15/01: Summer at Clayton
Well we once again ventured down to our favourite holiday spot, Clayton over the Christmas break. I was only fortunate enough to get one night of good seeing during the time we were there and it was only about 7/10. As it turned out it was the very first night of the trip. It was a great trip and we had a really relaxing time from what had been a very busy year. While we were there we had friends over for several days and even enjoyed our first New Years celebration there.
The image below shows possibly my only Mars for this apparition. At home the planet is mostly obscured by my neighbours tree and the corner of my pergola makes contact with the scope. So to have obtained this image when Mars is at its most northerly declination is a real blessing. The planet shows the region where Valles Marineris is located in the lower centre of the globe. On the Eastern limb (the left hand side of the globe) the very faint outlines of the Tharis volcanoes can be made out. The northern polar hood is clearly evident in this image too. There are also some vague cloud formations around the southern regions too. It is a little blurry but given that it is not directly overhead and I was imaging through the soup of our atmosphere I cannot complain.
In the next image I was lucky enough to capture an early image of Saturn. The ring plane has closed up remarkably fom last apparition and so Cassini's division can only really be seen at the eastern and western extremes of the ring structure. Although very vague hints can be seen nearing the planet on the furthest part of the rings. Also the crepe ring can be made out, although with this inclination it is not as bright as previous years. The planet was only about 35 degrees above the horizon when this image was taken and unfortunately the sun was starting to rise. I am pleased with the overall look to the image, but feel it could have been a bit sharper if the seeing had allowed. Each year now this planet will climb higher in the sky for us southerners, so I look forward to obtaining a great image of it in the coming years. Also of note is that for the next couple of years it will be possible to image shadow and moon transits across the surface of the planet. A bit of a novelty really but quite hard given the distance of the planet from us. There is a penalty for the closing of the ring structure though. That being, Saturn is a lot dimmer than previous years. It requires a lot more aperture and slower frame speeds to get a well exposed histogram. This will make imaging it a challenge for the next three years anyway.
Finally, on the same night I was able to conduct my first mosaic of the southern polar region of the moon. Clavius can be seen in the lower right hand portion with Moretus up on the upper left. The seeing was a bit variable for this part of the night, and the image was not as good as I had hoped. It is something to work on and I hope in the near future to image a complete region with much finer detail. For my first ever mosaic I am well pleased.
So until next time, please browse through the images and text. If you want to see all my images please click on the archives link on the right hand side of the blog. Have a great day.
The image below shows possibly my only Mars for this apparition. At home the planet is mostly obscured by my neighbours tree and the corner of my pergola makes contact with the scope. So to have obtained this image when Mars is at its most northerly declination is a real blessing. The planet shows the region where Valles Marineris is located in the lower centre of the globe. On the Eastern limb (the left hand side of the globe) the very faint outlines of the Tharis volcanoes can be made out. The northern polar hood is clearly evident in this image too. There are also some vague cloud formations around the southern regions too. It is a little blurry but given that it is not directly overhead and I was imaging through the soup of our atmosphere I cannot complain.
In the next image I was lucky enough to capture an early image of Saturn. The ring plane has closed up remarkably fom last apparition and so Cassini's division can only really be seen at the eastern and western extremes of the ring structure. Although very vague hints can be seen nearing the planet on the furthest part of the rings. Also the crepe ring can be made out, although with this inclination it is not as bright as previous years. The planet was only about 35 degrees above the horizon when this image was taken and unfortunately the sun was starting to rise. I am pleased with the overall look to the image, but feel it could have been a bit sharper if the seeing had allowed. Each year now this planet will climb higher in the sky for us southerners, so I look forward to obtaining a great image of it in the coming years. Also of note is that for the next couple of years it will be possible to image shadow and moon transits across the surface of the planet. A bit of a novelty really but quite hard given the distance of the planet from us. There is a penalty for the closing of the ring structure though. That being, Saturn is a lot dimmer than previous years. It requires a lot more aperture and slower frame speeds to get a well exposed histogram. This will make imaging it a challenge for the next three years anyway.
Finally, on the same night I was able to conduct my first mosaic of the southern polar region of the moon. Clavius can be seen in the lower right hand portion with Moretus up on the upper left. The seeing was a bit variable for this part of the night, and the image was not as good as I had hoped. It is something to work on and I hope in the near future to image a complete region with much finer detail. For my first ever mosaic I am well pleased.
So until next time, please browse through the images and text. If you want to see all my images please click on the archives link on the right hand side of the blog. Have a great day.
12/12: Sol's Latest
well just when you think that Sol is doing nothing at all other than producing some nice prominences and the very occassional small active region; along comes a huge active region. An exciting time to finally view what I will be getting during solar maximum. The image below shows the sunspot group coming around the limb. This image was taken on the 8th of December 2007. It was to that point in time the best solar image I had produced given the image scale that I am working at. The interesting thing about this image is the region directly below the active region that shows granulation in the chromosphere. I have up until that point never captured this sort of detail.
Then today I decided that I would try to capture this spot, as it had now rotated a little more into the disk. Upon viewing it visually I knew that this was my chance to capture a huge sunspot group for the very first time. I had tried with the PST in January but that scope is not capable of such high magnification. When I setup I thought the seeing was very average and I waited for it to settle a bit. Some 40 minutes later it did settle down and it rose just above 6/10 (just an estimate really). The image below shows detail that I did not think possible. I am sure in better seeing the detail would be far better again, but at this stage I am really happy with the result. Lots of what looks like chicken skin can be seen around the active region. There is a nice loop filament at the top and the largest spot can be seen near the bottom left as a dark spot. This active region is about 9 earths across and is from cycle 23 given its magnetograms and its latitude. I can only imagine what this scope will capture during solar maximum.
Thanks for looking.
If you get to the bottom of the page and want to see more images please click on the archives link for a month by month review of all my images.
Then today I decided that I would try to capture this spot, as it had now rotated a little more into the disk. Upon viewing it visually I knew that this was my chance to capture a huge sunspot group for the very first time. I had tried with the PST in January but that scope is not capable of such high magnification. When I setup I thought the seeing was very average and I waited for it to settle a bit. Some 40 minutes later it did settle down and it rose just above 6/10 (just an estimate really). The image below shows detail that I did not think possible. I am sure in better seeing the detail would be far better again, but at this stage I am really happy with the result. Lots of what looks like chicken skin can be seen around the active region. There is a nice loop filament at the top and the largest spot can be seen near the bottom left as a dark spot. This active region is about 9 earths across and is from cycle 23 given its magnetograms and its latitude. I can only imagine what this scope will capture during solar maximum.
Thanks for looking.
If you get to the bottom of the page and want to see more images please click on the archives link for a month by month review of all my images.
15/11: Solar Minimum coming
Well Sol is nearing solar minimum, disk activity is almost non existent, with only the occasional active region like the one shown below. Sunspot activity is now non existent, with it being 15 days since the last very, very small sunspot and before that 28 days for another very very small spot. It was in July when the last significant spot emerged from the limb of the Sun. To date there has been no sign of any new cycle (24) spots. Once high latitude spots emerge that have reverse polarity it will be roughly 13 months until solar minimum.
Not withstanding the above, there has been plenty of prominence activity. Several large prominence have been seen in the last month. The one below started around the 6th of November and peaked around the 9th of November. It was around 5 earths high and 8 earths wide at the time of this image. It is the largest prominence I have seen and is known as a curtain prominence.
Until the next installment.
Not withstanding the above, there has been plenty of prominence activity. Several large prominence have been seen in the last month. The one below started around the 6th of November and peaked around the 9th of November. It was around 5 earths high and 8 earths wide at the time of this image. It is the largest prominence I have seen and is known as a curtain prominence.
Until the next installment.
Hi all,
well after the purchase of my new solarmax 60; which replaced the double stacked PST, I had to wait for a little while to get the opportunity to test its abilities. I had done some preliminary images, but nothing had come to fruitition before then. The solarmax 60 comes with double etalons and is a 0.5 Angstrom scope. It can resolve more detail due to the aperture and it will show slightly more due to the filters.
On the afternoon of the 26th October I finally got the chance to do some serious imaging. A lovely prominence was forming by the time I got home and it was big. I naturally setup and commenced imaging. The image below shows what some have dubbed "The Running Man". Some really interesting detail can be seen throughout the prominence. Whats more with the help of Greg Piepol I managed to remove the inference banding which is caused by Newtons rings. I did this by first imaging the prominence, then the disk and then I defocused the image and took another avi. When processing the disk, I first stacked the out of focus image and saved that into a bitmap and called it a flat. I then placed the disk avi into registax4 and applied the flat to the disk image. It results in more detail being shown with spicules (spikes of plasma) being seen. Certainly not a long term solution but one that is working for me at the moment.
The next image was taken in the same session. It was just a little further around the limb and I was really surprised to see all the differing shapes in the prominences. Still a lovely scene in a time when the Sol is not very active.
Roll on solarmax, the next couple of years should be very interesting.
well after the purchase of my new solarmax 60; which replaced the double stacked PST, I had to wait for a little while to get the opportunity to test its abilities. I had done some preliminary images, but nothing had come to fruitition before then. The solarmax 60 comes with double etalons and is a 0.5 Angstrom scope. It can resolve more detail due to the aperture and it will show slightly more due to the filters.
On the afternoon of the 26th October I finally got the chance to do some serious imaging. A lovely prominence was forming by the time I got home and it was big. I naturally setup and commenced imaging. The image below shows what some have dubbed "The Running Man". Some really interesting detail can be seen throughout the prominence. Whats more with the help of Greg Piepol I managed to remove the inference banding which is caused by Newtons rings. I did this by first imaging the prominence, then the disk and then I defocused the image and took another avi. When processing the disk, I first stacked the out of focus image and saved that into a bitmap and called it a flat. I then placed the disk avi into registax4 and applied the flat to the disk image. It results in more detail being shown with spicules (spikes of plasma) being seen. Certainly not a long term solution but one that is working for me at the moment.
The next image was taken in the same session. It was just a little further around the limb and I was really surprised to see all the differing shapes in the prominences. Still a lovely scene in a time when the Sol is not very active.
Roll on solarmax, the next couple of years should be very interesting.
08/09: Success at last
Hi all,
well on the night of the 3rd of September things all came together to acquire my first really nice image of Jupiter for this season. Imaging at 12500mm, the seeing was around 7.5/10, my scope was cooled thanks to my new peltier cooling system and the transparency was the best I have seen it for quite some time. I can now see that doing the mod was well worth the effort and it has produced lovely results.
The image below shows Jupiter as the GRS is commencing its transit. Lots of fine detail can be seen in all the belts, but I particualarly like the detail in the SEB junction to the left. Small peninsulas in the clouds show sharp detail at that spot. The is also plenty of lovely detail in the northern belts and zones. This represents a quantum leap from last years imaging campaign and I am eager to see what I can really achieve with this scope now.
The next image shows Jupiter and the transitting shadow of Ganymede. Not as nice an image in reflection but still of really nice detail and the shadow adds that 3D touch to the image. I also really like the red streamer that travels all the way across the planet in the SEB south component in both images. It traces the path of the GRS too. An interesting looking feature.
Until next time.
Remember if you want to see all my images, simply locate archives link and click on it. It will show you more of my travels in the solar system.
well on the night of the 3rd of September things all came together to acquire my first really nice image of Jupiter for this season. Imaging at 12500mm, the seeing was around 7.5/10, my scope was cooled thanks to my new peltier cooling system and the transparency was the best I have seen it for quite some time. I can now see that doing the mod was well worth the effort and it has produced lovely results.
The image below shows Jupiter as the GRS is commencing its transit. Lots of fine detail can be seen in all the belts, but I particualarly like the detail in the SEB junction to the left. Small peninsulas in the clouds show sharp detail at that spot. The is also plenty of lovely detail in the northern belts and zones. This represents a quantum leap from last years imaging campaign and I am eager to see what I can really achieve with this scope now.
The next image shows Jupiter and the transitting shadow of Ganymede. Not as nice an image in reflection but still of really nice detail and the shadow adds that 3D touch to the image. I also really like the red streamer that travels all the way across the planet in the SEB south component in both images. It traces the path of the GRS too. An interesting looking feature.
Until next time.
Remember if you want to see all my images, simply locate archives link and click on it. It will show you more of my travels in the solar system.
31/08: Lunar Eclipse 28 August 2007
Another event and once again more memories.
This eclipse was lovely but not as nice as the one in the early nineties which was influenced by the eruption of Mt Pinatubo. On that occassion the eclipsed moon was a deep red and the moon seemed to glow. With this eclipse there were not the aerosols in the atmosphere of that time and so the moon was not the deep red that had been seen before. Never the less this was still lovely to see as an astronomical event.
The month before the event I had determined that viewing the eclipse from my observatory would be impossible because of the elevated position of my neighbours roof and I suspected that we may end up with cloud given the time of the year. I therefore made a contingency plan to take a tripod and 400mm zoom lens with a 2x teleconverter. This was in retrospect a mistake and I overlooked the fact that exposures would need to be more than 2 seconds long during totality. I cannot believe that I overlooked this important detail. For future eclipses both solar and lunar I plan on obtaining a small mount like an EQ3 which can travel around the world and will meet the tracking requirements. So lesson learnt.
Anyway, I did manage to get some images despite the above issues.
Until next time and I would like to remind you that if you want to see more images than displayed on this page look for the archive link on the right hand side of the page. It will take you to many more instalments.
This eclipse was lovely but not as nice as the one in the early nineties which was influenced by the eruption of Mt Pinatubo. On that occassion the eclipsed moon was a deep red and the moon seemed to glow. With this eclipse there were not the aerosols in the atmosphere of that time and so the moon was not the deep red that had been seen before. Never the less this was still lovely to see as an astronomical event.
The month before the event I had determined that viewing the eclipse from my observatory would be impossible because of the elevated position of my neighbours roof and I suspected that we may end up with cloud given the time of the year. I therefore made a contingency plan to take a tripod and 400mm zoom lens with a 2x teleconverter. This was in retrospect a mistake and I overlooked the fact that exposures would need to be more than 2 seconds long during totality. I cannot believe that I overlooked this important detail. For future eclipses both solar and lunar I plan on obtaining a small mount like an EQ3 which can travel around the world and will meet the tracking requirements. So lesson learnt.
Anyway, I did manage to get some images despite the above issues.
Until next time and I would like to remind you that if you want to see more images than displayed on this page look for the archive link on the right hand side of the page. It will take you to many more instalments.
25/08: C14 mods and results.
Well I couple of weeks ago I took the plunge and completely gutted my Brand New C14 and installed a peltier cooling system and flocking to the tube wall. It was a carefully executed modification and it has resulted in the scope returning great views and images even in fairly average conditions. The contrast visibly is so much better than before and I am sure that this is the same for the imaging side also. The following link will connect you to a thread on South Celestial Pole if you are interested in looking at what I did. Please click here . The thread has commentary and pictures which describe the process and procedures I took to ensure success.
I have also included in this edition some planetary images from the scope since the modification. The image below shows Jupiter with lovely fine detail in the NEB (North is at the bottom) and there is a lovely storm showing interesting detail in that same belt. The EQ zone seems to have deminished features and I wonder what it will look like in the coming apparition. The SEB has almost disappeared altogether. So much has changed this season. The conditions for this image where not great with the Jet stream raging overhead and the seeing being around 6/10 at best.
The image below is of the crater Moretus on the moon. The seeing was average, but with mapping and some careful processing I managed to obtain this lovely image. Moretus is 114km wide and can be seen during the year more or less depending on the amount of libration the moon is exhibiting for that month. I really like the contrast of this image and the way the shadows fall around the mountain regions.
So I have been very happy with the results of the modification and encourage all to try doing this mod on their SCT's. Be mindful though that if your scope is new and you conduct this mod you will void your warrantee on the OTA. That said if conducted carefully you will not be disappointed.
I have also included in this edition some planetary images from the scope since the modification. The image below shows Jupiter with lovely fine detail in the NEB (North is at the bottom) and there is a lovely storm showing interesting detail in that same belt. The EQ zone seems to have deminished features and I wonder what it will look like in the coming apparition. The SEB has almost disappeared altogether. So much has changed this season. The conditions for this image where not great with the Jet stream raging overhead and the seeing being around 6/10 at best.
The image below is of the crater Moretus on the moon. The seeing was average, but with mapping and some careful processing I managed to obtain this lovely image. Moretus is 114km wide and can be seen during the year more or less depending on the amount of libration the moon is exhibiting for that month. I really like the contrast of this image and the way the shadows fall around the mountain regions.
So I have been very happy with the results of the modification and encourage all to try doing this mod on their SCT's. Be mindful though that if your scope is new and you conduct this mod you will void your warrantee on the OTA. That said if conducted carefully you will not be disappointed.
29/07: C14 gets its first real run
After doing a lot of tests to determine the mirror quality and some test runs with the imaging equipment; the C14 got its first real imaging run last night.
The seeing was superb from early on and it was on a punt that I uncovered the scope to check the quality of the seeing. At 434x with the 9mm Nagler Jupiter was large and to my surprise there was detail drifting in and out of focus. I immediately delayed my plans to go out early to much later. Once setup the seeing steadily improved and I new that I was going to get something nice.
The image below shows great detail in the SEB outbreak and the NEB is busy as usual. The raging jet stream above my head slightly diminished the quality of the image. It was running at 70 metres per second at the time of capture.
After going out for 2 hours I returned home and wondered if the seeing was still good. I quickly readied the scope again and checked to see what the visual image looked like. Once again at high magnification it was superb and looked even better than earlier. Although it turned out the transparency was slightly better earlier. The image below shows the STrD-1 and the recirculating material from the SEB. Red Jr can be seen just above.
Now to sort out the mirror cooling system for this unit.
The seeing was superb from early on and it was on a punt that I uncovered the scope to check the quality of the seeing. At 434x with the 9mm Nagler Jupiter was large and to my surprise there was detail drifting in and out of focus. I immediately delayed my plans to go out early to much later. Once setup the seeing steadily improved and I new that I was going to get something nice.
The image below shows great detail in the SEB outbreak and the NEB is busy as usual. The raging jet stream above my head slightly diminished the quality of the image. It was running at 70 metres per second at the time of capture.
After going out for 2 hours I returned home and wondered if the seeing was still good. I quickly readied the scope again and checked to see what the visual image looked like. Once again at high magnification it was superb and looked even better than earlier. Although it turned out the transparency was slightly better earlier. The image below shows the STrD-1 and the recirculating material from the SEB. Red Jr can be seen just above.
Now to sort out the mirror cooling system for this unit.
Well it finally arrived and on the night of the 9 July 2007 it received first light. It took some time to get all the software sorted. The Lucam recorder is a real treat to use. It interfaces with not only the camera but also my True Tech filter wheel. The absolutely beauty of this software is that I can automate the filter wheel to rotate after each avi is taken. There are many more features that I really need to look into.
In terms of the camera itself. I am very impressed. The individual frames are low in noise and the chip is a lot more sensitive than the DMK. The image below is around 300 frames and even when I resample the image it contains little pixelation.
The only real down side is that image scale has significantly dropped from the DMK. This is because the DMK has pixels at 5.6 microns and the Skynyx has pixels at 7.4 microns.
However when the C14 arrives the image scale will change once again. It's focal length is nearly double that of the C9.25.
So until next time.
In terms of the camera itself. I am very impressed. The individual frames are low in noise and the chip is a lot more sensitive than the DMK. The image below is around 300 frames and even when I resample the image it contains little pixelation.
The only real down side is that image scale has significantly dropped from the DMK. This is because the DMK has pixels at 5.6 microns and the Skynyx has pixels at 7.4 microns.
However when the C14 arrives the image scale will change once again. It's focal length is nearly double that of the C9.25.
So until next time.
Hi all,
well the seeing was much better tonight and probably better than I have seen for the last 8 months or so. Lots of activity going on at present with Jupiter. In this image Europa is in transit (the bright white spot) travelling across the face. Red junior can be seen near the top right of the image and is slowly rising. Lots of activity can be seen in the NEB.
Later in the session the seeing was not as good, the shadow of Europa can be seen trailling behind it. Red Junior can be seen mid transit and there are some interesting dark rafts travelling on the upper edge of the SEB.
I can do with a lot more of this sort of seeing more often. Until next time.
well the seeing was much better tonight and probably better than I have seen for the last 8 months or so. Lots of activity going on at present with Jupiter. In this image Europa is in transit (the bright white spot) travelling across the face. Red junior can be seen near the top right of the image and is slowly rising. Lots of activity can be seen in the NEB.
Later in the session the seeing was not as good, the shadow of Europa can be seen trailling behind it. Red Junior can be seen mid transit and there are some interesting dark rafts travelling on the upper edge of the SEB.
I can do with a lot more of this sort of seeing more often. Until next time.
