June 2020

Video

This month's photo video is accompanied by "Comfortably Numb" by Pink Floyd and David Bowie:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOqxMjIkp0I

June 28th 1220 GMT Sun

There was some activity on the Sun in hydrogen alpha light but it took a lot of processing to tease it out of the photo.

June 28^th 0200 GMT Jupiter’s Moons

It had been wet all day. I was never quite in the right place at the right time to do a solar shoot. However, the sky cleared a bit in the early morning. As there was a lot of thin cloud and dawn was already breaking, I decided that I would only photograph Jupiter’s moons and leave Saturn well alone. I used my DSLR at the usual settings.

I thought it might have been possible to capture details on Jupiter’s surface through a telescope, it was late and I was tired.

June 26^th 2045 GMT Moon

We all dream of clear nights, with a fresh summer breeze and plenty of time to do full sets of shots of the Moon and planets. On a moonless night our attention may wander to constellations, deep sky objects or even the odd meteor. I don’t believe in fairy tales either! It was a case of catching the Moon between periods of cloud. I took some full disc shots using the same settings as the evening before.

June 25^th 2110 GMT Moon

I was hoping to do a full lunar shoot as the day before but cloud had started to move in. I just used my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/200 second exposure.

June 25^{th 1200 GMT}

^{I had another go at the Sun, as the day before, hopefully with cleaner lenses.}

June 25^th 2350 GMT Meteor Hunt

I used my usual settings and aimed at the zenith in the hope of catching some sporadic meteors.

I caught one at 2352 GMT.

I caught a much fainter one at 0051 GMT.

... and an even fainter one at 0059 GMT.

June 24^th 2250 GMT Jupiter and Saturn

I tried to shoot Jupiter and Saturn using my Mak and DSLR. I used the same focus point as I did for my lunar close-up shots. Unfortunately, these did not work as I was unable to find either planet with such a long effective focal length.

I used ISO 100 and 1/50 second and 1/20^th second to attempt to capture the planetary discs. I had no luck with Jupiter. I got Saturn's rings.

I used ISO 6400 and ½ second exposure to attempt to capture the planetary moons.

Jupiter's came out quite well.

The largest blob to the upper right of Saturn was Titan. I did not know which of the smaller dots were moons and which were background stars.

As a proof of concept, I used these settings on Melotte 20 to see what I could capture. The results were inconclusive. I intended to try another time when the conditions were better.

June 24^th 2120 GMT Moon

I had taken too many lazy shots of the Moon, using nothing but my DSLR. I redressed the balance by doing a my first decent Moon session for ages. I used my Mak and DSLR.

My first set of frames was of the full lunar disc and were taken at ISO 100, 1.54 metres focal length and 1/50 second exposure.

I took further sets of frames at ISO 100, 4.62 metres focal length and 1/6 second exposure. These produced lunar close-ups. I tried to stitch them but it did not work.

June 24^th 1210 GMT Sun

Although there was a lot of truth in the quality of my Sun photos was mostly due to the lack of solar activity, I still felt that I could do better with what equipment I had. I was having a busy day, so did not have enough time to experiment as much as I wanted to but I had a trick up my sleeve to try. I used a shorter focal length eyepiece (15mm) with my Coronado PST. I reverted to automatic camera settings for the time being.

I saw some albedo features on the solar disc with this set-up and took several full-disc shots.

As a proof of concept, it worked well but I had a stark reminder to clean by lenses.

June 23^rd 2310 GMT Planetary Moons and Meteors

It was not quite as clear as the preceding light and it was still twilight. I snapped Jupiter and Saturn at the usual DSLR settings in an attempt to capture their moons. I caught two of Jupiter's but the Saturn shots were blank.

I then proceeded to do a meteor scan.

I bagged a bright sporadic in Draco at 0026 GMT.

June 22^nd 1020 GMT Sun

There was a thin layer of cloud but I decided to try a bit of solar hydrogen alpha photography. Superficially, as the day before, the solar disc looked bland. I tried some new parameters.

I used my 32mm eyepiece for afocal projection. I used my DSLR at 55mm focal length and ISO 800. I tried two sets of exposures at 1/30 second exposure to capture disc detail and 1/8 second in case there were any prominences. The result was less than satisfactory but a quiet sun did not help.

June 22^nd 0105 GMT Meteor Hunt

Yes, it was time. I aimed my camera at the zenith using my usual meteor hunting settings and took multiple shots.

I did not catch any meteors but then I caught one earlier in the evening without trying.

June 22nd The Quantum God

I released my first novel:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08BR2JCFG/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i8

Whilst there is no content related directly to observational astronomy nor astrophotography, the main character is an amateur cosmologist and attempts to connect relativity and quantum mechanics to religion. He argues the case for theism, whilst acknowledges that most peoples' religious beliefs are determined by their place of birth and the culture of their family and peer groups.

And what of luck? It is random factors working in one's favour.

June 22^nd 0000 GMT Planetary Moons and Deep Sky

I used two camera settings for this session and also used my binoculars to help hunt down some objects. For widefield I used 70mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 8 seconds exposure. For close-ups I used 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 2 seconds exposure.

First was Jupiter. I was really pleased with this, as it was very sharp.

Then Saturn but I did not detect any saturnian moons.

I had another go at M80, a globular star cluster in Scorpius. I could not find it on any of my images. On reflection, it would be a very difficult "pot" for my equipment from the southern UK but I think I should have attempted it earlier in the year. I did not see it in my binoculars either.

Next up was trying for M8 and M20 in Sagittarius.

This frame clearly missed the target but the Milky Way background was quite nice.

That was that, as further frames also missed the target and were less interesting anyway.

I ended with the Wild Duck Cluster (M11) in Scutum. I saw it clearly on the photos, so I took multiple frames with the intention of stacking.

One frame was a total surprise, as it contained a meteor. Thjs was ironic, as I performed a meteor hunt later in the night. It was at 0026 GMT.

The bad news that I thought I had caught my target but after processing the photo and checking it against other photos of M11, it was clear that I had caught something completely different and I did not recognise it.

June 20^th  1035 GMT Sun

There was a rare clear patch in the sky and I checked out the Sun with my Coronado PST. The disc was very bland but I hoped that my camera might have caught more detail than my eye.

June 17^th 2315 GMT Planetary Moons

As predicted, the conditions were poor. Although many stars were visible, there was a lot of patchy cloud, preventing any constellation shots and deep sky shots.

I focussed my attention on Jupiter and Saturn, both low in the south east. I used my normal deep sky settings on my DSLR of 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 2 seconds exposure.

I did not photograph Titan but caught two of Jupiter's moons.

June 15^th 2305 GMT Meteor Hunt

I aimed my camera overhead, set at 18mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 6 seconds exposure. 

I caught a meteor at 2320 GMT.

I caught another one at 2335 GMT.

June 14^th 2250 GMT Jupiter and Deep Sky

The main purpose of the session was to get some good frames of M4, the globular cluster in Scorpius. However, although Jupiter (but not Saturn) had risen above the objects on the horizon, I tried for a shot of its moons first.

Next, as planned was M4. I took 10 frames and was pleased with the result.

I had a go at M80, another globular cluster in Scorpius, although it is smaller and fainter, so was a tough punt. I didn't get it.

I also did some horizon grazing in the vain hope of catching the southern open clusters M6 and M7. No luck there, either!

June 14^th 0000 GMT Jupiter, Saturn and Deep Sky

I went out with my binoculars and was dismayed to find that my main area of interest, Scorpius and Sagittarius were blocked by cloud. I really wanted another go at M4. However, I could see all four of Jupiter’s Galilean moons quite clearly. I also had a look at M31 and Melotte 20 but rushed back in before Jupiter and Saturn were engulfed by cloud.

I set my camera at 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 2 seconds exposure. First up was Jupiter.

Then Saturn. The small dot near it was Titan and I could confirm this, as it had moved since the night before.

I saw little point in doing another shot of Jupiter and Saturn together, as their relative positions were almost exactly the same as the night before.

Instead, I went for Melotte 20, which showed quite well, despite the poor elevation.

I had difficulty pinning down the Wild Duck Cluster (M11) and not sure I had captured it. I didn't!

The same went for M13, the globular cluster in Hercules. No luck there, either.

There seemed little point in doing another M31. I decided to wait for a clearer night and/or when it was higher in the sky.

June 13^th 1040 GMT Sun
 

I bin scanned the Sun but the sunspot had faded below the resolution of my binoculars.

Fortunately, it had already shown up in my hydrogen alpha telescope. See below...

June 13^th 1020 GMT Sun

It took several attempts to photograph the Sun in hydrogen alpha light, dodging the clouds. I experimented with manual settings of my camera and used 45 and 55mm focal lengths, ISO 400 and various exposures from 1/50 to 1/10 second. I caught the sunspot.

June 13^th 2345 GMT Jupiter, Saturn and Deep Sky

The weather had been awful but I found a rare period of clear(ish) sky, I did a quick photo shoot without many multiple frames to grab what I could before cloud moved in.

My primary target for the session was Jupiter’s moons. I started off with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 2 seconds exposure. At first the photo suggests that the moons were out of focus but they were configured in pairs, with both pairs on the same side of the planet,

I also tried to capture Saturn’s moons. The widefield view did not provide any conclusive evidence that I had captured any moons.

I adjusted the focal length to about 200mm to get Jupiter and Saturn into the same field of view.

I had a go at the Andromeda Galaxy (M31). I stacked four frames and ended up with a good early season shot.

I widened the field of view by reducing the camera focal length to 70mm and increased the exposure time to 8 seconds.

First up was the constellation of Cassiopeia.

The next area was around Scutum.

A single shot showed the Wild Duck Cluster (M11). It is the bright "star" towards the bottom left.

My next target was Scorpio around Antares. That bagged the globular cluster M4.

I tried a bit further south. I caught the Lagoon Nebula (M20).

I ended up with Canes Venactici.

June 12^th 1235 GMT Sun

The sunlight was battling various layers of cloud to get through. I bin scanned the Sun and caught a faint indication of the sunspot.

June 10th Being An Astronomer

The third edition of #BeingAnAstronomer hit the bookshelves with more imformation and photographs, notably of Venus and the Lyrid meteor shower.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08B1QP3RV/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

June 9^th 0925 GMT Sun

I could not make out the sunspot in my filtered binoculars and the Big Bear images suggested that it had faded.

I attempted to snap it with my Mak and DSLR ay 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/1000 second exposure. Unfortunately, the optics were dirty, so I cropped out most of the solar disc to show the sunspot region only.

I made a drawing from the photo to show the position of the sunspot.

I followed it up with full disc afocal shots using my PST. Unfortunately, cloud rolled in and I was not able to get any  "clean" images.

June 8th 1620 GMT Sun

There was lots of moving cloud around, so I did a binocular scan. The sunspot had apparently grown but that was due to rotational effects and not real effects.

June 6^th 2245 GMT Moon

The Moon was low down in the south east. There was a lot of moving cloud around, so a quick shot was the best I could do before it was lost to cloud. I used my DSLR at 300mm, ISO 100 and 1/320 second exposure.

June 5th 2145 GMT Moon

Conditions were quite similar to my earlier solar observation, so I caught the Moon with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure. It was a classis full moon.

June 5th 1210 GMT Sun

A sunspot had appeared but the weather was moving cloud. At my third attempt to see the sunspot through my binoculars and filters, I finally saw it. It was small but like seeing an old friend.

June 2^nd 0045 GMT Jupiter and Saturn

I decided to have a quick shot of Jupiter’s moons and used the Moon to achieve accurate focus. I used my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 2 seconds exposure.

I also had a go at snapping Jupiter and Saturn, given some recent success with Venus. I used 300mm focal length and ISO100. With Jupiter I used 1/50 second exposure and with Saturn I used 1/16 second exposure.

As a proof of concept, it had some promise but it reminded me of why I use a telescope!

June 1st 2145 Moon

First photo of the month was the Moon with my DSLR at 300mm, ISO 100 and 1/320 second exposure.