Solar Imaging Session - December 27, 2008

Hello:

After a long spell of no solar imaging because if bad weather, I was blessed with a relatively sunny sky this morning and I didn't waste time to observe the Sun and was able to see several large eruptive prominences! Images were taken using ATK-1HS II webcam on Coronado PST-Ha and 2x barlow lens. Seeing was fair that morning at 1/5.

December 1, 2008 Moon, Venus & Jupiter Conjunction

Hello:

The Trio conjunction of the Crescent Moon together with close planetary pair Venus and Jupiter pose a very good opportunity for astrophotographers to image them after sunset. I was able to image the conjunction but one of my images that Im sharing shows a "Witch Head" like cloud with the Moon acting as her Chin Ring while Venus (left) acts as a light reflection of Jupiter (right) on her left eye :) LOL Image was taken using a compact Canon 650IS digital camera at 210mm f/4.8 at ISO400. Exposure was 2 secs.

Solar Imaging Session - November 18, 2008

Seeing this morning is ok with some blue skies and less clouds than previous days. The Sun was again a bit quiet after AR 1008 Sunspot Group had exited the western limb. Lots of small prominences are visible in the solar limb but a nice grouping of prominences stands out from the rest so I took an image of it on fair seeing condition.

Solar Imaging Session - November 16, 2008

Hello:

I wake up late today so my observation window is limited to the point that I can only image the Sun in less than 15 minutes before it gets obstructed :( Nevertheless, I was able to capture a nice bar prominence but unfortunately, I missed imaging AR1008 sunspot group as by the time Im set to image it, it got obstructed already :( Below is the image of the prominence.


Before lunchtime, I got another chance to image the Sun but this time around, I opted to test the William Optics WCL-52 digicam lens I got in conjunction with my Canon 650IS to image afocally with TV-101 refractor. With that setup, it will give me an effective focal length of 1500m f/15. Unfortunately, clouds rolled up as fast as I setup again, but I got to image the whole disk before getting clouded up. Not that sharp as I got no time to finely focus though :(

Solar Imaging Session - November 14, 2008 (AR1008 Sunspot Group)

Hello:

With much expectation from yesterday solar session, I again waited this morning to image the AR1008 Group again. Seeing was surprising good for a short while when I was imaging it. But seeing didn' t stay long for me to continue shooting the Sun i good detail. Nevertheless, below are images that I took of AR1008 this morning. Some nice eruptive prominences can also be seen together in the same frame with the sunspot group.

Solar Imaging Session - November 13, 2008

Hello:

This morning, although a bit hazy, I try to image the Sun as I read from Spaceweather.com that AR 1008 Sunspot Group is visible and so I waited till the breaks of the clouds for me to image it. From Ha view, the main sunspot group of AR1008 is clearly visible. Aside from the group, I was also able to image a very faint large eruptive prominence that was faintly visible but really large. Another smaller eruptive prominence is also visible in the limb.

I was planning to image the AR1008 through white light but unfortunately, clouds cover the Sun and thus, I wasn't able to test my new William Optics DCL-52 digital lens with my Canon 650IS digicam on TV-101 refractor :( Hopefully tomorrow I would be able to do that before the group exits the western limb.

Solar Imaging Session - November 9, 2008

Hello:

This morning, the Sky was a bit hazy but I was still able to see the Sun through the haze so I proceed to setup. While scanning the limb of the Sun, I was able to see a nice eruptive prominence that was bright. As I image the prominence, I carefully check again on the rest of the solar limb and saw another fainter prominence that was almost invisible from visual view. Nevertheless, I image both of them amid bad seeing and thick haze and they can be viewed below:

Solar Imaging Session - November 4, 2008

Hello:

The sky this morning was again hazy but I still proceeded in imaging the Sun. From my computer monitor, there were several prominences again but image was really poor and soft. Nevertheless, I still image them as viewed below:

Solar Imaging Session - November 2, 2008

Hello:

After coming home from a tiring stargazing session at Caliraya, I saw the sky was a bit clear so I setup my PST-Ha to check out the Sun. Although there is some haze hovering on the Sun, I was able to see around 3 prominences at the limb of the Sun. SO before I got covered up by the darn clouds, I was able to image it. Seeing though was a bit poor :(

Deep Sky Imaging Session at Caliraya - November 1-2, 2008

Hello:

Last November 1, I went with Vincent Lao to Caliraya at around 6:00pm to have a stargazing session there amid a bad weather outlook .When we reach Caliraya at around 9:00pm, lady luck seems to run out on us as we were greeted with hard rain ! Since we were already there, we both decided to wait for a while and hope the rain will stop. At around 10:30pm, the eastern sky started to break up and we were able to see Orion rising majestically. Unfortunately, mild shower was still present that time and was still trying to ruin our session :( With the hard rain comes a very muddy observing site , I initially plan to quit the session because the telescope tripod will surely sink into the mud but seeing Vincent still enjoying binocular viewing of the beautiful sky, we decided to stick around more and after searching for a lesser muddy area , we setup our scopes at around 11:30pm after the rain finally comes to a stop.

I brought along a TV-101 refractor on Vixen GP-DX mount while Vincent brought his new Orion Starblast 4.5" reflector on EQ-1 mount. With a compromise area, the view of the sky was not perfect as some parts of the sky from South to Southwest were block by tall trees. The original observing area that we regularly setup before were under the water. For me, I was a bit disappointed on the weather because the unexpected early heavy rain doused cold water on my original imaging plans for the night :( So i opted instead to image old favorites such as Orion Nebula, Pleiades star cluster, and California Nebula. Vincent , on the other hand, image M35, Double Cluster, constellation Orion,and Beehive cluster.

I was also able to observe several Orionids meteor shower and lots of sporadics as well. The night was not that perfect though as there were 2 mild rains that pour on us in the morning :(

We were able to observe till around 4:30am before the sky started to brighten already. Before we started to dismantle our scopes, we had a group picture taken before packing up our equipment. As we were dismantling our scopes, they were able to observe beautiful crepuscular rays as the Sun was starting to rise .

Despite the disappointing sky and muddy conditions in the early evening, both of us were happy and satisfied. It has really been a long time since we had a successful observing session and we were really grateful for taking our chances .

Below are the images that I took at Caliraya using my TV-101 refractor at prime focus with Canon 300D on Vixen GP-D mount. EFL= 864mm f/5.4.

M42 Great Orion Nebula in Orion
24mins at ISO 1600
===========================================

M45 Pleiades Star Cluster in Taurus

20 mins at ISO 1600
=========================================

NGC1499 California Nebula in Perseus
21 mins at ISO 1600

Solar Imaging Session - October 30, 2008

Hello:

Weather again is horrible this morning. I miss the Sun too much already to the poit that even if the sky this morning was hazy, I still try to image the Sun! That's how crazy I am on the Sun :) LOL Nevertheless, I was able to see some nice eruptive prominences around the limb although the image are generally soft from what I got. Anyway, the prominences can still be seen softly below:

Solar Imaging Session - October 19, 2008

Hello:

My computer crashed right after I image the Sun last October 19, 2o08 and was only able to get back my computer this saturday for me to process and share the result. Image was not that good that morning because of thick haze present when I was imaging the Sun. Nevertheless, one can still see numerous smalla nd medium sized eruptive prominence around the Sun's limb.

Solar Imaging Session - October 17, 2008 (Bye Bye AR 1006 Sunspot Group)

Hello:

I was able to get s small window of open sky for me to check on the AR1005 Sunspot Group. Unfortunately, there was haze present in the morning and it softens the image much that I didn't saw the AR1005 but instead got another image of a small group AR1006 exiting the western limb. Even wth the haze, the group was still easy to view because of its high brightness.

Image taken using ATK-1HS II webcam on Coronado PST and the final image can be viewed below:

Solar Imaging Session - October 11, 2008 (AR1004 Sunspot Group Growing!)

Hello:

I was expecting to see more developments on the confirmed AR1004 Sunspot Group that I saw and image yesterday and I was not disappointed. Although the sky here in Manila this morning is mostly clouded out, I was able to shot a quick AVI of the AR1004 Group using ATK-1HS II webcam on Coronado PST-Ha. I will try to image the group in white light later in case the weather is ok in the afternoon but the way I see it, it looks not promising :( =====

Nevertheless, below is the image of the AR1004 Sunspot Group that I was able to shoot through bad haze and passing clouds. There are numerous small prominences around the solar limb but with the weather condition, I wasn't able to image them. Was lucky to still get away with a shot of the group before getting clouded out :(

Solar Imaging Session - October 11, 2008 - Possible AR1004 Sunspot Group (?)

Hello:

The sky this morning was surprising clear this morning as the weather yesterday and last night was bad and raining :( So this morning sky was a surprise for me so when I saw sunlight shining brightly on my eastern window, I quickly setup and monitor the Sun for nice eruptive prominences for me to image. There were several small prominences across the solar limb and one faint large eruptive prominence that I can see faintly.

Afterwards, I scan the solar surface for any solar activity and I was surprised to see a small sunspot group visible near the eastern limb, could this be AR 1004 Sunspot Group? The group appears as a small dotted line and with bright whitish solar flare beside the group. Below are the images that I took of the group as well as the faint large eruptive prominence.

Solar Imaging Session - October 8, 2008

Hello:

The sky this morning was a bit hazy but I could still see the Sun so I setup quickly and try to view it visually to see if there are any big prominence that is worth imaging. After setting up the ATK-1HS webcam on the Coronado PST, I scan the solar limb to check on any faint big prominences that might be hiding behind the glare of the Sun and indeed there was a faint medium size faint eruptive prominence faintly visible and because of the bad haze that morning, I was forced to increase some gain settings to force the faint light of the prominence to be visible. Nevertheless, below is the image that i took of the faint eruptive prominence.

Solar Imaging Session - October 5, 2008

Hello:

I wake up late this morning to find the sky slightly overcast but there are some breaks in the clouds for me to check on the Sun. Hmmm...... no medium or big prominences but lots of small eruptive prominences visible in the solar limb.

I also try to monitor the small sunspot group that was suppose to be visible the pat 2 days but couldn't find it...... probably short-lived as expected.

Below is the image that I took of the group of prominences.

Solar Imaging Session - October 3, 2008 (Wow ! Very Large Eruptive Prominence !)

Hello:

After a long spell of no solar observation and imaging, I thought the Sun this morning was another boring day for me to view it. But much to my surprise, when I pointed my PST-Ha on the solar limb for more closeup inspection, I was surprised to see a very large eruptive prominence hiding itself from my view through the eyepiece! It was very beautiful but a bit faint (reason why I didn't detect it when I view it visually) and the largest prominence that I got to image so far for me this year. After more than 5 hours, I inspect the prominence again and it is almost gone! Image taken using ATK-1HS I webcam on Coronado PST-Ha and 2x barlow lens. Seeing is fair at 1/5 scale.

Solar Imaging Session - September 19, 2008

Hello:

The Sun is a bit quiet today with some small to medium prominences visible at the solar limb. Hoping for more nice big ones to appear in the days to come.

Solar Imaging Session - September 16, 2008 (Wow! Beautiful Large Loop Prominence!!!)

Hello:

I need to go out in a hurry this morning because I have to renew my driver's license so I had a short quick image setup session only. But to my surprise, Wow! A beautiful large loop prominence greeted me and teasing me stay longer and forget renewing my license :) LOL. But I had no choice even though I want to stay much longer to image its progress. Nevertheless, it one of the biggest in several months! Nice details as well. Image taken using ATK-1HS II webcam on Coronado PST-Ha and 2x barlow lens. Seeing was not bad at 2/5.

Solar Imaging Session - September 15, 2008

Hello:

I just got to process my solar images taken yesterday morning as I was busy yesterday :( Nevertheless, solar activity was not that great and one can see several small nice prominences around the solar limb. Hope for some actions in the days to come.............

Solar Imaging Session - September 14, 2008 (nice Long Bar Prominence)

Finally after almost 5 days of cloudy and rainy days, I was again able to do solar observation and imaging this morning. Seeing was not that good but there is one prominence worth imaging. a nice long bar prominence. Not much detail of the prominence except that it looks a "Pinocchio" nose :) LOL Several other small prominences can also be seen in the limb as well.

Solar Imaging Session - September 9, 2008

Hello:

I was able to image the Sun yesterday morning but was too busy to process them till late this morning :( Nevertheless, the Sun was not that active although it got to display a few small prominences only. Below are the images I took of the 2 prominence groups. Seeing was not good as well :(

Solar Imaging Session - September 5, 2008 (Nice Long Bar Prominence now starting to disintegrate)

Hello:

Eager to still monitor yesterday's large long bar prominence, I started out early this morning and view the same prominence and observe that the prominence is starting to disintegrate :( Although it is still a joy to view at it. Don't know if it will still be there tomorrow........ let's wait and see :)

As I scan the limb for the other large prominence that I got to view but wasn't able to image, it has grown in size a bit but very faint and I wasn't able to see it visually but through webcam, I was able to acquire it and it can be seen below:

Solar Imaging Session - September 4, 2008 (Nice Long Bar Prominence)

Hello:

The sky this morning was not that good but I still try to glimpse at the Sun and was happy to see a long slightly bended large bar prominence! The height of the prominence is a joy to look at. There was another medium size prominence at the Sun's limb but I wasn't able to image it as clouds suddenly cover the sky where the Sun is located. :(

In the afternoon, I was able to make a followup look at the prominence through small openings in the cloudy sky and saw that the prominence had erected a bit to stand a little taller than what I saw in the morning. After I image this beautiful prominence, Rain suddenly poured hard without any warning . Thank God I had packed up most of my stuff from the laundry area where I image the Sun :) LOL

Solar Imaging Session - September 3, 2008 (Nice Eruptive Prominences )

Hello:

After getting clouded out yesterday, I was again able to image the Sun again this morning. As I focus on the Sun, there was a bright eruptive prominence that was clearly visible! Although the size is not that big as the big ones visible past few days, it is still a joy to observe and image.


On the other side of the limb, there is also another nice eruptive prominence as well. Nice to view too. Seeing was fair at 1/5. Hope tomorrow we will get some big prominence again. Solar imaging / observation are highly addictive indeed :) LOL

Solar Imaging Session - September 1, 2008 (Nice Eruptive Prominence )

Hello:

To my disappointment this morning, the many large prominences are now gone but there is still one nice eruptive prominence there to give me sort of finale view before it disappears as well :( My solar image taken yesterday August 31 was featured at www.spaceweather.com! I personally like that image as full of nice prominences! Its been a while already that we were able to see so many prominences in one frame :) LOL

For the solar images below, one can see the big eruptive prominence that is easily seen even in low power view. If one look closely at the pic below,you can see a big, tall faint bar prominence in between the large prom as well as the smaller but brighter prominence as well. I wasn't able to see that one until I was imaging it. Even in the image below it is hard to see and can go unnoticed :)

In the image below on the other hand, the prominence is small but cute and since it is visible, I got to image it altogether :) Seeing this morning was not that good at 1/5 but still ok IMHO.