December 2023

December 31st 1140 GMT Sun

The Sun was low in the sky, despite being nearly midday and at its highest point in the sky. There was moving cloud, which cleared enough for me to see it through my binoculars and filters. I could not see any sunspots, though.

December 29th 2350 GMT Moon and Betelguese 

 

The cloud and haze from the day persisted into the evening. I snapped the Moon with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/320 second exposure.

 
 
Any estimate of the brightness of Betelguese could not be perfectly accurate in cloudy conditions. It seemed to be about magnitude 0.4.

December 29^th 1200 GMT Sun

 

A window of opportunity opened for a rare sliver of astronomical activity. The cloud had thinned enough to let me see the Sun through my binoculars and filters. Unfortunately, the activity from earlier in the month had subsided, revealing just a single sunspot.

December 21st 1855 GMT Moon and Jupiter 

 

It was a case of cloud-dodging again, as I caught the Moon and Jupiter together with my phone camera.

December 21st 1645 GMT Moon 

 

I still had a cold, so I snapped the Moon from our back door at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/320 second exposure.

December 21^st 1200 GMT Sun

 

As for much of 2023, it was a case of dodging clouds and managing to record a few sunspots visible through my binoculars and filters. I was hoping that 2024 might bring in a new era of sunspot viewing and photography, especially as it was getting closer to solar maximum. However, I should have been grateful that a haul of no less than nine sunspots seen through any sort of astronomical instrument was a good result.

December 19th 2100 GMT Betelguese

 

There were clear spells and Betelguese was about as bright as Procyon. Both were brighter than Rigel, due to extinction but noticeably brighter than Aldebaran, which was much higher in the sky. I concluded that Betelguese was about magnitude 0.4.

December 19th 1700 GMT Moon and Jupiter 

 

I snapped the Moon and Jupiter in the dusk sky with my phone camera.

December 14^th 1320 GMT Sun

 

The clouds eventually cleared enough for me to scan the Sun with my binoculars and filters. There was a lot of activity, with the region where the double sunspot appeared a few days before turning even more active. The bad news was that it was due to rotate off in a few days.

December 11^th 1230 GMT Sun

 

The clouds cleared long enough to show that the two sunspots that I had seen 2 days before had rotated and were still close together.

December 11th 0550 GMT Venus

I woke up early, too early but it gave me a chance to photograph Venus with my Mak and DSLR at 1,54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/320 second exposure. It was showing a distinct gibbous phase, which would probably not be detectable with my DSLR alone.

December 9th 2235 GMT Meteor Hunt 

 

I aimed a camera at Gemini in the hope of catching some Geminid shower meteors. I used my usual settings. I caught a bright one almost immediately.

 

While checking my camera at 2252 GMT, I saw a faint meteor in Orion.

December 9th 1250 GMT Sun

The Sun managed to find a gap in the clouds. Well, scientifically, we know that isn't true and neither the Sun nor the Earth's weather systems have any sort of consciousness that can be controlled or influenced by humans. Still, human perception can deceive us into thinking otherwise. More importantly, I saw two sunspots through my binoculars and filters.'

December 8^th 1015 GMT Sun

 

The Sun was shining through a layer of thin haze. Despite the activity I had been following on the professional observatories, I did not see any sunspots.

December 6th 0610 GMT Moon and Venus 

 

There was some unexpected clear sky, following cloud cover for several days. I snapped the two objects together with my DSLR at 18mm focal length, ISO 800 and 1/50 second exposure.

I then changed lenses and photographed each of them at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/100 second exposure. I did not achieve focus for Venus, although the Moon came out.

I combined the two photos.

December 2^nd 1200 GMT Sun

 

It was very misty but I managed to see five sunspots. It was nice to start the month.

December 1st 2030 GMT Moon and Jupiter 

 

Although the angular separation between the two objects was quite large, I was still able to capture them together with my camera phone at 0.5x zoom.

December 1st 0030 GMT Betelguese

 

 I had a quick look outside when letting our dogs out. Despite the prescene of nearby moonlight, Betelguese easily outshone Procyon. so I estimated its magnitude to be 0.2.