Solar Imaging Session - August 23, 2014

The sky this morning is partly cloudy and very hazy. Seeing condition is fair though. This is my first solar imaging session since April 17th!!! As I was trying to focus and test new feathertouch focuser configuration on my solar imaging, I had to check solar orientation as well as initial focus point which I will be using for the succeeding sessions. As I got to get a good focus, CLOUDS (What else is new???) started to cover the Sun! I was very frustrated as I had to wake myself up after a long tiring bus trip from Baguio around midnight! Good thing, before I call it quits as the Sun is near my roof obstruction already, clouds teased me and thought I couldn't take a shot of the Sun anymore as I was preparing to packed up. I quickly grab that a very short opportunity to image AR12146 before it covered the Sun again after 3 minutes of open sky gap. Image is acceptable despite the unstable seeing condition. Overall, I'm still happy at least I got to image and see old Sol up close and personal again.

Lunar Imaging Session - August 14, 2014

The sky this evening is very hazy and seeing condition is not good. Nevertheless, I proceeded with the session not expecting too much out of the session. I tried to use a 2x barlow this evening but focus can't seem to lock down on the subject so I revert back to yesterday prime focus configuration to salvage what fair image I could get tonight. After fighting with haze, clouds and bad seeing, I called it quits after 30 minutes when the Moon got clouded out totally :(

Lunar Imaging Session - August 13, 2014

I waited for the Waning Gibbous Moon to rise from the obstructed building for me to do some lunar imaging session at high resolution close up shots of the lunar features. Unfortunately, seeing condition tonight is not that good so I didn't force myself to do full high resolution imaging but only at prime focus of Meade 8" f/10 SCT with ZWO ASI120MM webcam. Results is nevertheless acceptable and I'm quite happy with it despite the bad seeing. Oh well. better than nothing as they say :)

Lunar Imaging Session - August 11, 2014 Super Moon (Perigee Full Moon)

I waited for the Perigee Full Moon aka Super Moon this morning at around 2:09am to image the biggest Perigee Moon for the year 2014. This is not only the closest and the largest full moon of the year. It also presents the moon’s closest encounter with Earth for all of 2014. The Moon will not be this close again until the full moon of September 28, 2015. I also made a comparison image of this morning's Perigee Full Moon against the Full Moons of July 12, 2014 and April 15, 2014. All 3 images were taken using same lens so I can make more accurate size difference. I used a Canon EOS 500D DSLR camera with Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS L lens set at 400mm f/11.

Lunar Imaging Session - August 10, 2014

The sky this evening is partly cloudy and a bit hazy. I was planning to image the Perigee Moon later at around 2:09am but a bit worried of the weather so I took an assurance image of the Full Moon at around 10:30pm so that in case weather gone bad later after midnight. I will still have a Pre-Perigee Full Moon that I can make comparison with last month's Perigee Full Moon aka SuperMoon. :) Image taken using Canon EOS 500D DSLR with Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS L lens set at 400mm f/11. 1/250sec exposure at ISO 100.

Lunar Imaging Session - August 9, 2014

After I came home from work. I saw the Waxing Gibbous Moon peeping out of the tall building so I use this opportunity to image the Moon through the William Optics Megrez 90FD refractor both full disk with Canon EOS 500D DSLR and high resolution with ZWO ASI120MM webcam and TV 5x Powermate. Seeing condition is poor but I still proceeded with imaging the Moon before I went out to have a meeting as well as visit my Godmother who is confine in the hospital. I image the Bailly crater region before I got obstructed again by the roof. Anyway, still happy with the result despite the poor seeing condition.