July 2013

July 30th 1630 GMT

There had been a period of bad weather but it cleared enough to show a couple of sunspots.

July 28th 0955 GMT

Conditions were quite poor, with a lot of moving cloud but I still managed to find 3 sunspots in my bin scan.

July 27th 0910 GMT

A solar bin scan in cloudy conditions did not reveal any sunspots.

July 27th 0000 GMT (2300 local time)

I was hoping for some constellation shots but the huge filaments of cloud meant that few constellations were visible. The Moon was low, so the obvious thing to do was photograph the Moon! I started off with my compact digital camera and Mak using afocal projection. I stacked 10 of 27 frames to get this result:

I took a total of 180 frames afocally with my DSLR.

The first shot was a set of mostly underexposed full disc shots. I stacked 34 of 37.

The second shot was a set of 4 close-ups around Tycho stacked.

The third shot was composed of 6 frames of 20 stacked.

This mosaic was composed of 12 frames. By this time, I was just about getting exposure and ISO settings in the right ball park.

This full disc shot was composed of 25 frames.

This shot was composed from 12 frames.

This was composed of 12 of 14 frames.

The final shot was composed of 8 frames of 14.

I found that for many of the photos the red channel gave the most detail on the DSLR, a departure from my usual findings.

July 26th 1655 GMT

I checked the Sun with the Mak and filters and did my "formula" shots, stacking 9 of 15 full disc frames and 9 of 12 close-up frames to produce these results.

July 25th 1110 GMT

New sunspot activity was visible near the eastern limb.

July 24th 1140 GMT

There was some moving cloud but I was able to see some sunspots, although the larger one had rotated from view.

July 23rd 2150 GMT

I tried the DSLR on 70mm again but I tried full aperture and 1/500 second exposure at ISO 100. I took 29 frames and stacked the best 22. I still didn't get any craters but got a bit more detail.

July 23rd afternoon

After a cloudy morning, there was patchy could in the afternoon. A solar binocular scan revealed a new sunspot pattern.

July 22nd 2030 GMT

The Moon rose while I was walking our dog, so I went in and grabbed the Mak and a camera. Unfortunately, cloud moved in before I could get a full disc shot and this was all I could rescue.

July 21st 2050 GMT

After a hard day's tree felling, I was too tired to carry a telescope out the front, so I just had a go with my DSLR. I used short exposure and maximum focal length (70mm).

Jul 21st 1620 GMT

I checked the Sun with the Mak and saw 3 large sunspots. I took 9 full disc shots and stacked the best five.

July 20th 2100 GMT

I took 20 full disc lunar shots with my Mak and compact digital camera and stacked the best 9 using Microsoft ICE. Further processing was done using Paintshop Pro and GIMP.

I also took some full disc and close-up frames using afocal projection and the DSLR. The full disc shots were overexposed but some close-ups worked well.

July 19th 0640 GMT

I bin scanned the Sun. In addition to changes due to solar rotation, I saw a small sunspot close to the larger one.

July 18th 2050 GMT

I had some difficulty with my Moon shot, necessitating a computer restart. I took 8 imaging runs using a webcam and Startravel 80 and stitched and stacked the best 5. I finished off with GIMP.

July 18th 0750 GMT

There was a bit of haze but I managed to see two large sunspots when I did a binocular scan.

July 17th 1230 GMT

I checked the Sun with the Mak and found that the sunspots showed umbral/penumbral shading. I took some full disc shots and a set of close-ups. The full disc shots did not stack, so were composed from a single frame.

July 16th 2050 GMT

I took some full disc lunar shots and stacked 2 of 13 to produce this final image.

 

July 16th 0850 GMT

I checked the Sun with the PST and saw that it was more active than when I last checked, with many small prominences. The large sunspot was clearly visible and surrounded by plages. I took several full disc and close-up shots with the compact digital camera.



The full disc shot was combined from 4 of 9 images and was rather better than recent efforts but the close-ups were all over-exposed.

July 16th 0700 GMT

I bin scanned the Sun and saw that there was a new sunspot, as well as the existing two having rotated.

July 15th 2050 GMT

The conditions were hazy but I managed to stack 16 of 17 full lunar disc images to produce  this final image:

 

July 15th 0745 GMT

I bin scanned the Sun to find sunspot activity was visible, with one sunspot near the centre of the solar disc.

July 14th 1535 GMT

No too pleased with my afocal shots of the Sun with my DSLR, I went back to the compact digital camera and experimented with different ISO values and exposure times.

July 14th 1410 GMT

I bin scanned the Sun through moving cloud but didn't see any sunspots.

July 14th 2325 GMT

OK, it was tomorrow but I adjusted to get GMT. I did some constellation shoots and for the Plough and Bootes, I stacked multiple images with Registax 5. Conditions were not as good as I'd hoped, with a lot of mist around, so I avoided the worst parts. I used ISO 400 and 30 seconds exposure for all shots and did final processing in GIMP.

First was the Plough:

Next was Bootes:

Next was Ursa Minor, my best ever:

The final shot catches Delphinus (best ever) and Sagitta:

July 13th 2145 GMT

I started a twilight session by snapping the Moon afocally. I chose the best shot of 12, as it was better than the other 11 stacked! I applied the usual processing to end up with not too bad an image.

The webcam efforts were somewhat blurry and the session was curtailed when the Moon got too low.

I rounded off the session with Saturn. I tried using a 2x Barlow lens, as I had with Jupiter during the winter. However, it was dancing like John Travolta, so I didn't capture any surface detail, nor the Cassini division but at least it wasn't my worst ever shot and it was nice to finally get some sort of result with the SPC880.

July 13th 1000 GMT

I checked the Sun with the PST and saw some plages and a small but nice prominence pattern. I took some full disc frames with mt DSLR but am really missing the old compact digital camera that seemed particularly suitable for catching hydrogen alpha detail.

July 13th 0905 GMT

In clear skies, I bin scanned the Sun but didn't see any sunspots, although there were some faint ones on the Big Bear images.

July 12th 2030 GMT

Conditions were quite hazy and the low elevation of the Moon didn't help either but I managed a full disc shoot combining the best 12 of 18 frames.

July 12th 1700 GMT

I checked the Sun with my PST. It wasn't as active as the day before but there was some activity in the top left quadrant. I tried some close-ups for a change.

July 12th 1145 GMT

I bin scanned the Sun in a clear sky but didn't see any sunspots. The Big Bear images showed only small ones.

July 11th 1455 GMT

 I checked the Sun with the PST. I could see a small prominence and there was an active region where the sunspots had been. However, the photo didn't do the view justice, even though the filaments are visible.

July 11th 0750 GMT

I bin scanned the Sun through thin cloud but could not see any sunspots.

July 10th 1650 GMT

I had a busy day but was finally able to do a white light solar shoot late afternoon. The Sun was still active but the sunspot pattern had changed.

July 9th Early Morning

A solar bin scan revealed that the sunspot pattern had changed again.

July 8th

Bin scanned the Sun in the afternoon and saw that the sunspot pattern had changed again but really wished I had my Mak with me.

July 7th 0900 GMT

I did some full disc solar white light shots and some close-ups. The view through the telescope was quite amazing, far better than in binoculars. The full disc shot was composed from the best 10 shots of 15 and the close-up was composed from the best 5 of 12.

July 7th

I processed two photos from July 5th from a beach in Brittany that looked like some features on Mars.

July 6th 0850 GMT

I bin scanned the Sun and was amazed to see that the sunspot patterns had changed so much in little over a day.

July 5th 2145 GMT

I went out at 2145 GMT for a constellation shoot and bin scan.

Attempted constellations were: Cassiopeia, Plough, Ursa Minor, Bootes, Scorpius, Sagittarius, Aquila, Cygnus, Delphinus. The attempts at the Plough and Bootes failed and the others weren't as good as I hoped because of a mis-set focal ratio on the camera. For example, I could only catch part of Cygnus.

I spotted Alcor/Mizar and the summer doubles. I didn’t see any deep sky objects around Cassiopeia but just made out the Ring (M57) in Lyra. Cygnus was so overwhelmed by Milky Way stars that it was impossible to discern M29 or M39. M11 stood out in Scutum and I saw lots of open and globular star clusters around Sagittarius but (of course) could not remember which was which because I hadn’t had skies that clear for ages!

I even saw the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) low down in the north.

Finally, Saturn clearly showed rings but I couldn’t see Titan.

July 5th

I finally saw the solar active region in binoculars that everyone had been raving about.

July 2nd 

I reprocessed two solar hydrogen alpha images from September 25th 2013.

July 1st 1800 GMT

I bin scanned the Sun. Although there was some thin cloud about, it was clear enough to see limb darkening but I didn't see any sunspots.

June 2013

June 29th 0945 GMT

It was a bit hazy but I was able to see the sunspot through the “Mak”. I took 14 frames on my compact digital camera.

 

June 29th 2340 GMT

It cleared enough for some constellation shots and I took a dark frame in an effort to improve them. I had to improvise on support for the camera, as my tripod was already packed. It seemed that my lens cleaning hadn’t worked properly. I also experimented with some lunar shots at low ISO, short exposure settings to see what I might get.
An initial view seemed to suggest that my lens cleaning hadn’t worked as well as I’d hoped.

First was Cassiopeia:

 Then Cygnus and Lyra, two of my favourites:

 A rare one of Sagitta:

... and finally a peek at the zenith.

The Moon picture showed some albedo features but the lunar image was incredibly small to work with.

June 27th 0825 GMT

A later solar bin scan revealed a single sunspot.

June 27th 0735 GMT

I bin scanned the Sun but the haze was too thick to see any sunspots.

June 26th 0930 GMT

I popped out for a quick “white light” solar shoot. Just one large sunspot was readily visible in the hazy conditions. I took a few full disc frames with my Mak and compact digital camera.

 

June 25th 2050 GMT

It was difficult to find in the finderscope and invisible to the unaided eye but I managed to capture Venus by webcam.

June 25th 1000 GMT

A later attempt was more successful but didn't capture the small prominences. I used the DSLR with ISO 200 and 0.02 seconds exposure. The resulting image was composed of Red, inverse Cyan and inverse Black.

Another take on the same picture, just using inverse black.

June 25th 0910 GMT

I checked the Sun with the PST and there seemed a lot of surface activity, especially surrounding the sunspot but no prominences. I didn't manage to get a photo.

June 25th 0810 GMT

Finally some live action with a white light solar shot. This time I used an inverse magenta channel to produce what I think looks more like a disc.

June 25th

Unable to photograph the Moon due to streaming hay fever, I reprocessed a solar close-up from
September 25th 2011.

June 23rd

Missing any solar action and the supermoon, I reprocessed a solar image from September 25th 2011.

June 21st 2200 GMT

Conditions had become hazy again and the Moon was the only feasible target. Although I took 31 frames, I stacked only two of them. Like with the solar shots, I tried splitting CMYK as well as RGB and mixed the blue with the negative cyan image. Daft? Yes, but it appeared to work.

June 21st 1630 GMT 

It had cleared enough to get the PST out for what seemed like yonks (3.14159... years). There was lots of surface details and a few prominences but even adjusting the exposure times and ISO settings on the newer compact digital camera produced results inferior to the old one.

June 21st

Conditions were far from perfect but, by lunchtime, it had cleared enough to see sunspots through thin, moving cloud.

June 20th

I reprocessed two solar hydrogen alpha shots from September 24th 2011 to obtain more surface detail in part of the disc that I had not done previously. 

 

June19th morning

An early morning check showed new sunspot activity.

June 17th 1515 GMT

A solar binocular scan in bad conditions did not reveal any sunspots.

June 17th

I reprocessed some solar images from September 24th 2011.

 

June 16th

With a complete washout, I reprocessed a Pleiades shot from September 24th 2011.

June 15th

I reprocessed a solar "white light" shot from September 23rd 2011 using GIMP on the stacked image.

 

June 15th

A solar bin scan through a gap in the clouds at 0815 GMT revealed a disc devoid of sunspots.

June 13th

Finally reunited with my equipment after my business trip to France, I checked the Sun for sunspots with my binoculars.

June 10th

I revisited some old narrow field Pleiades shots from September 18th 2011 and combined the using Registax 5.

June 9th

I thought that it was just England and higher latitudes that sufferred a lack of darkness in late spring and summer but even at 48 degrees 44 minutes north, I had similar problems. It was local midnight (2200 GMT) before it actually got dark. I had a browse around with some 7x30 binoculars, while trying out the DSLR on the local skies.

I managed to see Alcor/Mizar, Delta and Epsilon Lyrae and Beta Cygni quite well but M13 was difficult and looked nothing like as good as what it does in my 15x70 binoculars. Saturn showed the oval-type shape, suggesting rings and the only other object of note was Melotte 111, which showed up quite nicely, looking more compact than it does in my larger binoculars.

The first series of shots I took was the Plough. Then comes Cygnus, Lyra, Melotte 111 and Cassiopeia.

June 7th

With no "live action" for a few days, I reprocessed a lunar photo from September 18th 2011.

June 2^nd  0620GMT

I bin scanned the Sun and found, despite the day before’s clear disc, that there were two new sunspots that had emerged.

June 1st 0840 GMT

Conditions were still a bit hazy but I went ahead with a solar/lunar shoot with the Mak. I couldn’t see a single sunspot but took a few frames anyway. I took some full disc lunar shots, with Grimaldi the outstanding feature.