July 2019

July 31st 2140 GMT

I checked for Perseid and other meteors until 2200 GMT, as I had work the next day. I did not see any but had my camera aimed at Cassiopeia at 16mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 8 seconds exposure. However, the 52 frames of Cassiopeia stacked nicely.

July 29th 2300 GMT

Most of the sky was covered by cloud but I decided to see if I could catch a meteor on camera. I set my DSLR at 16mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 8 seconds exposure.

After half an hour, I had not seen any meteors in the direction of Perseus and Cassiopeia and conditions had become even worse.

Despite the awful conditions, I caught Perseus and an aircraft trail.

July 24th 2135 GMT

I took some shots of Jupiter at 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 1 second exposure.

July 24th 1430 GMT

I checked the Sun in hydrogen alpha light with my PST and DSLR. It seemed very quiet.

July 24th 0935 GMT

I snapped the Moon using the same settings as the day before.

July 23^rd 0620 GMT

Before leaving for work, I took some shots of the Moon with my DSLR at 300mm  focal length, ISO 400 and 1/1000 second exposures.

July 21st 2200 GMT

I was hoping to capture Jupiter using my Mak, DSLR and webcam. My first set of frames attempted to capture the moons with my Mak and DSLR. They failed, mostly because I didn't have a remote shutter release.

My next set of frames captured the equatorial cloud belts but words like great, iconic and awe-inspiring did not apply.

I did two imaging runs with my Bresser Electronic Eyepiece but neither worked. Cloud did not help but extinction was also an issue. My attempts with my DSLR and 3x Barlow lens did not reveal anything either!        

July 21st 2345 GMT

I was originally thinking about a session with my Mak and Bresser Electronic Eyepiece but my back was playing up a bit and I was tired from working.

I took some frames of the Moon at ISO400, 300mm focal length and 1/1000 second exposure, with my DSLR. I then used 1 second exposure for Jupiter's moons.The Jupiter shots did not work.

I came back indoors and changed lenses to attempt to capture meteors, as the Perseid shower was near its start. I saw one at 0005 GMT and a couple of sporadic meteors at 0010 GMT. Although I stayed out for another half hour, I did not see any more, although I saw a pass of the International Space Station.

I used 16mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 6 seconds exposure, aiming my camera at Cassiopeia.

I caught a very short trail below the right side of the W of Cassiopeia.

As a by-product, I processed the frames to get a photo of Cassiopeia.

July 18th

I installed Sharpcap 2.9 on my computer and ran some stability tests with my Bresser Electronic Eyepiece. Naturally, although they worked, I was wondering what might happen when I would try to image the Moon or a planet.

July 16th 2108 GMT

It was the evening of the lunar eclipse. After a lot of experimentation, I settled on an exposure time of 1/100 second, ISO 400 with my DSLR at 300mm. I also took some frames of Jupiter, hoping to catch the moons. Conditions were quite poor, with lots of haze.

I took some more shots at 2130 GMT. I was pleased with the photo.

At 2145 GMT, I could still see the Moon but conditions were more hazy.

At 2200 GMT, part of the lunar disc was obscured by cloud. I did not get any useful shots until 2230 GMT.

At 2345 GMT, the shadow had receded.

Just before local midnight, Earth's shadow was about to leave the lunar disc.

July 15th 2100 GMT

I took some snaps of the Moon and separate snaps of Jupiter with the usual camera settings.

July 15th 1210 GMT

I checked the Sun in hydrogen alpha light and it appeared to show some minor activity around the limbs. Underwhelming was the best word to describe the Sun at the time.

July 14th 2215 GMT

The moon was waxing gibbous and its haze was obscuring nearly all of the stars. I took some snaps of the Moon, Jupiter and Saturn with my Mak and DSLR. I originally intended to use my Bresser Electronic Eyepiece but I was having problems re-installing software on my PC.

After some experimentation, I settled on 1,54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/1000 second exposure.on the full lunar disc.

I then used a 3x Barlow lens to deliver a focal length of 4.62m and adjusted the exposure to 1/300 second. I did several imaging runs.

I did several shots of Jupiter but it was an over-exposed frame that led to my best result of the year (so far).

Similarly, for Saturn,

I did not catch Titan "on film" but captures three of Jupiter's moons, so I combined the photo with the one of Jupiter to achieve the image below.

July 13th 2140 GMT

It had been cloudy for most of the day but it was almost clear near the Moon. Jupiter was nearby. Although I caught the two objects close together, I could not capture Jupiter's moons in the Moon's glare.

One of the early frames caught both.

This was the best of the Moon shots.

Jupiter showed quite well in later frames, so I combined one with the Moon shot, above, to produce this:

I had bad focus and Jupiter's moons were lost in our moon's glare. so that was the final image.

July 12th 2145 GMT

The sky was partially clear. I took some photos of the Moon at ISO 400 300mm focal length and 1/4000 second exposure.

I took some frames of Jupiter's moons at ISO 6400 300mm focal length and 1 second exposure.

July 8th 2100 GMT

I used the same settings as the evening before to snap the Moon.

July 7th 2100 GMT

The Moon was about four days past new and a few features were visible in its crescent phase.

I took a set of shots at 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/100 second exposure.

I took further sets of shots at 4.62m focal length, ISO 400 and 1/50 second exposure, after a lot of fiddling. Unfortunately, I didn't get focus.

July 7th 1500 GMT

The Sun was high and the Big Bear images showed a plage and some filaments. I did not see anything with my PST but took a few photos in the hope of detecting something.

July 5th 2030 GMT

I took some photos of the thin crescent moon at 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 1/4000 second.

July 3rd 2130 GMT

I snapped Jupiter's moons using the usual settings. As it was still twilight, I processed the image by removing the red and blue channels and enhanced the contrast. I caught some background stars.

July 1st 2310 GMT

There were several minor meteor showers active in the south eastern sky. I saw a faint meteor from one of the two Aquilid showers travelling north at about 3rd magnitude.

Photographic conditions started well enough but cloud spread from the north, ending the session prematurely. I took several series of frames at 16mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 6 seconds exposure. This was aimed primarily at meteor photography but I sometimes obtain some constellation shots as a by-product.

First was Aquila with Sagitta and Delphinus and at least part of Vulpecula.

The second photo also caught Sagitta but most of the area was covered by Cygnus. I caught Vulpecula and recognised the Coathanger.

June 2019

June 30th 2205 GMT

I did some shots of Jupiter's moons with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 1 second exposure.

June 30th 2320 GMT

I did not have work the next day, so I decided to take a look at Jupiter and Saturn. I had not seen either for a while. 

I started with Jupiter at 77x magnification. The northern cloud belt was very clear but the southern one went in and out of view, due to atmospheric turbulence on our own planet. I increased the magnification to 231x, using a 3x Barlow lens but the planet and its moons were dancing in the eyepiece. I reverted to 77x magnification and concentrated for a while. The north cloud belt appeared to have a jagged edge but the south one was fainter and straight. I could see three moons but a fourth appeared from behind the planet's disc.

I took some afocal shots with my DSLR, almost as an afterthought, as my prime objective was visual.

I kept the same magnification level. as I moved to Saturn. It was nice to see the rings and I could make out a ring on the cloud tops but was not sure whether it was a cloud belt or the shadow of the rings. The Cassini Division was far from clear and there was no sign of Titan. I took some afocal shots again.

I returned to Jupiter and took some frames using my Mak and DSLR with 1.54m focal length, ISO 6400 and 0.4 seconds exposure. That was the last action of the session, as cloud moved in.

I combined the images from Jupiter and its moons.

June 28th 2200 GMT

I tried to snap Jupiter's moons but was struggling for stability and focus.

June 27th 2125 GMT

I took some frames of Jupiter with its moons but decreased the exposure times to 1 second on a few exposures because the sky was too light. With a bit of photo editing, I was able to show all four moons.

June 27th 1420 GMT

The Sun was quiet in hydrogen alpha light but I took some shots anyway.Very unusually, especially for June, it was my first attempt of the month!

June 22nd 0455 GMT

The Sun was up but I took some shots of the waning gibbous moon at ISO 6400, 300mm focal length and 1/4000 second exposure.

June 21st 2230 GMT

As I had work the next day, it was a quick session before bedtime. I snapped Jupiter at 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 2 seconds exposure in an attempt to capture its moons. I tried some short exposure shots of Jupiter and Saturn with some more 2 second exposure overhead.

Jupiter showed two moons and plenty of background stars.

I caught a hint of the cloud belts and a moon shadow.

Nothing came from the Saturn nor overhead shots.

June 15th 2230 GMT

The sky was clear-ish and I could see the Moon and Jupiter. I took 3 sets of frames:

The Moon at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/1000 second exposure. I stacked the best 3 frames.

The Moon with Jupiter at 70mm focal length, ISO 6400 and various exposures.I combined the result with the above image to get this.

Jupiter at 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and various exposures.

June 14th 2220 GMT

I was late in from work, so did just a quick few frames of the Moon at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/1000 second exposure.

June 9th 2110 GMT

I repeated the Moon shot with the same settings from the night before.

Jubn

June 9th 0000 GMT

The sky started cloudy but there were no clear patches left when I finished the session. I took a few constellation shots, more in hope than expectancy.

A dirty lens meant that I could not use all of the Cygnus/Lyra frame.

The Bootes shot was ruined by camera shake.

I had one nice frame of Ursa Minor and it was not too bad.

June 8th 2200 GMT

The Sun had set but there was still a lot of daylight lingering. I had another go at the Moon with 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/250 second exposure.

June 8th 1820 GMT

I took some shots of the Moon with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 400 and 1/800 second exposure.