Solar Imaging Session - December 27, 2010

The sky this morning is slightly hazy but seeing is fair. There are not much activity on the Sun but there is an undesignated (yet) active region that is visible but is now almost exiting the SW limb so that's probably why there is still no designation by NOAA I guess.

There is also a nice large eruptive prominence that is visible near the NE limb and some smaller prominences can also be seen around the solar limb.

Solar Imaging Session - December 24, 2010

The sky this morning was hazy and seeing was not that good as well. Nevertheless, since I haven't done any solar imaging past 8 days since my provincial work trip, I was eager to observe the Sun.

There are no sunspots in the Sun for the past several days already and even solar activity in Ha light is minimal with only some small dark filaments and eruptive prominences are visible on the Sun.

I hope in the next few days, the Sun will become active again :0 Merry Christmas and a Happy ALP Year to All !!!

Total Lunar Eclipse (Partial Phase Observation ) - December 21, 2010

Hello:

The December 21 total lunar eclipse will only be visible in the US. For us here in the Philippines, we would be able to see around 35% partiality phase remaining after the moon rises from the NE horizon at 5:32pm. This eclipse also falls on the same date as the northern winter solstice this year which is a rare occurrence. According to Geoff Chester of the US Naval Observatory, who inspected a list of eclipses going back 2000 years. "Since Year 1, I can only find one previous instance of an eclipse matching the same calendar date as the solstice, and that is Dec. 21, 1638," says Chester. "Fortunately we won't have to wait 372 years for the next one...that will be on Dec. 21, 2094."

The sky in the afternoon was a bit cloudy and hazy but luckily for me, the sky here in Laoag City, Ilocos Norte was clear in the North-East horizon for me to be able to image the Partial phase of the total lunar eclipse that was visible in the US. But here in the Philippines, we could only view the partial phase which was estimated to be around 35% partiality remaining at Moonrise at around 5:32pm. But since there was a mountain in the NE horizon, I was able to get a view of the moonrise at around 5:38pm already and the Moon was very beautiful!!!

I was able to image the entire partial phase which last till around 6:05pm more or less. I continue to image into the penumbral phase till around 6:15pm before calling it a night. I still deem myself lucky to be able to image it almost completely compare to my other colleagues who reported seeing some parts of the partial eclipse under very hazy condition. Some even reported not to see it at all in their areas because of cloudy skies!!!

I would like to thank my godfather Mr. Antonio Co of Laoag Bazar for letting me use his roofdeck for me to image the beautiful eclipse! Thanks also to Mr. George Avila for giving me also another observation site option for this event. Thank you to both of you!!!

Solar Imaging Session - December 16, 2010 (Large Dark Filament & High Altitude Eruptive Prominence! )

Hello:

The sky this morning was very hazy and seeing condition is very poor :( Solar limb is turbulent and focus comes in and out most of the time :( But since I missed observing and imaging the Sun since Dec 13th, I can't help but still proceeded to observe and image the Sun.

AR11131, AR11134 and AR11135 Sunspot Groups are gone now with AR11133 Sunspot Group as the only sunspot group visible on the Sun's disk now and the group is also about to exit the western limb which will leave the Sun without any spots again tomorrow more or less.

There is a nice long dark filament visible in the SE limb as well as a nice high altitude eruptive prominence. A nice duo to observe and image :)

Solar Imaging Session - December 13, 2010 (4 Sunspot Groups & Large Eruptive Prominence !!!)

I wake up late this morning after a tiring but enjoyable ALP Annual Meet and Xmas Party. As I check on the Sun. the large eruptive prominence visible in the SE limb is still visible. 2 small sunspot groups have developed. One can be found near AR11133 Sunspot Group while the other can be seen in the NE limb. Both AR11131 and AR11133 continues to rotate and get closer to the NW limb.

In White light, AR11131 Sunspot Group is still a joy to look at while smaller AR11133 Sunspot Group , on the other hand, still shows nice penumbral structure :)

Solar Imaging Session - December 12, 2010 (Huge Loop Prominence !!! )

The sky this morning is another frustration as clouds continues to haunt my observations and Imaging sessions this whole week. Add to that was the "malfunction of sorts" of my ATK-1HS II webcam which suddenly cant preview any images to my surprise! I panicked a bit as I was able to see a huge looped prominence daring me to image her as more clouds pass over the Sun's disk! So I quickly got my backup Philips Toucam 740K webcam and started to calibrate and focus on the prominence with difficulty :(

Nevertheless, I was still able to image the huge prominence as well as departing AR11131 and AR11133 Sunspot Groups which are inching closer and closer to the NW limb.

Solar Imaging Session - December 11, 2010

The sky this morning was very hazy and cloudy. Seeing condition is fair though. I had to wait for more than 40 minutes after setup before I could do any imaging. AR11131 and AR11133 still give a nice display of activeness surrounded by nice small plages and dark filaments around each group.

Another interesting feature on the Sun this morning is an appearance of a huge eruptive prominences that was visible in the SE limb. Along faint dark filament is also of interest and need monitoring can be found in the SW quadrant of the Sun.

I wasn't able to do any white light imaging this morning because the clouds started to interfere halfway into my Ha imaging session and finally shut me down during my attempt to do any white light imaging :(

Solar Imaging Session - December 10, 2010

The sky this morning is slightly hazy but seeing condition was surprisingly good. I quickly took the opportunity to start imaging early while the seeing condition is still ok. As like before AR11131 is very photogenic and shows nice penumbral and umbral structure in white light. In Ha light, AR11131 Sunspot Group continues to show very nice plages and solar activity within the group itself. The same goes to AR11133 Sunspot Group but as a smaller group :) Seeing is very good that I can see some solar granulation near the 2 sunspots area. Several groups of eruptive prominences can also be seen around the solar limb.

Solar Imaging Session - December 9, 2010

The sky this morning was very cloudy and I initially don't think the clouds will clear up even a bit. As I was waiting for the sky to clear just in case, the sky was filled with Mammatus clouds and I cannot help but appreciates its beauty! As I checked on its term in Wikipedia, Mammatus, also known as mammatocumulus (meaning "mammary cloud" or "breast cloud"),is a meteorological term applied to a cellular pattern of pouches hanging underneath the base of a cloud. The name mammatus, derived from the Latin mamma (meaning "udder" or "breast"), refers to a resemblance between the characteristic shape of these clouds and the breast of a woman.



But after I brought my son to school and return home, I saw some sunlight so I quickly setup and grab a single shot of the Sun with AR11131 and AR11133 Sunspot Group before clouds covered the sky again :( Not much activity around the solar limb except for some small prominences today :(

Solar Imaging Session - December 8, 2010

The sky this morning is cloudy and seeing was pretty bad as well :( Nevertheless, I still managed to take some shot of the Sun both in Ha and white light wavelength again. As usual, AR11131 and AR11133 Sunspot Group are still the main attraction on the Sun now. The faint huge eruptive prominence that was visible in the SE limb is also gone now :( Only some small eruptive prominences are visible around the solar limb but since I'm running out of time playing cat and mouse with the clouds, I had to let the small prominences go in place of the white light shots of the 2 groups amid bad seeing.....

Solar Imaging Session - December 7, 2010 - Huge Faint Eruptive Prominence Still Visible But No More Huge Dark Filament :(

The sky this morning is hazy and seeing condition is very very poor! The Sun's limb keeps on pulsating and thus I had a hard time imaging both AR11131 and AR11133 Sunspot Group in High Res White Light Wavelength. But in Ha wavelength the seeing was a bit forgiving because of the PST-Ha's short focal length.

AR11131 Sunspot Group continues to maintain its size and there are some small signs that this group might grow a little bit more as one can see some small pores west of AR11131's main core component so maybe we can see some more sunspots developing inside this group :)

AR11133 Sunspot Group, on the other hand is still small but still a nice sunspot to watch nevertheless :)

The huge dark filament that was visible in the SE limb yesterday is now gone! But some consolation is the the bright huge eruptive prominence that was beside the dark filament is still faintly visible still.........

Solar Imaging Session - December 6, 2010 (Huge Eruptive Prominence & Dark Filament !!! )

The sky this morning is clear and seeing is fair. I finally got to image the Sun both in Ha and White Light wavelength. The huge Dark Filament that was visible yesterday is still beautiful and adding some more touch is a huge eruptive prominence beside the dark filament which can be seen in the SE limb!

Of course not to be left out on the Sun is the big circular AR11131 Sunspot Group which shows a nice symmetrical umbra and penumbra structure. New AR11133 is near the Eastern limb but quite smaller in size compare to AR11131. AR11132 Sunspot Group is inconspicious and boring with only a pair of small pores that constitute the group.

Hopefully, I can still monitor again the Sun tomorrow to see if the long dark filament will snap or still continues to stretch further in length ..........