February 2024

February 29th 1910 GMT Jupiter's moons 

 

It was hardly clear but I poked my head out the back door and saw Procyon and Sirius. Jupiter was high in the west and I tried to capture its moons.

February 24th 2110 GMT Moon 

 

Despite a clear late afternoon, it was very hazy and only the Moon and brighter stars were visible. I used my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/1600 second exposure.

February 24^th 1600 GMT Sun

 

The sky unexpectedly cleared and the Sun was low, two low to catch with my telescope. I saw the two sunspots I had seen in the past few days but the smaller one was probably invisible as it rotated closer to the edge of the solar disc.

February 23rd 2200 GMT Moon 

 

It was clear  so with a nearly full moon. there was only one object worth photographing. As the Moon was high in the sky, I needed to be a contortionist to photograph it. I gave up and used my star diagonal. Apart from a bit of light loss, it increased the focal length of the telescope. It meant that I could not get the whole lunar disc into the field of view.

My first set of shots were with my Mak and DSLR at about 1.65m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure. I tried stacking the two attempted full disc shots but it didn't work. However, I managed to stack 5 shots of each set.

I moved around the lunar disc, taking regional shots at about 5m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/50 second exposure.

February 23^rd 1250 GMT Sun

 

It was not perfectly clear but I was able to see the sunspot pair I had seen 3 days before plus the small, faint one that I missed.

February 22nd 1850 GMT Moon 

 

The Moon was approaching full phase and it appeared very bright. For once, the Corsham microclimate had worked in my favour! I ended up photographing it with a very short exposure of 1/2000 second. I used 300mm focal length and ISO 100.

 

I made an audacious attempt to photograph Jupiter's moons handheld at 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 1/25 second exposure. I had managed to get it to work before and, although some images showed a nice, round Jupiter, I could not find any moons, despite my digital wizardry.

I then used my phone camera to attempt to capture the Moon and Jupiter at a very widefield setting. I moved to 1.0 zoom and snapped the Moon with Sirius and Procyon.

Although not really within the spirit of using just a phone camera, I superimposed the photo of the Moon taken with my DSLR on both images.

I checked the brightness of Betelguese and it held steady at magnitude 0.6, the same as my previous estimate.

February 20^th 1220 GMT Sun

 

Was it really a whole week since I had seen the Sun? With the 2023 weather persisting into late February, maybe it was no surprise! Fortunately, despite hazy conditions, I was able to see two large sunspots, although I did not see a slightly smaller one that was visible in the professional observatory images.

February 18th 2010 GMT Moon 

 

Conditions were very similar to the evening before. I discovered why my last Moon photos were overexposed. 

February 16th 2335 GMT Moon 

 

The sky cleared unexpectedly. The Moon was low in the west. I tried several shots with my DSLR at 300mm focal length. ISO 100 and various exposures down to 1/1000 second.

 

 

I also saw Betelguese in the west and estimated its magnitude at 0.6.

With bright moonlight and some thin cloud, it was not a night for deep sky photography. I had a binocular scan around the sky. The Hyades were close to the Moon but I could still see most of the brighter members of the cluster. The Pleiades were very close to the Moon and I could only see six of their stars. Melotte 20, one of my favourite star clusters, stood out quite well but I could not see M35. Moving east, I saw Melotte 111, the large star cluster between Leo and Bootes. I also saw the Beehive cluster in Cancer. Although it's stars were faint, under the conditions, the amazing pattern was still visible. I saw the double star Mizar/Alcor in the Plough. I saw the bright star Vega low in the east. The nearby double star Epsilon Lyrae split easily.

February 12th 1905 GMT Moon and Jupiter 

 

I snapped the two objects together with my phone camera.

I composed the above image with separate ones of Jupiter and its moons and the Moon to obtain this composite image,

February 12th 2045 GMT Jupiter and Pleiades 

 

Conditions were a bit worse than the evening before. I set my DSLR camera at 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 2 seconds exposure.

 

I tried for Jupiter's moons and then the Pleiades.

February 12^th 1730 GMT Moon

The Moon, as the day before, was at a thin crescent phase but had grown a bit and I was able to photograph more details. I used my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/250 second exposure.

                    

February 12^th 1200 GMT Sun

 

Had I been at home, I would have taken my Mak out for a detailed image. I had my binoculars and filters at work with me and that gave me a chance to get something out of the clear day. I saw some sunspots and drew them, as one does.

February 11th 1930 GMT Photo Session 

 

It was not clear enough to photograph some faint constellations I was hoping to. I did some close-ups instead. Most photos were taken at 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 2 seconds exposure.

 

First up was Jupiter, in an attempt to capture its moons.

 

I then photographed Orion's belt.

Next was the Great Nebula.

 

 I then photographed Mizar and Alcor but it didn't work.

 I changed my settings to 70mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 8 seconds exposure. I photographed the Hyades.

 

It was very murky near the southern horizon but I decided to try something ambitions and went for the Tau Canis Majoris cluster. I caught some stars in that part of the sky but couldn't say I nailed the shot.

February 11th 1730 GMT Moon 

 

The thin crescent Moon hung low in the west. I snapped it with my DSLR camera at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/200 second exposure. I had stopped doing frequent DSLR-only shots but the lack of recent astronomical activity and a thin crescent Moon persuaded me otherwise.

February 10^th 0945 GMT Sun

 

It had been 8 days of continuous cloud and rain. I was starting to think I would fail to get a single decent image in the whole month. The cloud was still there but thinned enough to let me see some sunspots through my binoculars and filters. It was a large sunspot group, with three large and two small ones. After a frustrating week and a bit, it was amazing to see something at last!

February 1st 1910 GMT Jupiter 

 

Again, the weather forecasters let me down. I was hoping to try out my new camera, the same model as my older one, which was still working but with poor focus. 

 

I set my camera at 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 2 seconds exposure, my usual settings for Jupiter's moons. Initial indications were less than encouraging. 

With a bit of processing, I managed to show the moons but much haze still remained.

February 1^st 1215 GMT Sun

 

The weather forecast was for clear sky but it did not mention some thin cloud. So, despite some sunspots being visible on the professional observatory images, they did not make it through to my binoculars and filters. I was also reluctant to try photographing the Sun, due to cloud ruining my previous attempt.