Solar Imaging Session - February 27, 2017

The sky this morning is cloudy but I was able to get a small window late in the morning before noon to image the Sun at the laundry area. AR2638 Sunspot Group is starting to quiet down while new small AR2640 Sunspot Group, on the other hand, shows some flaring activity inside its core. Only small prominences are visible today.

Various Daystar Quark Chromosphere Tuner Setting Calibration on AR2638 Sunspot Group

Itching to get an idea of where specifically my Quark Chromosphere Ha filter tuner setting should be optimal, I forced myself to haul down again at the laundry area to get some quickie shots of AR2638 Sunspot Group. Based from my previous last rough tuner calibration testing, i concluded that 0 setting is almost optimal, while going to + settings will get me to off band tuning while going to (-) setting which is counterclockwise from 0 is the way to go to get optimal tuning. In light of this, I concentrated this morning to fine tune my tuner settings but I was only able to get tuner calibration settings of only from 0 to -4 (counterclockwise from 0 setting) before clouds interfered again. From the looks of it, it seems the 0 and -1 setting is a toss up for best setting for my needs but somehow I think the 0 setting is the right setting for my solar setup. What do you think??? :) Comments and critics are welcome. Thanks.

Solar Imaging Session - February 25, 2017

The sky this morning is clear and seeing condition is good. I only have a very short observing window now of less than 15 mins because the Sun exits the eastern building very high already thus giving me that less time to quickly image it before it gets obstructed by the roof of our house :( Anyway, AR2638 Sunspot Group still shows some mild flaring activity and there is also a huge eruptive prominence visible in the NW limb.

Solar Imaging Session - February 24, 2017

The sky this morning is cold and very cloudy. Seeing condition also not that good as well. I was only able to get a shot of AR2638 Sunspot Group through fast passing clouds so I have no calibration frame to even the illumination. But nevertheless, the short 40 sec AVIs still shows an acceptable image despite the weather condition. I decided to stick to my default 0 setting on the tuner.

Daystar Quark Chromosphere Maximum Tuner Setting Image Comparison on AR2638 Sunspot Group

I was also able to test out 3 maximum tuner setting on Daystar Quark Chromosphere Ha Filter done with ZWO ASI120MM webcam on Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS L lens set at 400mm f/5.6. Out of the 3 images, +5 which is clockwise from middle 0 setting looks going off band as flares are almost gone from this setting while 0 setting looks balance while -5 (counterclockwise from middle 0 setting) has more surface details but slightly loses flaring details a bit. Looks like I have to make another retest in the future between 0 to -3 again to get optimal setting I guess.

Solar Imaging Session - February 23, 2017

The sky this morning is fair and seeing condition is good. AR2638 Sunspot Group still shows some more flaring activity till now although it peaked yesterday. AR2637 Sunspot Group also shows some activity inside its group. There is also a nice huge faint hedgerow prominence visible in the NW limb. Overall, still not bad.

Solar Imaging Session - February 20, 2017

The sky this morning is cloudy and I had to wait for very long time for the Sun to come out of the building obstruction on my eastern horizon :(  Clouds getting thicker every moment and I had to fight through clouds to get only a shot of the large eruptive prominence in the NE limb.  I missed out the beautiful looped prominence visible last night from the US and European view :(  Anyway, I think Im starting to tame a bit the Quark Chromosphere Ha on my imaging system. and hopefully can do more finer details when seeing condition is good.

After I deliver lunch food to my son at school, the sky was partly cloudy a bit but ample blue sky so I went back to quickly setup as it's about to be obstructed again by our other roof! Got to image the huge hedgerow prominence on the western limb before obstruction sets in and ends my session.

Borg 7314 Short Profile Adapter for Quark Use

When I tested my Kenko 60mm f/9 refractor with 0.5x reducer, I was disappointed to learn that I can't reach focus even with the focuser barrel fully traveled in! It was almost close to focus maybe another 10mm further in :( 

So I have no choice but to get a super short profile 36.4mm to 31.7mm (1.25") eyepiece holder which the Borg #7314 adapter can provide me. My original 1.25" adapter length is 39mm compare to the Borg's 8mm length.  Since I need only maybe at most another 10mm inner focus travel, the extra 29mm allowance that the Borg adapter will provide me will surely give me the needed distance.  So now.... It's waiting game for next clear sunny sky ...

Lunar Imaging Session - February 10, 2017

Full Moon - February 10, 2017 . Taken with Samsung S7 Edge handheld afocal shot with Televue 8-24mm zoom lens set at 24mm on TV-101 refractor. 1/250sec exposure at ISO 100.

Solar Imaging Session - February 9, 2017

The sky this morning is clear and seeing condition is good. I change my imaging configuration once again and use my Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS L lens set at 400mm instead of the Kenko 60mm f.9 refractor to test a favorable compact solar imaging and visual setup that I can use on the ALP free public viewing session on February 12, 2017. Also on this setup for visual, I can use my star diagonal directly on the Daystar Quark Chromosphere Ha Filter with the Canon EF100-400mm L lens set at 400mm to view the Sun full disk with a Celestron 32mm Plossl. Contrast is not bad as well. Small AR2634 Sunspot Group is showing off this morning by producing M flare from its core structure! There is also a nice large eruptive prominence that is visible in the NW limb.

Lunar Imaging Session - February 7, 2017

The sky this evening is clear but seeing condition is poor. With all my astro gears transferred to our new place, I only got a flimsy 60mm f/9 refractor on a lightweight Nexstar mount to image the Waxing Gibbous Moon with my ZWO ASI120MM Webcam. I test shot one with 0.5x reducer while the other image using the standard webcam resolution. Image is fair as I'm not expecting this scope to perform better than my trusty TV-101 refractor which I will start using again when we completely transferred officially as still lots of stuffs to moved out and test throw away.

Solar Imaging Session - February 7, 2017

The sky today is cloudy and seeing condition is poor. I was only able to glimpse the Sun for a few minutes before clouds and roof obstruction ended my short session. Anyway, not much action today. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Solar Imaging Session - February 5, 2017

The sky this morning is clear and seeing is good. AR2632 Sunspot Group is near the NW limb already and should be out in a day or two. There is also a nice large eruptive prominence in the SW limb as well. Unless there is a new sunspot group coming out of the eastern limb. It will be again be a very quiet Sun this coming week :(

Solar Imaging Session - February 4, 2017

The sky this morning is partly clear but seeing condition is still poor. AR2632 and 2633 Sunspot Group are showing some flaring activity inside their cores while AR2632 also shows a nice dark filament coming out of the group.