January 2022

January 30^th 1045 GMT Sun

I caught sunspots on camera, using my normal method and settings bit it was ruined by cloud.

Undaunted, I made a drawing based on the sunspots.

January 29^th 2315 GMT Meteor Hunt and Constellation Shots

The deep sky session was not perfect but exceeded my expectations. I returned with my camera with my wide angle lens. I used my usual settings of 18mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 6 seconds exposure.

I did not detect any meteors nor other interesting phenomena in the first 60 frames but stacked them to produce constellation shots. Although other constellations were visible, only Leo Minor and Cancer were shown in their entirety. Ironically enough, the Beehive Cluster (M44) is shown.

The next 60 frames were very similar but slightly clearer.

There was some movement, due to Earth's rotation but the view was still quite similar for the next 60 frames.

At 2302 GMT, I caught a bright, unidentified object near Regulus, the brightest star in Leo.

Following the pattern of stacking 45 of 60 frames, the next image shows Leo climbing out of the murk near the horizon and joining Leo Minor and Cancer.

At 2311 GMT, I caught a bright, short trail meteor near Regulus. I would have placed it in the Leo Minorids shower but now the radiant of this shower has moved to Virgo.

At 2315 GMT, two dots appeared to the south of Regulus.

The next stack was similar to the previous one but shows Leo a bit more clearly.

At 2321 GMT, I caught two strange objects south of Leo.

At 2331 GMT, there was a transient "double star" and a star next to a short, red trail. I was starting to wonder about little green men.

In the next set of 60 frames, Cancer had rotated from the field of view, Leo was more clear and Coma Berenices (featuring the open cluster Melotte 111) came into view to the east.

At 2336 GMT, two strange objects, or was it a single strange object with a strange trail, appeared near Denebola, the second brightest star in Leo.

Seconds later a very strange object appeared near Algeiba, the 3rd brightest star in Leo. Flying saucer? More like a hockey stick!

A stack of 45 of the next 60 frames saw a slightly better view of Leo, Leo Minor and Coma Berenices, as they had climbed further from the murk at the horizon.

This, too, was similar, with the next 60 frames being even further from the murk.

The final shot was composed from 70 frames but had a lot of distortion at the edges.

January 29^th 2250 GMT Deep Sky Shots

 

This session did not go well, with only one shot managing to find the target. I has having problems with focussing and aiming the camera, as bending was causing me pain.

 

Although I took some “sighting” shots, I used md DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO6400 and 2 seconds exposure, aiming at M41, the Orion Great Nebula (M42) and the Beehive (M44).

Against all odds, I caught some frames of M41 but they were slightly out of focus. I processed a single frame, as the others did not stack.

M44 did not stack, though.

January 29^th 1800 GMT Dusk Session

 

Jupiter was low in the west. As I needed a few minutes to recharge my camera batteries, I did a quick binocular scan with my 15x70 binoculars. I could not detect any jovian moons. I saw that the main stars of Orion were visible already and I managed to see the Orion Great Nebula (M42). I also saw many of the brighter Hyades but no Pleaides (M45).

 

As it was about an hour away from true darkness, I used a shorter exposure of one second but otherwise used my standard jovian moon settings of 300mm focal length and ISO 6400. I did not catch any.

 

I had only managed two successful attempts to capture Jupiter’s cloud belts out of tens of tries. I had a few goes at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and various exposures. This one worked at 1/50 second exposure. There are hints of the cloud belt.

January 27^th 1840 GMT Big Session

Jupiter was near the horizon and I had to go out the front door, as my camera would not reach over the fence. I started on other targets before I realised that I had forgotten to put the memory card back in!

It was too late to catch Jupiter but I took some photos of the Hyades at 70mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 8 seconds exposure. I stacked the best 40% of 10 frames with 5 dark frames.

While taking the shots, I checked Betelguese and estimated that it had brightened to magnitude 0.4.

I used the same settings for the Orion Great Nebula (M42) and Orion's Belt. I used 5 light frames and 5 dark frames.

This set of frames also contained a faint meteor.

I later reprocessed this image to show it more clearly. It was to the right of Orion's Belt.

I then changed my settings to 18mm focal length (changed lens), ISO 6400 and 6 seconds exposure. I stacked 30 of 40 frames to catch this shot of Orion. It also shows Lepus to the south.

I stacked 45 of the next 60 frames to obtain this shot.

I followed up with the next 60 frames, as before.

At 1851 GMT, I caught an unidentified object west of Rigel. I don't know what it was. I think it was toom short to be a meteor trail and it looked slightly twisted.

I processed the next set of frames, as before.

I continued with the same pattern and Canis Minor came better into view.

At 2033 GMT, I caught another UFO on camera, not far from Sirius.

At 2041 GMT, I caught another UFO, this time near Rigel.

At 2043 GMT, I caught another event near Rigel.

Just one minute later, something else turned up near Sirius.

At 2047 GMT, a bright object just to the east of Orion was probably a short-trail meteor.

January 26^th Moon with Mars Reprocess

I reprocessed an image of the Moon with Mars from September 5th 2020.

January 26^th 1025 GMT Sun

 

The sky cleared revealing a bright sun. Although the sunspots on the Learmonth images were small and probably too small to detect with my DSLR, I had a go anyway at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/2000 second exposure, using a Baader filter.

The focus was poor in all shots and it did not work.

January 26^th 0900 GMT Moon

 

After several days of hurt, I finally had a clear patch of sky. The Sun was behind a bank of cloud but a thick waning crescent moon was low in the south. I snapped it with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 400 and 1/400 second.

Unfortunately, the daylight and low elevation left the image rather grainy.

January 25^th Jupiter's Moons Reprocess

The original image was a widefield shot of Jupiter, two of its moons and a background star. I concentrated on the planet and its moons.

January 24^th Melotte 20 Reprocess

Again, this was one that found its way into the books. Melotte 20 is one of my favourite deep sky objects and I did a reprocess from September 5th 2020.

January 23^rd Moon Reprocess

I reprocessed a lunar DSLR shot from June 5th 2020.

January 22^nd Moon Reprocess

I reprocessed a lunar DSLR shot from February 5th 2020.

I reprocessed another shot from May 5th 2020.

January 21^st Moon Reprocess

I processed a further lunar stitch from May 5th 2020.

I reprocessed a lunar DSLR shot from September 4th 2020.

I reprocessed another image from the following evening, 34 hours later.

January 20^th Moon Reprocess

I processed a lunar stitch from May 5th 2020.

  

January 19^th 1920 GMT Moon

I caught the Moon under much better conditions than the evening before and it was as good as it gets with a DSLR and zoom lens.

With bright moonlight, there was little chance of deep sky viewing or photography but I checked out the brightness of Betelguese and it was magnitude 0.5.

January 19^th Reprocess

I reprocessed a lunar close-up from May 4th 2020.

January 18^th 2015 GMT Moon

I tried to photograph the Moon in very poor conditions and, even though it was full, it was underexposed at 1/320 second exposure.

January 17^th 1645 GMT Moon

I snapped the Moon at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure.

January 17^th 1045 GMT Sun

There was some blue sky, with a bright sun. I snapped the Sun with my DSLR and filter at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/2000 second exposure.

January 17^th Draco Reprocess

A later image from April 4th 2020 showed Lyra after it rose.

I also processed a Moon shot from May 4th 2020.

January 16^th Draco Reprocess

I stacked a set of 100 images from April 4th 2020. I overcooked it, as it was only clear in the centre and I only caught Draco's head and little more.

January 15^th Venus Reprocess

I reprocessed an image of a gibbous phase of Venus taken with my Maksutov and DSLR on April 4th 2020.

I also took a wider field shot of Venus and the Pleaides.

I reprocessed a meteor shot, also from April 4th 2020. Although the photo was not great, it showed a small trail with a "guest star", revealing the object's true nature.

January 12^th 1820 GMT Moon

I did a lunar shot at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure.

January 12^th 1840 GMT Moon

I did a lunar shot at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure.

January 12^th 1000 GMT Sun

I photographed the Sun at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/2000 second exposure. Some sunspots showed towards the right.

January 12^th 0030 GMT Betelguese

I checked Betelguese and estimated it to be at magnitude 0.5 or maybe just a shade brighter.

January 11^th 2220 GMT Moon

The sky cleared enough for a realistic retry of the lunar shot at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure.

January 11th Reprocesses

I revisited some moon shots on April 4th 2020. The first one was full disc and had been stacked from 38 images.

The next images were close-ups taken with my Mak, DSLR and Barlow lens.

January 11th 2100 GMT Moon

I attempted a lunar shoot in very bad conditions but it failed.

January 9th 1400 GMT Moon

The Sun had vanished behind a bank of cloud but the Moon was in a patch of clear sky. I realised that I had forgotten to place the memory card back in the camera.

After placing it back, I took a few shots of the Moon at 300mm focal length, ISO 400 and 1/1000 second exposure. I processed the best one but felt that I had underexposed it.

January 9th 1300 GMT Sun

There had been some sunspot activity on the Learmonth images. The weather was far from perfect, with broken thin cloud obscuring the Sun but I had a go with my DSLR and Baader white light filter at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/1000 second exposure.

A later session showed that I had literally been shooting blanks! I had forgotten to put back the memory card.

January 8th 2220 GMT Visual Session

I was going to photograph the Moon but it was in a part of the sky with broken cloud and I could not get a clear shot. There was some clear sky to the south, so I was able to see Orion, Canis Major and little else. I was convinced that either Betelguese had reversed its fading cycle and brightened to magnitude 0.5 but it was more likely that some estimates were distorted by cloud.

I took my binoculars of out their case for the first time since the house move. I saw the Orion Great Nebula (M42) as a fuzzy patch, about as well as I have seen it without a telescope. I could only see the brighter members of the Tau Canis Major cluster and I could see M41 near Sirius but it looked somewhat underwhelming.

January 8th Reprocess

I reprocessed a lunar shot from April 4th 2020.

January 5th 2125 GMT Constellation Shoot

I had missed the Moon and it's proximity to Jupiter during dusk, as it was cloudy.

Later it cleared and, apart from wanting to do more constellation shots anyway. I wanted some material for the next edition of "Astrophotography with a DSLR". I set the camera to 18mm focal length, ISO 800 and 30 seconds exposure and aimed at Orion, Cancer and the Plough and took some dark frames and several frames of each.

I stacked 33 images of Orion and 9 dark frames in Deep Sky Stacker, then finished in GIMP.

An alternative process of a single frame showed less stars but was sharper.

Further constellation attempts failed.

I also saw Betelguese under better conditions and deduced that my estimate of 0.7 was an error due to the conditions and that 0.55 was more realistic. 

January 4th 1830 GMT Constellation Shoot

Instead of hunting meteors, as would normally do on a clear night, I did a big constellation stack of 141 images. I aimed at Taurus and took repeated exposures of 18mm focal length, ISO 800 and 30 seconds exposure.

My first stacking run, I selected the best 90% of the images and ended up with an image that was sharp at the centre but not so good at the edges.

I tried the same stack with 75% of the images.

I tried a stack of 40 images and finished in GIMP to get this.

I stacked a later set of images to show Gemini.

January 4th 1650 GMT Moon

I snapped a very thin crescent moon in the dusk sky. I used a DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/40 second exposure.

January 4th Reprocess

I reprocessed an image of winter constellations from November 2nd 2021. The main aim was to use it for the next edition of "Astrophotography with a DSLR". It was processed from a single image.

January 2nd 2145 GMT Betelguese

The evening was similar to the early morning, with most of the sky covered by cloud. I was able to see Betelguese, Rigel and Aldebaran and estimated that Betelguese had faded to about magnitude 0.7. Naturally, this was somewhat unreliable but it made me think that Betelguese was going through a rapid fade.

January 2nd Reprocess

I saw Sirius, Rigel and Procyon through cloud. Had I seen Betelguese, any magnitude estimate would have been totally unreliable. Technically, it counted as my first observation of the year, although it was hardly exciting.

I reprocessed a moon shot from February 4th 2020.

January 1st Reprocess

As most of December 2021 was cloudy and wet, it was little surprise that the new year would start off the same. I reprocessed a moon shot from January 4th 2021.