Solar Imaging Session - January 30, 2011 (AR11150 Sunspot Group with Large Eruptive Prominence and Dark Filament )

The sky this morning is fair and seeing is just ok. AR11150 Sunspot Group continues to grow and develop its structure but is till a small fair complex group. In Ha light, the group shows some good solar activity inside its main core. The remnant of the huge eruptive prominence last January 27th can still be seen and is starting to collapse back to the solar limb after its major eruption last Jan 27th. The large dark filament near the NE quadrant has disappeared.

Another sight interesting to view on the Sun in Ha on the other hand is the emergence of a new huge dark filament that is visible in the NW quadrant. This is interesting to monitor as it might still extend more in length in the days to come. Inconspicious small AR11151 Sunspot Group has already disappeared into the NW limb.

Solar Imaging Session - January 29, 2011 (Large Eruptive Prominence and AR11150 Sunspot Group )

Hello:

The sky this morning was a bit cloudy in the early morning hours and I thought today's solar imaging session is more or less not possible . But at around 8:30am, sky suddenly opened up a bit for me to do some solar work. Seeing is not that good.

Remnants of the Huge Eruptive Prominence visible last January 27 can still be seen and still interesting although a huge reduction in its original size. There is also a new AR11150 Sunspot Group that is visible in the NE limb together with a large dark filament.

Solar Imaging Session - January 27, 2011 (Huge Eruptive Prominence !!! )

Hello:

I just got back from my provincial work trip this morning and was able to get a chance to finally image once again after more than 2 weeks of solar inactivity on my part. Sky is a bit clear but seeing is really bad which is very obvious because of the turbulence that can be seen on the solar limb! Nevertheless, I proceeded with scanning the Sun through the PST-Ha and was able to still see departing sunspot groups AR111147 and AR11149 in the NW limb.

But what caught me by surprise is the presence of a huge eruptive prominence in the NE limb! Also in the same vicinity is a nice dark filament crawling out of the NE limb as well.

ISS Solar Transit Imaging Session - January 13, 2011

There will be an International Space Station (ISS / Zarya) SOlar Transit event that will occur this morning that is visible in some parts of NCR (National Capital Region) more or less around 8:30:38am PST (Philippine Standard Time). ISS Solar and Lunar Transit here in the Philippines is quite rare from my opinion thus I didn't want to lose this opportunity to try to image it!

Together with fellow ALPers Armando Lee and Bobby Pejvak, we setup at the AstroCamp Observatory in SM Mall of Asia San Miguel by the Bay Park. I brought along my trusty TV-101 refractor and Coronado PST-Ha on Vixen GP-DX equatorial mount while Armand brought his Celestron C90 and WO 66SD refractor on Orion Atlas mount. Bobby , on the other hand brought along his WO Zenithstar 70ED refractor and Skywatcher 102mm Maksutov on Takahashi Sky Patrol 2 mount.

ALPer Bobby Pejvak beside his dual camera / scope setup

ALPer Armando Lee beside his dual camera / scope setup

Me and my imaging setup

ALP ISS Solar Transit - AstroCamp Observing Team

Till Next Session !!!

With a very cloudy sky that morning and the Sun not almost wanting to come out of the clouds, I had given up hope to imaging the transit in H-Alpha with the PST-Ha so I concentrated on the white light still imaging of the event. All three of us were also having a hard time focusing on the Sun but in the end were able to at least get a decent focus of the Sun before the said time. At around 8:29am, I started to shoot continuously so that I can be a bit sure that i got a good chance to capture the ISS even for 1 frame because in real time, even the most accurate predicted time might be off by a few seconds thus the reason for me to be hyper on this matter. At 8:30am time line, I could hear all of our Canon DSLRs shutters firing like mad as both 3 of us don't wanting to miss getting at least a souvenir shot of the ISS on the Sun :) LOL

To be sure, I only ended my exposure at 8:31am :) Afterwards, I got SMS and Calls fro our fellow ALPers observing this event at other locations. we had our customary group shot taken before we packed up all our equipment and head home or to our office with a good feeling that we might have a chance of capturing this rare event!

As I check my own solar images, I was able to capture 2 frames with the ISS on it. Likewise, ALPer Nathaniel Custodio who observe the event in his place in Taguig was also lucky to capture the ISS Solar Transit through passing clouds! But like Nathaniel, both our images were soft and grainy because of the slow shutter as well as high ISO used by us due to cloudy skies!!! Nevertheless, Nathaniel and I still are happy with the results of our first ISS Solar Transit Imaging and hopefully, we will be able to get better images in future ISS transit events.





Additional News:

ALPers Andrew Ian Chan in Ateneo de Manila and Christopher Louie Lu in Mandaluyong were not that lucky and were both clouded out totally without even seeing the Sun. ALPer Bobby Pejvak and Armando Lee also wasn't able to capture ISS on both his still and video :( ALPer Alexander Loinaz, who observe at PAGASA Observatory was also clouded out totally.

Solar Imaging Session - January 10, 2011 (New AR11145 Sunspot Group)

The sky started out very cloudy when I wake up this morning at around 7:30am so I thought I wouldn't be able to do any solar observation and imaging today :( But at around 8:30am, sky suddenly clear up a bit and I quickly setup and try to image the Sun before I go to work!

AR11140 Sunspot Group further quiet down as it starts to exit the NW limb. AR11143 Sunspot Group is totally decayed but I can still see some faint solar activity in its core in Ha wavelength. A new AR11145 sunspot group has developed in the NE quadrant but is still very small and boring both in white light and Ha wavelength.

I run out of time to image white light this morning as I need to go to work :( Nevertheless, I did got a quick peek at the Sun in white light before packing it up asap.

Overall, the Sun is very quiet and i do hope that before January 13 comes, solar activity comes a bit alive so that I can get a good composition of the Sun with International Space Station (ISS / Zarya) transiting the Sun at around 8:30:40am PST (Philippine Standard Time). But weather has been bad these past few days and I do pray that our members at Astronomical League of the Philippines (ALP) would be able to document and image this rare transit in our area.

Solar Imaging Session - January 8, 2011 (New AR11143 Sunspot Group !)

The sky this morning is hazy again but seeing was fair. the developing active region that was visible the past 2 days has developed further and now is designated AR11143 Sunspot Group as it develops 2 main small core. In Ha wavelength, this groups shows signs of activeness so we might expect some further development of this group in the days to come.

AR11140 Sunspot Group continues to maintain its structured component but activity inside its core has mellowed down even more in Ha light. Nevertheless, it is still the best sunspot for viewing compared to new AR11143 and AR11142 on the Sun.

The seeing condition was fair this morning for me to take another shot at AR11140 and new AR11143 Sunspot Group. Image acquired is still not that good but it still show better detail than what I had imaged the past few days.

Solar Imaging Session - January 7, 2011

The sky this morning is a bit hazy again and seeing is poor. AR11140 Sunspot Group continues to maintain its size and structure while AR11142 has almost decayed except for some small pores :( Several nice group of eruptive prominences are visible in the NE limb as well as the large dark filament that is still visible near decaying AR11142.

For white light , again poor seeing limited me from taking a decent shot of AR11140 Sunspot Group :(

Solar Imaging Session - January 6, 2011( 2 Sunspot Groups & Dark Filaments )

The sky this morning is again very hazy and seeing condition is still not good but a tad better a bit today. AR11140 Sunspot Group's solar activity mellow down a bit today but still show nice small flares as well as beautiful dark filaments. But the longest and photogenic dark filament is still the one close to decaying AR11142 Sunspot Group. AR11141 Sunspot Group had exited the NW limb today.

In white light wavelength, only AR11140 Sunspot Group still shows nice structure amid bad seeing while AR11142 Sunspot Group is decaying fast and maybe gone in 2 to 3 days IMHO.

Solar Imaging Session - January 5, 2011 (3 Sunspot Groups & Nice Dark Filaments )

The sky this morning is again hazy and seeing conditions continue to be poor :( AR11140 Sunspot Group in Ha shows a some good flares and plages which is some thing new from my 3 days of monitoring this group :) AR11141 Sunspot Group is now starting to exit into the NW limb and is also deteriorating fast. AR11142 Sunspot Group, on the other hand continues to show good solar activity within its core. The large dark filament near AR11142 continues to be vivid and photogenic.







I was able to obtain white light images of the 3 sunspot groups again but seeing was so poor it was very hard to obtain good image frames for me to process thus I was only able to produce a poor and soft images of the 3 groups in white light. :(






I hope I will get better seeing conditions tomorrow for me to shoot AR11140 and 11142 in higher resolution ..........

Solar Imaging Session - January 4, 2011 (3 Sunspot Groups & Nice Dark Filaments and Large Eruptive Prominences !!! )

The sky this morning is a bit hazy and seeing is fair. AR11140 Sunspot Group continues to be quiet as well as departing AR11141 Sunspot Group which is near the NW limb and can be seen beside a nice large eruptive prominence.

AR11142 Sunspot Group, on the other hand, shows more appeal from the 3 groups visible on the Sun as it is surrounded by nice dark filaments as well as active flare within its group.

Unfortunately, clouds started to cover up the Sun after I ended my Ha imaging thus I wasn't able to image the 3 groups in white light wavelength :(

Solar Imaging Session - January 3, 2011 (3 Sunspot Groups & Nice Dark Filaments and Large Eruptive Prominences !!! )

Finally, after several non productive solar imaging sessions because of cloudy skies since December 27, I finally got to image the Sun again for the year 2011! Sky this morning was slightly hazy and seeing initially was good. I quickly setup my PST-Ha asap and started to view the Sun and saw 3 groups of sunspots on the Sun. AR11140 Sunspot Group has a nice large symmetrical structure with nice circular umbra and penumbra structure. AR11141 Sunspot Group , on the other hand is nearing the NW limb and its pale structure is energize with a beautiful large eruptive prominence! AR11142 Sunspot Group in Ha wavelength also show a nice arching flare jumping above the group :) Numerous group of dark filaments are also visible near the group which adds beauty to it :)







Unfortunately, seeing becomes bad after I started to image the Sun in white light wavelength. Image was so jumpy that I had to waste a lot of frames for each of the 3 sunspot groups and can only come out with very few fair frames for me to use to compose each image. Nevertheless, the 3 images still shows some details but a bit noisy :(






I do hope to do better white light imaging tomorrow if seeing and weather condition permit me to.