February 2020

February 27^th 1820 GMT

Venus and the Moon were high in the south west. I took some shots of the Moon at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/200 second exposure. Unfortunately, the focus was out.

I took some shots of Venus at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/320 second exposure. It wasn't looking like a good session, as I had focus problems again.

I took some shots of them both together at 150mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/100 second exposure. Well, at least I had a passable result.

February 25^th 0140 GMT Deep Sky

It was clear again when I went outside. M35 was low and behind the trees, so I went for the Beehive (M44) at various settings and also tried the polar regions at 300mm focal length, ISO6400 and 30 seconds exposure.

First was 16 exposures at 70mm focal length and 10 seconds exposure.

The intermediate shots at 150mm did not focus. The frames at 300mm and 2.5 seconds exposure focussed but did not stack. I processed a single frame.

Some of the polar region frames were blurred but 3 were "clean", so I stacked them. The result, while pleasing can give a false impression. I was able to use a long exposure time and long focal length because there is very little star trailing near the celestial poles.

February 24th 2320 GMT Deep Sky

On late winter evenings, I prefer to get out earlier to catch some of the winter stars before they set. However, it did not clear until just after 2300. I went out with my DSLR and 70-300mm zoom lens and set the ISO to 6400. I was hoping for a longish session but cloud moved in before I could get a decent pot at M35, so I switched to another target before cloud forced an early end to the session.

I started off with five frames of the Hyades at 70mm focal length and 10 seconds exposure.

I tried to take multiple frames of the Pleaides (M45) but only one frame was in focus. However, it turned out quite well.

My M35 and Melotte 20 shots were out of focus.

February 20th 2245 GMT

It started off clear but cloud moved in, so I kept switching targets. I set my DSLR to 16mm focal length, ISO 1600 and 30 seconds exposure, standard constellation settings.

My first target was Orion but cloud moved in, only allowing a single frame. Photographically, Betelguese seemed brighter than it had appeared visually, strange, as most photographs I had seen around the same time showed it as fainter than Bellatrix, the star 45 degrees towards the bottom corner.

I than aimed at Monoceros, a constellation that I had never photographed before.

I rather like Taurus, so had a go with a few frames but there was encroaching cloud.

I went for the Hyades at 36mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 10 seconds exposure. Unfortunately, I did not get the focus right.

I ended up at the north celestial pole with the same focal length and ISO but 30 seconds exposure. The focus did not work either.

February 20th 1900 GMT

I snapped Venus with my Mak and DSLR at 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/320 second exposure. I removed a lot of false red and blue colour on processing. The phase was smaller than 9 days before.

I also saw Betelguese and it was brighter than both Castor and Bellatrix, so was again about magnitude 1.45.

February 19th 0020 GMT Deep Sky and Widefield

I had another clear spell and decided to have a go at photography. Although they were near the horizon and surrounded by trees, I took a frame each of the Hyades and Orion's Belt at 70mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 8 seconds exposure.

I then aimed at the star cluster M35 in Orion, firstly with the same settings.

I took some frames at 150mm focal length and 4 seconds exposure.

I took some more frames at 300mm focal length and 2,5 seconds exposure. 

These were out of focus, so I cropped and resized the above image.

I finished with some frames of Canis Minor at the original settings.

February 18^th 2140 GMT Betelguese

There was a brief period of clear sky in the south west. I was able to compare the brightness of Betelguese with Castor and Bellatrix. It had brightened to about magnitude 1.45, noticeably brighter than Castor (magnitude 1.6).

February 12^th 0650 GMT Moon

The waning gibbous moon was low in the west. I took some frames with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure.

February 11^th 2235 GMT Moon

The waning gibbous moon was high in the south east. I took some frames with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure.

February 11^th 1750 GMT Venus

I took some frames of Venus with my Mak and DSLR at 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/50 second exposure.

February 10^th 2235 GMT Moon

The previous 50 hours had been stormy, with lots of rain and almost continuous cloud cover. It finally cleared and there were just a few clouds. As the air was humid and the winds still strong, I just took some DSLR frames of the Moon at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/640th second. Unusually, selecting the best frame to process was rather hard, as about half of the frames would have produced a good result.

I was pleased with the result, especially with the detail along the terminator and the display of Tycho's rays. Mare Crisium sat nicely near the terminator, too.

February 8^th 1750 GMT Moon and Venus

Conditions had deteriorated somewhat since my so9lar session earlier, so I just used my DSLR at 300mm focal length and ISO 100.

I snapped the nearly full moon at 1/1250 second exposure.

I snapped Venus at 1/320 second exposure. Unfortunately, I did not get a good result.

February 8^th 1240 GMT Sun

On the 39th day of 2020, I finally saw something potentially interesting on the Sun in hydrogen alpha light on the Big Bear images. The solar disc in normal (white) light was bland, as it had been for a long time.

With a clear sky, I went out with my PST. I did not see any prominences but some shading, after a bit of fine focusing and tuning of the filter. I took some afocal shots with my DSLR, more in hope than expectancy.

February 6^th 2110 GMT Moon

The conditions were much better than the preceding days but the Moon was high and bright, drowning out most stars fainter than magnitude 2.5. I reduced my exposure time to 1/800 second, due to the lunar brightness.

As Betelguese and Bellatrix were both visible and they were very close in brightness, it suggested  that Betelguese had faded a bit further, almost to magnitude 1.6.

February 5^th 2010 GMT Moon

Conditions were a bit better than the night before but only the main stars of the constellations were visible. The Moon was high, bright and gibbous and I took a few frames with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO100 and 1/320 second exposure.

February 4^th 2125 GMT Moon

There was lots of moving cloud about but a clear patch allowed me to take a few frames of the Moon with my DSLR. I changed the settings slightly, reducing the exposure time to 1/320 second.

I was quite pleased, as I caught Sinus Iridum (Bay of Rainbows) on the terminator.

February 3^rd 1910 GMT Moon and Venus

There was some cloud around but I had a go at snapping the Moon and Venus, using the same settings as the evening before.

February 2^nd 2020 GMT

Conditions improved later, even though there was cloud about and few stars were visible.

February 2^nd 1900 GMT

Conditions were very poor, with moving cloud moving in front of the Moon. I took some frames at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 amd 1/125 second exposure, the latter to counteract the cloud.

January 2020

January 28^th 2235 GMT Betelguese

It was clear for a few minutes, so I compared the brightness of Betelguese against Bellatrix and Pollux. It was still faint at magnitude 1.5.

January 28^th 1740 GMT Moon and Venus

The Moon and Venus were close together in the dusk sky. I could get them into the same field of view at 200mm focal length and took some snaps at ISO 100 and 1/250 second exposure.

I then took separate frames of each object at 300mm focal length, with the same exposure time.

Unfortunately, I could not obtain a decent image of Venus but combined the Moon with the original image.

I processed the small Venus image from the first shot to capture the planet's phase.

January 21^st 2110 GMT Deep Sky

It started clear but clouded over towards the end of the session. I set my camera at 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 2 seconds exposure. My targets were the star cluster M41. The Orion Nebula (M42), the Beehive (M44) and Orion’s Belt. I tried for M35 but it was too high in the sky for a camera tripod and I could not aim my camera comfortably.

Betelguese was about magnitude 1.4, possibly a shade fainter.

First was 12 frames of M41 and I was rather pleased with it being my best so far.

Then there was 14 frames of the Orion Nebula.

Only two frames of the Beehive (M44) stacked but I liked the result, anyway.

Orion's belt did not stack and I was unable to capture any nebulousity, even though I have managed to do it in the past.

January 21^st 1835 Venus

I snapped Venus with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/100 second exposure.

January 19^th 1730 GMT Meteor Scan

It was cold outside but I did not want to waste a clear night. There was a minor meteor shower in Ursa Minor, so I set my camera for multiple exposures at Ursa Minor with my DSLR at 16mm focal length, ISO 1600 and 8 seconds exposure.

January 18^th 0915 GMT Moon

The waning crescent moon was low in the west. I took some frames with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 400 and 1/250 second exposure, quite normal for daylit moon sessions. Unfortunately, there was not enough contrast.

January 17th 2135 GMT Deep Sky

There was a clear spell, so I decided to do a few shots. I started with a widefield shot of Sirius which, incidentally, caught M41. I used 70mm focal length, 8 seconds exposure and ISO 6400 with my DSLR.

From an object that is not photographed very often, here's one that is. Astronomers call it M45, as it is one of the Messier Objects, but it is known to most people as the Seven Sisters. I take photos at different zoom levels in order to show different aspects of this star cluster. I used the same settings as for the Sirius/M41 shot.

The final shot was a close-up of M45 using my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO6400 and 2 seconds exposure. I stacked 21 frames. I was disappointed not to get the nebulousity, which I sometimes get.

January 15^th 2110 GMT Deep Sky

It was a clear night, so I did not want to waste it. I started off with the Orion Great Nebula (M42) at 70mm focal length, 8 seconds exposure and ISO 6400. I stacked 5 frames with Deep Sky Stacker and finished in GIMP.

I then tried hunting down M35, a star cluster in Gemini.

The first attempt used the same parameters as the M42 shot above but caught part of Gemini that showed lots of stars.

Other attempts suffered from focus problems. I caught M35, although it was a very widefield shot.


January 15^th 1940 GMT Betelguese

Contrary to my previous estimate, I checked Betelguese against stars of similar brightness, such as Pollux, Bellatrix, Aldebaran and Deneb. I could definitely say that it was no brighter than magnitude 1.4 and could even have been nearer 1.5, so I settled on 1.45. I did not make any further observations, as I was on my way shops.

January 15^th 1735 GMT Venus

Venus was visible when I finished work, so I bin scanned it from the work’s car park with my 15x70 binoculars. It definitely showed a gibbous phase but it appeared nearer full than it did when I photographed it a few days before.

January 13^th 0625 GMT Moon

I repeated the Moon shot from the night before. Unfortunately, all of the shots were out of focus. 

January 12^th 2040 GMT Moon

I took some frames of the waning gibbous moon. I used ISO 100, 300mm focal length and 1/100 second exposure.

I also checked out Betelguese, albeit in poor conditions but thought that it had brightened a bit to magnitude 1.2.

January 10^th 2030 GMT Moon

Conditions were still poor and I needed to increase the exposure time.

I tried again later but could not capture anything useful.

January 10^th 1945 GMT Moon

It was cloudy at 1930 GMT, so I tried again at 1945 GMT. Conditions were not great, as there was some haze. I took a few snaps, in hope.

January 10^th 1900 GMT Moon

Yes, I definitely saw a shadow! I took some snaps.

January 10^th 1830 GMT Moon

The Moon looked a bit darker in part of its disc but it could have been wishful thinking. I took some “snaps”.

January 10^th 1800 GMT

The Moon had risen higher in the sky bit was still shrouded in thin cloud. I could not see any sign of the penumbral shadow but I took some photos anyway.

January 10^th 1735 GMT Moon and Venus

A penumbral eclipse of the Moon had started but the Moon was shrouded in cloud. I took some exposures at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/1000 second exposure.

I tried the same on Venus but did not appear to register an image, so increased the exposure time to 1/200 second exposure. It was not my best Venus but it definitely showed that the phase was gibbous.

January 4^th 2155 GMT The Moon

About 70% of the sky was covered by thick cloud and the rest by thin cloud. I could see the main stars of Gemini. Fortunately, there is one object that shows well in these conditions and it is the Moon. I took a few frames at ISO 100, 1/500 second exposure and 300mm focal length. The phase was waxing gibbous, just past the first quarter phase.

January 3rd Evening Betelguese

I had been out and about driving and stopped for a drink. Orion was high in the sky and the cloud was in other parts of the sky. The brightness contrast between Betelguese and Pollux was much more noticeable than a few days before. The knee-jerk reaction would suggest that Betelguese had faded by at least by 0.1 of a magnitude to 1.3 or even nearer 1.4. Whilst I would not rule this out, it is probable that the sky conditions had changed since I last saw Orion. In any case, there was no doubt that Betelguese was fainter than at any time in the recent past.