February 2021

February 28^th 2210 GMT Moon

Moonlight had just about ruined any chance of catching anything fainter than Venus, apart from the Moon itself. So DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/800 second exposure.

February 28^th 1930 GMT Meteor Hunt

I started with a test shot of Orion and Taurus and it seemed fine. However, there was a large blur on the image, as the lens needed cleaning, Naturally, I did not find out until processing time! At least I caught Taurus with Mars as a guest "star".

Unfortunately, I did not detect any meteors.

February 27^th 2010 GMT Moon and Betelguese

I snapped the full moon with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/1000 second exposure.

I also checked Betelguese and confirmed earlier observations that it was magnitude 0.6.

February 26^th 2030 GMT Moon

I snapped the full moon with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/1000 second exposure.

February 26^th 1500 GMT Sun

I photographed the Sun in hydrogen alpha light using my PST and DSLR used afocally on automatic settings. However, the result was somewhat underwhelming.

  

February 26^th 1215 GMT Sun

David Blanchflower posted an amateur photo showing sunspots. Naturally, I had a go and I took one with my DSLR and filter at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/4000 second exposure.

I did not catch any sunspots but my result shows limb darkening, where the central part of the Sun is brighter than the edges.

February 25^th 2000 GMT Moon and Betelguese

Another turn in the twist of the tale saw Betelguese "brighten" to magnitude 0.6. I doubt whether it had faded rapidly and re-brightened. It was more likely that my estimate of February 22nd was in error. As for the Moon, I used a similar set-up to 22nd but used an exposure time of 1/800 second.

February 22^nd 2000 GMT Moon and Betelguese

Betelguese has a nominal period of 332 days but it had faded noticeably since I last saw it. It was nowhere near as bright as Procyon and only a bit brighter than Aldebaran. My estimate was magnitude 0.7.

 

I snapped the Moon with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/400 second exposure.

February 18^th 1835 GMT Moon

After a rainy day, I snapped the Moon with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/320 second exposure.

I also checked Betelguese at magnitude 0.6. No change.

February 16^th 2150 GMT Deep Sky and Betelguese

The Moon had almost set and its influence on the rest of the sky had diminished. Firstly, I checked Betelguese. The main comparison stars when it is around the middle of its range are Procyon and Aldebaran, and these were almost the same elevation above the horizon as each other and Betelguese. Unlike previous evenings, Betelguese was noticeably fainter than Procyon but still brighter than Aldebaran. This observation suggested a fade to magnitude 0.6.

I set my DSLR at 70mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 6 seconds exposure for some deep sky photography. First up was the Orion Great Nebula (M42), also showing Orion's Belt.

Next was the Hyades.

Finally, the Pleaides (M45) composed of 4 stacked photos and finished in GIMP.

February 16^th 1810 GMT Moon

Fortunately, the sky was much clearer than the evening before. Although the photo was not perfect, I caught a reasonable shot of the Moon at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/200 second exposure.

February 15^th 1810 GMT Moon

Conditions were quite poor, with the Moon looking blurry and no stars were visible. I managed to get a few images, the best being at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/25 second exposure. However, the result was still blurry, although some details were present, notably Mare Crisium.

February 10^th 2100 GMT Constellations

I had a bit of clear sky for a change. Had Betelguese reached the same brightness as Procyon? It is difficult to tell when stars are of different colours, so I would err on the cautious side and say that it was the same magnitude as the evening before: 0.45/

What a time for my intervalometer to stop working! I've replaced two of them and they seem to fail every year or two. I considered that I could try again in daylight sometime.

Fortunately, I caught Perseus in the centre of the frame, using my normal meteor settings. ISO 800 and 30 seconds exposure might have been better but it was cold. I was pleased with the final result, which also showed the Pleaides and the W of Cassiopeia.

I took another set of frames centred on Orion and bagged the shot I was attempting the evening before. This time I stacked three of five frames and also caught the Hyades and Pleaides.

February 9^th 2230 GMT Meteor Hunt

A later session also failed to produce any meteor trails. Part of an image stack was ruined by cloud but part of it showed a nice widefield Hyades and Pleiades.

February 9^th 2210 GMT Meteor Hunt

My initial attempts to catch constellations and meteors to the west failed, so I switched my attention to the north. I stacked five images to show Cassiopeia, Ursa Minor and part of Perseus.

February 9^th 2200 GMT Betelguese

There was a clear patch of sky to the south west. I compared Betelguese to the nearby stars and it outshone Aldebaran and Pollux by a fair margin. It was still fainter than Procyon but not by much. I estimated its brightness at 0.45, which many say is brighter than its "normal" range of 0.5 to 0.9. I have recorded it as equal to Rigel at times in the past.

February 4^th 0715 GMT Moon

The Moon was behind moving cloud, so I did not have much time. I managed to catch the last quarter phase at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/250 second exposure.

February 3^rd 2040 GMT Meteor Search

The sky around Taurus had patchy cloud, so I resumed operations in the direction of the Plough. I did not capture any meteors but I processed four frames to obtain a widefield view.

February 3^rd 1915 GMT Meteor Search

 

I cannot remember the last time I had a clearish night with no moon. I aimed my camera at Taurus, set at 18mm focal length, ISO6400 and 6 seconds exposure. I used my intervalometer to take repeat frames.

I stacked the best 5 frames of the first 10 to obtain a constellation shot of Taurus and Auriga.

I was not completely happy with my first shot, so I had go at stacking a later set of frames.

I caught a meteor at 2054 GMT. Looking at the photo and the relative brightness of Auriga, it appeared to be magnitude -7 or brighter!

MORE TO COME ...