Full Moon - February 26, 2013

I went home tonight and was happy to see the Full Moon visible from my observing window once again after several months of obstruction from view! So I didn't waste time to get a shot of the Moon with my Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS L lens set at 400mm f/8 on sturdy tripod. Will be trying to image again the Moon craters up close in 3-4 days pass tonight's Full Moon :)

Ultra Wide Angle Sunset Images - February 24, 2013

As I went with my family as well as my in laws at Trinoma Mall in Quezon City, I had an opportunity to test shot the Canon EFS 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 ultra wide angle lens after sunset shots at the roof deck of the mall. Wow! the ultra wide angle shots gave me some positive expectation that will be in store for me to image the Summer Milky Way mounted on my Vixen Polarie mount this coming March New Moon :)

Solar Imaging Session - February 18, 2013 (Huge Long SE Dark Filament!!!)

They sky this morning is very hazy and seeing is very poor. I nevertheless proceeded to observe the Sun in Ha only as image was very soft and hard to focus due to thick haze that I encountered in the morning. There is a huge long dark filament in the SE quadrant that is a joy to look at and image despite the bad seeing condition. There are 2 nice large eruptive prominences that are visible in the NE and SE limb. Several nice sunspot groups are also visible on the Sun's disk namely AR11675 in the NE quadrant, AR11671 in the NW quadrant, AR11676 and AR11673 in the SE quadrant and last but not the least AR11672 in the SW quadrant. Since I will be off to my provincial trip, my next solar imaging session will be in the weekend.

Solar Imaging Session - February 14, 2013 (Huge Hedgerow Prominence)

The sky this morning is very hazy and seeing condition is poor. There is a huge hedgerow prominence that is visible in the SE limb that caps today's Valentine Day :) AR11670 Sunspot Group has shrink in size and only AR11671 Sunspot Group is large and also a joy to look at despite the poor seeing condition.

Solar Imaging Session - February 11, 2013 (Beautiful Curved / Arching Dark Filament !!!)

The sky this morning is hazy and seeing condition is poor. AR11670 Sunspot Group is huge and nice to looked at. There are 4 sunspot groups on the Sun namely AR11670, 11667, possible new 11671 and 11672. What caught my attention this morning is the presence of a beautiful curved or arching dark filament visible in the SW quadrant. Overall, the Sun is fair in solar activity.

Solar Imaging Session - February 8, 2013 (Huge Hedgerow Prominence!!!)

The sky this morning is hazy and seeing condition is poor. Lots of huge dark filaments are still visible between AR11667 and AR11665 Sunspot Groups. A very huge hedgerow prominence is visible in the SW limb that is a joy to look at despite poor seeing condition. Some large group of eruptive prominences are also visible in the NE limb. AR11667 Sunspot Group continues to shrink in size but is still showing some signs of activity by virtue of a small spiral dark filament snaking its way around the group. Rest of the groups are quiet.

Solar Imaging Session - February 7, 2013 (Large Proms !!!)

The sky this morning is hazy and seeing condition is fair only. AR11667 Sunspot Group had simmered down after a huge bright flare eruption yesterday morning but some small residues can still be seen on the group. Numerous huge prominences can be seen in the NE, SE and SW limb! The long dark filament between AR11667 and AR11665 Sunspot Groups is still visible.

Solar Imaging Session - February 6, 2013 ( Bright Flare in AR11667 Sunspot Group!!!)

The sky this morning is slightly hazy and seeing condition is fair. What caught my attention this morning is for me to be able to observe a nice bright flare eruption on AR11667 Sunspot Group which produces an inky-dark plume of plasma spiralling away from the explosion! It was a joy to monitor it as well as image the event. AR11667 Sunspot Group was silent for the past few days and the outburst this morning is a welcome treat for me :) Based on spaceweather.com " The magnetic canopy of decaying sunspot AR1667 erupted this morning (Feb. 6th @ 00:21 UT), producing a long duration C9-class solar flare and hurling a coronal mass ejection (CME) into space. According to first-look images from NASA's STEREO-B spacecraft, the CME appears to be heading in the general direction of Earth. If so, the likely time of arrival would be Feb. 8-9. " Several huge long dark filament are visible in between AR11667 and AR11665 Sunspot Groups. Large prominences are also visible in the SE, SW and NW limb that are worth observing. I was able to image both AR11667 and AR11665 Sunspot Group at high resolution in white light wavelength. A nice observing and imaging session this morning for me!!!

Solar Imaging Session - February 5, 2013

The sky this morning is cloudy but I was able to get one shot of the surface detail through my PST-Ha which shows a lot of long dark filaments in between AR11667 and AR11665 Sunspot Groups. There is also a nice size eruptive prominence visible in the NW limb but clouds got in the way and I had to call it a day as i have to go to work.

House Birding Session - February 4, 2013

While I was busy processing my solar images in the afternoon, I saw birds chirping near my window so I brought out my Canon EOS 500D DSLR with Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 set at 400mm f/6.3 to image it before it flies away :)

Solar Imaging Session - February 4, 2013

The sky this morning is clear but seeing condition is not that good. 2 moderate size sunspot groups namely AR11667 and AR11665 Sunspot Groups are the interesting groups on the Sun right now. Numerous large dark filaments are also visible between the 2 groups. Several group of large eruptive prominences are also visible in the SE limb. The Sun is getting quiet again but I do hope there will be a new alrge group that will spiced up the quiet Sun in the days to come.