Philip Pugh's Astronomy Blog: June 2024

June 29th 1720 GMT Sun
I had another session with the Sun, this time with my Coronado PST. I did one afocal shot with automatic settings and another with manual settings at ISO 100 and 1/10 second exposure. I processed the green and red data separately. I did not get much in any of the shots.

June 29th 0920 GMT Sun
I was not up early, as I was up late the night before, hunting meteors. The Sun was quite high in the sky, while the Moon was behind a bank of cloud.
I used my Mak and DSLR at 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure, as normal.

June 29th 2315 GMT Binocular Sweep

I went out to check my camera that was trying to capture meteors and reset the counter. I took my binoculars out, hoping to catch a glimpse of Comet Olbers. A quick look round showed that it was still very much twilight and there was little chance of catching a 7th magnitude star, let alone a comet of similar brightness. I looked at Mizar and Alcor in the Plough and there was no sign of the nearby 7th magnitude star.
I was able to see the Andromeda Galaxy low in the east but it looked nothing like it does in the dark skies of October. Similarly, the nearby star cluster Melotte 20 showed very few stars. The one deep sky object that stood out was the Wild Duck cluster, M11. I had a look at the usual summer double stars of Epsilon and Delta Lyrae, Albireo and Nu Draconi. I tried to see the globular star clusters M13 and M4 but the twilight was too bright.

June 28th 2220 GMT Meteor Hunt

It was near the peak of the Bootid Meteor shower. I set my DSLR at 18mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 6 seconds exposure and set a timer to take repeat images, hoping that at least one would capture a meteor.
At 2305 GMT, I caught the first and brightest meteor.
This one was at 2319 GMT. It was probably a sporadic meteor and not a shower one.

A probable shower meteor at 2349 GMT.

I caught a fairly bright one at 0019 GMT.

June 28th 0655 GMT Sun
It cleared to the east and I was able to do a solar hydrogen alpha shoot, using my PST and DSLR, afocally. I caught some prominences in red light and some sunspots in green light.

June 28th 0610 GMT Moon
A similar shot, with the same settings as the day before was more convincing.

June 27th 0610 GMT Moon
I photographed the Moon with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 400 and 1/400 second exposure. The result was not bad.

June 26th 0600 GMT Sun and Moon

I woke up a few minutes before the alarm, to be greeted by clear sky. This time I opted fora white light shoot and aet my Mak and DSLR to my usual settings of 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure.

The Moon was very low, so I did a DSLR only shoot at 300mm focal length, ISO 400 and 1/400 second exposure.

June 25th 0655 GMT Sun

The clouds to the east had cleared. This time I took my PST and DSLR out but just set it at 55mm focal length and took some afocal shots, using my 32mm Plossl eyepiece. I processed the green and red data separately.

June 25th 0610 GMT Moon
The waning gibbous Moon was low in the south west and was quite difficult to see. Only a loony would try to photograph it. Have I ever claimed sanity? I tried various combinations with my DSLR at 300mm focal length.

June 23rd 1750 GMT Sun

It wad cloudy morning followed by a busy. tiring afternoon. I just had the time and energy for a quick solar shoot with my DSLR and filter.

June 23rd 0000 GMT Star Trail

It look a long time for my shoot to work and it was a loose connection between my remote shutter control and my camera. I aimed at the Summer Triangle, setting my DSLR to 18mm focal length, ISO 800 and bulb exposure.
I had several goes and left the last exposure to about 12 minutes.
The bottom right (south west) was affected by moonlight but it shows Vega, Deneb and Altair and the different lengths of their trails, the longer ones being further from the celestial pole.

June 23rd 2310 GMT Meteor

I popped outside for a quick look. The Moon was very low and it was far from dark, with some of the brighter stars visible, down to about magnitude 2.5. I spotted a bright meteor of about magnitude -3 flash from the constellation of Cepheus downwards to the right.

June 22nd 0910 GMT Sun

I did a solar hydrogen alpha shoot with my Coronado PST and DSLR. I used several different focal lengths afocally. I used a 32mm Plossl eyepiece and the best results were with my DSLR at 55mm focal length. I saw a filament through the eyepiece and caught it on camera. I processed the green and red data separately. As previous sessions, the green data showed a similar view to a white light view.

June 21st 0610 GMT Sun

I woke up to bright sunshine. The Sun was active, with most of the activity on the west side. I took several photos with my Mak and DSLR at 1.54m focal length. ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure. Cloud ruined the image but at least I caught the sunspots.

June 19th 1945 GMT Moon
The Sun was still up but low and behind trees and clouds. The Moon was low in the south east at a waxing gibbous phase. I snapped it with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 400 and 1/1000 second exposure.
I will be honest - focus was out and I failed miserably.
June 16th 2050 GMT Moon
The England football team were one up at half time and I snapped the Moon with my DSLR camera at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/400 second exposure. My photography did not get the result that our football team did.

June 16th 0930 GMT Sun
Although it was dry, there was a lot of moving cloud.
I tried a few shots with my Coronado PST and DSLR. I managed some shots but felt unconvinced. Against all odds, two of the shots came out quite well and I processed the best one. I created three images, the first from red and green, the second in green and the third in red.

I followed up with some DSLR only shots of the Sun.

June 15th 1125 GMT Sun
The weather was what is known in England as changeable. During a clearer spell, I took some shots of the Sun with my DSLR and filter at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure, my usual settings. I prefocussed on some distant trees and could see sunspots through my camera viewfinder. A promising start or so it seemed!

June 12th 1950 GMT Moon

I caught the Moon in between clouds with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/320 second exposure. The result was better than the two days previously but npt good enough to make my gallery.

June 10th 2055 GMT Moon

The thin crescent Moon was low in the north west. I snapped it with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/200 second exposure. The result was disappointing.

June 9th 0915 GMT Sun
The Sun was quieter than recent periods. I took some full disc shots with my DSLR and Mak at my usual settings.

June 9th 2310 GMT Constellation Shoot

I set my DSLR camera at 55mm focal length, ISO 3200 and 10 seconds exposure.
My first target was Lacerta to get a closer look than the weekend before.

Next was Sagitta, although it wasn't my intended target.

I caught a meteor amongst the Sagitta shots.

I then tried Scutum. I tried in vain.

I was going to have another go at the Coathanger but found an interesting group of stars instead.

June 8th 1710 GMT Sun

I hadn't nailed focus on my last two attempts to photograph the Sun with my DSLR alone. I prefocussed on some distant trees and hoped Alas! I did not nail focus this time either, although I caught some features.

June 7th 0610 GMT Sun

I snapped the Sun with my DSLR at my usual settings. Again, I did not nail focus.

June 5th 0610 GMT Sun

I snapped the Sun with my Mak and DSLR using my normal settings. I caught some sunspots but did not nail focus.

June 2nd 0800 GMT Sun

I woke up to bright sunshine. There was only one thing to do. I took some full disc snaps of the Sun with my Mak and DSLR at my usual settings.

I tried using the WiFi electronic eyepiece but the practical issues of focusing in daylight were far more challenging than expected. I would need to go back to the drawing board!

I then tried using my old Coronado Personal Telescope afocally. I started with my 12.5 mm Coronado eyepiece but found it difficult. I changed it for my 32mm Plossl eyepiece and took a few shots and hoped!

The first two images were taken with the 12,5mm eyepiece, one in red light, the other white, composed from green.

The last one was with the 32mm eyepiece. I tried stacking images but this did not work. The result was less than convincing but showed some structure.