Mayon Volcano Imaging Session - September 27, 2014

I wake up again early around 5:00am to check on Mayon Volcano for the last time before I headed back to Naga City later. As expected, I wasn't able to record any orange lava glow once again! :( I think the volcano will not be erupting anytime based from my experience imaging Mayon since 1980s. The small lava flow visible past 2 weeks ago is just a sort of small burp only :) Strangely though was the fact that the local government raised the alert level to 3 might be a bit exaggerated IMHO. I think Alert level 1 should be more appropriate and only evacuate up to maximum 2 kms danger zone only. I pity the people being forced to live in cramp school grounds as I heard a lot of them are complaining on overcrowded environment and lack of food and water. I can understand as well the local government decision to safeguard their people but I felt this eruption matter is a bit exaggerated. I do hope that the local folks will be allowed to return to their home outside the 2km danger zone so they can live in a better environment. Anyway, Here are some of my last day shots that I took of the volcano using Canon EOS 500D DSLR on Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS L lens set at f/16. Nevertheless, the 3 day session in monitoring Mayon is still worth it as Mayon is majestically beautiful :)

Mayon Volcano Imaging Session - September 26, 2014

I wake up once again early around 5:00am to check on Mayon Volcano if I would be able to get some lava glow shots. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to record in successive days any orange glow but was able to image the lava dome on top of the crater as well as some more smoke coming out of the volcano than previous day. Here are some shots that I took of the volcano using Canon EOS 500D DSLR on Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS L lens set at f/16.

Mayon Volcano Imaging Session - September 25, 2014

I wake up early around 5:00am to check on Mayon Volcano to see if I would be able to get some lava glow shots. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to record any orange glow but was able to image the lava dome on top of the crater as well as some smoke coming out of the volcano. Here are some shots that I took of the volcano using Canon EOS 500D DSLR on Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS L lens set at f/16.

Solar Imaging Session - September 23, 2014

The sky this morning is cloudy but just before lunchtime, the sky opens up thus tempting me to image the big sunspot group AR12172 which is coming out from the SE limb. AR12173 and 12171 Sunspot Groups are not that big but the penumbral structure of the 2 groups are nice and symmetrical :) I was also able to image white light full disk as well. In Ha wavelength, AR12172, 12173 and 12171 Sunspot Groups are beautiful and shows a lot of activity inside its core. There is also a large dark filament visible in the NE limb as well. Unfortunately, I won't be able to monitor further as I'm in Bicol work trip till next week :(

October 8, 2014 Total Lunar Eclipse

There will be a total lunar eclipse that will be visible in Eastern Asia on October 8, 2014. The Moon will become reddish in color during its 1 hour of totality phase. But since the Moon will be passing to the north of Earth's umbral center region, this will be a relatively bright total lunar eclipse with the southern part of the Moon showing a darker coppery red tint compare to its northern polar region area. Nevertheless, this will still be a very nice eclipse as the planet Uranus will be situated more or less about 1 degree NW of the Moon during totality phase. For Manila and rest of the Philippines, the first part of penumbra and early part of umbral (partial) stage will not be visible as the Moon will rise 20 minutes after the Moon enters partial phase :( But we will be able to observe the rest of the eclipse phase till it exits the penumbra at around 9:34pm. For any inquiry on the total lunar eclipse, please contact ALP President James Kevin Ty at +639178559863 and ALP Secretary Christopher Louie Lu at +639193057176 . Feel free to share.

Solar Imaging Session - September 12, 2014

The sky this morning is very cloudy ! I can see the Sun glow forcing its way out from the smallest cloud openings. Since I was very eager to monitor the 2 large sunspot groups so I still proceeded to setup my solar white light scope at around 7:20am and was able to see a small cloud opening for me to image the 2 two groups before I got clouded out and obstructed by the damn tall buildings! To my surprise despite the horrific clouds, the moment of seeing when I was imaging 12158 sunspot group is excellent! It was only maybe less than 2 minutes of excellent seeing before it starts to deteriorate right away! Nevertheless, I was able to still get a decent shot of 12157 sunspot group before it got clouded out again :) Feeling lucky I should say :)

Lunar Imaging Session - September 11, 2014

The sky this evening is clear so I did some lunar imaging to practice on close up shots of the moon craters. Seeing condition is also not bad. I also image the waning gibbous at full disk shot as well as some interesting crater regions such as Petravius, Endymion and Furnerius crater regions.

Solar Imaging Session - September 11, 2014

The sky this morning is clear and seeing is not bad. AR12158 and 12157 Sunspot Groups are the groups to be monitored as they show very nice umbral and penumbral structures. Also, early this morning , Sunspot AR12158 erupted on Sept. 10th at 17:46 UT (Sept 11th 1:46am Philippine Time) producing an X1.6-class solar flare. I was only able to get some of the remnants of that flare this morning. There is a nice group of eruptive prominence that is visible in the SE limb but the rest of the solar limb in Ha is quiet. Numerous flares can still be seen specially on AR12157 Sunspot Group as well as AR12158 Sunspot Group. Overall, a nice solar imaging session as I was able also to do both white light full and high resolution and Ha images as well.

Solar Imaging Session - September 7, 2014

The sky this morning is hazy and seeing condition is poor. There are 2 nice large sunspot group in the eastern limb AR12158 and 12155 Sunspot Groups. Several nice large eruptive prominences are also visible. Sigh! Hope to get better seeing conditions ion the days to come.

Solar Imaging Session - September 5, 2014 (Huge Eruptive Prominence!)

The sky this morning is partly clear and lots of clouds as well. I quickly scan the Sun in Ha wavelength and saw a huge eruptive prominence in the NW limb! The previous long dark filament is still visible but has partly rotated out of the NW limb already. But another new one is visible near the center of the solar disk. I got to image several sunspot groups AR12156, 12155, 12154, 12152 and 12153 before clouds covered the Sun again :( Sigh!

Reprocessed Constellation Orion Region

I have nothing to do this evening that I want to reprocess some old astro image so I pulled out one of my earlier March 1, 2014 image of Constellation Orion Region shot taken through my modified Canon EOS 1000D DSLR with Canon EFS 10-22mm set at 22mm on Vixen Polarie Star Tracker. Exposure was 30 minutes at ISO 1600. BEFORE

AFTER

Solar Imaging Session - September 1, 2014

The sky this morning is hazy and slightly cloudy as well. I started out with Ha imaging first to check out solar features as well as fine tune my focus for my first solar Ha imaging again since April. Immediately caught my eyes right away is the very long dark filament near the center of the solar disk! Also visible are several beautiful sunspot groups but unfortunately, I was only able to image AR12149 Sunspot group only as clouds started to cover up the entire Sun :( Sigh! Oh well.... better luck again tomorrow...