Solar Imaging Session - November 1, 2015

The sky is very cloudy this morning and I was only able to get a shot of AR2443 Sunspot Group through a small opening before getting clouded out again. Need to prepare ourselves to visit my dad's tomb as today is All Saint's Day.

Solar Imaging Session - October 31, 2015

The sky this morning is very hazy and lots of clouds as well :( But I still forced myself to image AR2443 Sunspot Group through passing clouds. Also visible is a large eruptive prominence in the SE limb. I didn't attempt anymore white light because of the bad condition.

SolarActivity Picture of the Day - October 30, 2015

My October 30, 2016 Ha image of the Huge Eruptive Prominence in the SW limb was selected by SolarActivity FB page as their SolarActivity Picture of the Day for October 30, 2015! Really brightens up my day despite cloudy and hazy morning sky.

Lunar Imaging Session -October 30, 2015

The sky tonight is clear but I had to wait late int he evening to be able to image the Moon as well as test my mount's gear mesh as I seems to still be a bit tight so need to adjust a little bit more tonight. I test the Janssen / Fabricus Crater Region using ZWO ASI120MM webcam at prime focus of Meade 8" f/10 SCT.

Solar Imaging Session - October 30, 2015

I was caught off guard that I can see the Sun through my observing window at 8:45am! I quickly setup my solar imaging system and start to image the Sun. There is a huge eruptive prominence visible on the SW limb while another big sunspot group designated AR2443 is coming out from the eastern limb! Unfortunately, I didn't get enough time to image AR2443 Sunspot Group as the Sun is already starting to get obstructed by our roof :( Anyway,I will be ready to tomorrow for sure.

Lunar Imaging Session - October 29, 2015

Got to test out my Vixen GP-DX mount's backlash adjustment tonight on the Moon. It still needs a tad more adjustment to finer tune it. I image the waning gibbous moon as well as its two large craters namely Langrenus and Petavius craters using my TV-101 refractor with negative projection with Canon EOS 500D DSLR and close ups using ZWO ASI120MM webcam with TV 5x Powermate. Seeing condition is a bit poor though tonight.

Lunar Imaging Session - October 27, 2015

The sky this evening is clear and the hard rain this late afternoon have almost remove the haze that I had noticed the past few days. I use my Canon EOS 500D DSLR with Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS L lens set at 400mm f/11 to capture tonight's full moon.

Solar Imaging Session - October 26, 2015

The sky this morning is clear but very hazy for the past 3 days already. Seeing condition is fair though. AR2436 Sunspot Group is the only big group visible on the Sun right now together with several groups of small sunspots. Very quiet Sun with only AR2436 Sunspot Group in Ha wavelength showing some moderate flaring activity inside its core. Even prominences are also very quiet except for a large hedgerow prominence in the NW limb. I also tested full disk solar white light using ZWO ASI120MM webcam on Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS L lens instead of my usual traditional Canon EOS 500D DSLR at negative projection on TV-101 refractor.

Solar Imaging Session - October 25, 2015

The sky this morning is clear but very hazy! Seeing condition is also fair but it was very obvious the effects of the thick haze as I had a hard time focusing and my exposure settings are thrown off a bit far :( So I just wrap up the session with a wide shot Ha image of AR2436 Sunspot together with numerous group of eruptive prominences as well as dark filaments. Departing AR2434 Sunspot Group can be seen in the SW limb about to exit into the limb. Since I only had one image for the session, I did a monochrome and color version of the image.

Lunar Imaging Session - October 24, 2015

I miss imaging the Moon but is lazy to haul down my Vixen GP-DX mount from 3rd floor to laundry area at the ground floor so I opted to test a new imaging configuration by using my ZWO ASI120MM webcam with my Canon EF 100-400mm f.4.5-5.6 IS L Lens on Vixen Polarie star tracker set at lunar rate. I was a bit surprised by the tracking accuracy of my Polarie as it was able to track my Clavius crater region shot set at 400mm with double stacked 2x barlow lens. Nevertheless, not that high magnification shot but I'm very pleased with the result.

Solar Imaging Session - October 24, 2015

The sky this morning is clear and seeing condition is fair. AR2436 Sunspot Group is not that photogenic as only the main core is big while the rest of its component is pore like in structure. In Ha wavelength, there is a huge wide hedgerow prominence visible in the SE limb while AR2436 Sunspot Group is surrounded by moderate flaring activity. There is also a very long dark filament at the northwest region above AR2436 Sunspot Group. Aside from these features, AR2434 Sunspot Group is fading fast and is about to exit into the SW limb as well as several small sunspot groups which are visible on the full disk white light image that I also took this morning.

Solar Imaging Session - October 15, 2015

I was able to make another quickie check on the Sun this lunchtime through Ha wavelength. New AR2434 Sunspot Group is moderate in size but not that big yet to get excited on in white light. In Ha wavelength, AR2434 Sunspot Group shows sign of solar activity inside its core and is surrounded by some moderate size dark filaments.

Solar Imaging Session - October 11, 2015

With my solar imaging observing window coming to an end with the Sun moving too east as they days pass by. I had no choice but to only image on Sundays only :( Anyway, I was able to get a chance to image the Sun in Ha wavelength and only image the NW limb containing 2 large group of eruptive prominences. AR2430 and 2431 sunspot groups are small pores and inconspicuous so I just view them visually only.

Solar Imaging Session - October 9, 2015

I was able to get a peek at the Sun this lunch time and saw yesterday's faint looped prominence erupted into a huge beautiful looped prominence! But the appearance of the huge prominence looks like it is already in the ejecting stage but nevertheless, still a nice view both in laptop screen as well as visual view. Yesterday's NE eruptive prominence had already collapsed as well but one can still see the remnants of it.

Solar Imaging Session - October 8, 2015

I was able to get a quickie snapshot of the Sun in Ha wavelength with 2 nice large eruptive prominences both in NE and SW limb. Aside from these several small prominences can be seen.

Solar Imaging Session - October 7, 2015

Still down with flu and resting at home, I managed to snap a slightly quiet Sun before lunch time in Ha wavelength. Seeing condition is fair. AR2427 Sunspot Group is nearing the NW limb while a new small AR2429 Sunspot Group can also be seen in the SE limb. Aside from these groups, a feature with viewing today is a large eruptive prominence visible near the SW limb together with large wide dark filament.

Solar Imaging Session - October 3, 2015

The sky is partly cloudy but has some cloud openings for me to take a lone shot of the Sun today. As expected AR2422 is almost gone on the limb as well as AR2420 Sunspot Group leaving AR2427 Sunspot Group as the best group to observe and image. I captured AR2427 Sunspot Group together with departing AR2420 Sunspot with also produces a nice large looped prominence on the NW limb.