
April 6
th 2220 GMT Onwards
Although the best chance of a meteor was from the Lyra area,
the Moon had moved west since April 4th and had got brighter.
Although north west was the least affected by moonlight, I have a large tree in
that area from our garden, so I aimed at north. Also because of the bright sky
background, due to the moonlight, I reduced the exposure to 5 seconds. I think
that there may be a gap in the coverage, as I may have misconfigured the
intervalometer.
I caught a bright sporadic meteor, with a short trail, near the celestial pole.
I caught a similar one slightly later and the surrounding frames did not show any sort of repeating pattern, suggesting that it was a co-incidence that two meteor trails appeared in the same part of the sky.
I stacked 25 of the best images to show a widefield view of the polar regions.
April 6
th 2100 GMT Venus and Pleiades
I had another go with the same settings as the night before.
I also had a try at Melotte 20 with the same settings as the closer view. Venus had moved further away since the 4th when I last took the photo,
70mm focal length, ISO 6400, 8 seconds exposure.
150mm focal length, 4 seconds exposure.
300mm focal length, 2 seconds exposure.
I was pleasantly surprised at how well the Melotte 20 stack came out because of the bright moonlight.
April 6
th 1900 GMT Moon
The Moon appeared particularly bright. I took some exposures
with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 400. It appeared slightly overexposed
at 1/250 second exposure, so I took some more exposures at 1/320 second
exposure and 1/400 second exposure.
April 5
th 1930 GMT Moon
I snapped the Moon at 300mm focal length, ISO 400 and 1/250
second exposure.
I looked for Venus but was unable to see it. I would not
have tried to photograph it, as I was expecting little change from the evening
before.
April 4th 2215 GMT Vega and Meteor Trap
I did not know whether the April Lyrids meteor shower was
due to start or not but I like being able to detect meteors before the start
and after the end of recognised showers. I aimed my DSLR at Vega, which had
just cleared a neighbour’s house with settings of 18mm focal length, ISO 6400
and 6 seconds exposure.
I did not catch any meteors and the sky was too light, due to moonlight. However I stacked 25 images to obtain a widefield shot showing Hercules, Lyra and the head of Draco.
April 4th 2105 GMT Venus and the Pleaides
Following the shoot from the evening before, I repeated the shoot but, having seen some other photos by other astronomers, I took three sets of shots:
70mm focal length, ISO 6400, 6 seconds exposure;
150mm focal length, ISO 6400, 4 seconds exposure;
300mm focal length, ISO 6400, 2 seconds exposure.
These had poor focus and camera shake.
March 4th 1910 GMT Moon and Venus
As I still had the end of a cold, I did not want a long
session later in the evening when the temperature was due to drop. I had
spotted Venus while walking our dogs just before sunset and, not for the first
time, they decided to join me for a photo shoot. Fortunately, they somehow know
that they must not nudge the tripod, although I have never tortured them for
doing it.
The Moon looked spectacular, even in the finderscope of my
Maksutov. I started off with some full disc shots at 1.54m focal length, ISO
400 (as it was still bright twilight) and 1/250 second exposure. It is worth
mentioning that I thought my intervalometer (which doubles up as a remote
release cable) had stopped working but I forgot to turn the camera on! At least
as far as I am concerned, the human race has still got some evolving to do. I stacked 36 frames.
I then took some shots using a 3x Barlow lens that increased
the focal length to 4.62m and the exposure to 1/25 second.
The first set of shots was 30 frames.
The second set of shots was 21 frames.
The third stack was 20 frames.
The 4th stack was 38 frames.
The 5th stack was 31 frames.
The 6th stack was 41 frames.
The 7th stack was 42 frames.
The 8th stack was 36 frames.
The 9th and final stack was 28 frames.
I stictched and stacked the close-ups to get a composite image.
I then repeated the shot with Venus and, though the camera
viewfinder, could see that Venus showed a very quick crescent.
At 1.54m focal length.
At 4.62m focal length:
April 4th 2320 GMT Moon
This is where life gets a bit complex for a few months. It
was after midnight on 4th but, adjusting for daylight savings, the
time was 2320 GMT, so was yesterday and today at the same time.
The Moon was high in the south but cloud was moving in from
the west. I was a bit tired anyway, so just used my DSLR at 300mm, ISO 100 and
1/400 second exposure.
April 3rd 2030 GMT Venus and the Pleaides
I was not sure whether this idea would work or not. Venus is much brighter than the Pleaides and it was not quite dark enough but they were due to disappear behind a tree and if I waited too long, it would have been too near the horizon for the Pleiades to show. I tried a few shots but the best was at 70mm focal length, ISO6400 and 6 seconds exposure.
I took a single frame of the Hyades at the same settings.
I took a lazy shot of Venus, taking several frames at the same settings but at 1/4000 second. It seemed to work and choosing the frame was quite tricky.
April 3rd 2000 GMT Betelguese
I went out to check how dark it was, as I was hoping to catch Venus with the Pleaides star cluster. Only the brighter stars were out, so I estimated the Magnitude of Betelguese to be about 0.8.
April 3rd 1520 GMT Sun and Moon
Conditions were not perfect for viewing but I thought it was
worth a go. The Moon was low in the east and I photographed it first with my
Mak and DSLR at 1.54m focal length. ISO 400 and 1/250 second exposure. I stacked 60 frames.
This also enabled me to get a sharper focus on the Sun,
which I also thought I had under-exposed the day before. I retained the same
settings as for the Moon but I used Baader filters instead. Unfortunately, these were over-exposed.
I
rounded off with some afocal shots using my PST and DSLR to catch the Sun in
hydrogen alpha light.
April 2nd 1845 GMT
Most astronomers dream of clear skies and plenty of time. Real life does get in the way and I was less than popular with my wife for having a quick photo session when I should have been helping in the kitchen. However, I had seen the weather forecast and, with the Moon riding high in the south, I had to grab the opportunity while it was there.
I snapped the Moon at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/250 second exposure. I was pleased to catch the craters Clavius, Copernicus and Plato near the terminator.
I was about to return to the kitchen when Venus started dodging in and out of the clouds and I could not resist a quick snap. The frames were out of focus but one out of two is not bad.
April 2nd 1030 GMT
There was much excitement in the air, as I saw a sunspot on
the Learmonth solar observatory images. I set up my Mak and DSLR at 1.54m focal
length, ISO100 and 1/4000 second exposure. Although it was a work day, I was
one of the idle poor, stuck at home because I could not work.
No sunspot, although limb darkening showed well.
With much more time than usual, I followed up with my
Coronado PST and DSLR in the hope of finding something in the hydrogen alpha
photos.
