July 2022

July 29^th 2210 GMT Saturn

 

There was a lot of cloud around but Saturn was showing somewhat east of south. I took my 127mm Maksutov out and has a clear view with my 32mm Plossl eyepiece delivering a magnification of 64x. I could clearly see the rings and the space between the planet and rings but no other detail. I tried some afocal shots with my DSLR on automatic settings at various focal lengths.

I then tried prime focus at 1.54 metres focal length, ISO 100 and various exposures from 1/20 second to 1/5 second. 1/20 second was best.

July 24th 1420 GMT Sun

One of the awful things that can happen in an English summer is when it is cloudy at night and one must wait until at least the next weekend for some dark sky. This is where having solar equipment is a great help. Even then, I only caught a glimpse between the cloud and caught two small sunspots with my binoculars and filters.

July 21^st 0605 GMT Moon and Sun

 

The Moon was a thick waning crescent, almost due south. I snapped it at 300mm focal length, ISO 400 and 1/250 second exposure

 

I changed my settings to 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/1600 second exposure, added a filter and snapped the Sun

July 18^th 0510 GMT Moon and Sun

 

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

 

 

 

I added a solar filter to my camera and changed my settings to 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/1000 second exposure. I used a longer exposure for the Sun, as it was very low.

July 16th 1130 GMT Sun

I bin scanned the Sun in hazy conditions and caught a single sunspot.

July 16^th 0110 GMT Moon, Jupiter and Saturn

 

The Moon was low and conditions were hazy. As the Moon and Saturn were close together, I snapped them together and individually at 300mm focal length ISO 100 and 1/800 second exposure for the Moon and 1/50 second for Saturn.

 

 

I did not get any details on Saturn, so I combined the two above photos.

I snapped Jupiter at 300mm focal length ISO 100 and 1/200 second exposure but did not get any details. 

I went for Jupiter’s moons at 300mm focal length ISO 6400 and 2 seconds exposure.

July 15^th 0510 GMT Sun

The Sun was low and partly obscured.

July 14^th 0610 GMT Sun

 

I bin scanned the sun in clear conditions and caught a sunspot or three.

July 11th 0510 GMT Sun

I bin scanned the Sun and saw four of the five sunspots on the Learmonth images.

July 10^th 1420 GMT Sun

 

The sky was spotted with patchy cloud, with clear areas in between. A binocular scan, with filters, showed four of the five sunspots on the Learmonth images.

July 10^th 0030 GMT Planets and Deep Sky

 

I attempted to capture Jupiter’s moons with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 2 seconds exposure.

I tried the planet at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/100 second exposure.

I then tried Saturn at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/15 second exposure.

I reverted back to 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 2 seconds exposure and started a deep sky shoot. I took about 20 frames for each target.

First up was my old faithful of Melotte 20.

I kept trying for the Perseus Double Cluster and failed.

 

Next up was the Andromeda Galaxy (M31).

Returning to Perseus, I caught the star cluster M34.

I then caught the Perseus Double Cluster.

I ended up with the Pinwheel Galaxy (M33). Or... so I thought but I was aiming at the Andromeda Galaxy instead. It wasn't a total loss, as one of the shots caught a meteor.

I shot a few dark frames. As I packed my gear away, dawn was breaking.

July 9th 2220 GMT Moon

I snapped the Moon with my DSLR.

July 9^th 1230 GMT Sun

 

It cleared enough to see the Sun but I decided to have a go with my Coronado PST. I had not got a decent set of images from it for a while and had just about given up. I wondered if cleaning the objective lens would work but hadn’t managed to unscrew it.

 

I set up with a tripod and 15mm focal length eyepiece, delivering a magnification of just under 27x. Immediately, I could see sunspots but etalon tuning (adjusting the wavelength of light coming through) only revealed a hint of plages surrounding the sunspots.

 

I took some afocal shots with my camera ‘phone (possibly a silly idea!) and with my DSLR. I tried various camera focal lengths and hoped for the best. This was the best. I caught some hydrogen alpha features but not as many as I'd hoped.

July 9^th 1100 GMT Sun

Being a Saturday, I was thinking of taking my Mak and filter out for a solar shoot but it was a case of cloud-dodging for clear patches. I could see some sunspots though my camera viewfinder, so I thought that a DSLR only shot, at my usual settings would produce a result.

July 8^th 0510 GMT Sun

I photographed the Sun with my DSLR and filter at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/2000 second exposure.

July 7^th 1540 GMT Moon and Sun

 

I snapped the Moon with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 400 and 1/500 second exposure.

 

 

I added a filter to the set-up to snap the Sun at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/2000 second exposure.

July 5^th 0505 GMT Sun

I snapped the Sun with my DSLR and filter at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/2000 second exposure.

July 4^th 0505 GMT Sun

 

There was some cloud around when I did a bin scan of the Sun. I only saw one os the sunspots that I had photographed the day before.

July 3rd 2030 GMT Moon

I snapped the Moon with my Mak and DSLR.

July 3^rd 0920 GMT Sun

 

So finally, after so long without being able to use my 127mm Maksutov for white light photography or viewing, I finally took it out with my new filter and DSLR.

 I took a series of shots at 1.54 metres focal length, ISO 100 and 1/1000 second exposure.

 

As there were two sunspots close together, I attempted a close-up at 4.62 metres focal length, ISO 100 and 1/100 second exposure.

July 3^rd 2300 GMT Meteor Hunt/Constellations

This time I aimed my camera, with its usual settings at Aquila. It was a bit murky but there was a small chance of catching an Anthelion meteor, as well as any sporadic meteors that might have been in the area.

At 2315 GMT, I caught a meteor near Aquila.

At 2323 GMT, I caught another one in the same part of the sky.

As usual, I started stacking constellation shots. With Aquila, there was Scutum, Sagitta, Delphinus and Vulpecula.

Cloud had encroached onto the remaining photos and there were no more meteors.

July 2nd 2110 GMT Moon

I caught the Moon with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/250 seconds exposure.

July 1st 2250 GMT Meteor Hunt and Constellations

I repeated a failed shoot in late June where everything was out of focus. I used my normal settings. I aimed at Cassiopeia.

At 2255 GMT, I caught a faint meteor near Cassiopeia.

The first 30 of 40 frames caught Cepheus with Cassiopeia,

The next set of frames was similar but the Andromeda Galaxy showed much better.

... and the next one!

At 2326 GMT, I caught a short meteor trail.

The next set of frames were similar with Cepheus about to rotate off.

In fact, Cepheus had not rotated off in the next set of frames.

July 1^st 2050 GMT Moon

 

The thin waxing crescent moon hung low in the north west after sunset. It was just about to disappear behind some trees and I had to walk a few yards from our front door to see it. I used my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 400 and 1/200 second exposure.