Solar Imaging Session - April 1, 2017

The sky this morning is partly clear but seeing condition is very good! AR2645 Sunspot Group continues to have good flaring activity inside its core while departing AR2644 Sunspot Group still shows some mild flaring activity inside its core. There is also a huge eruptive prominence in the NE limb as well as a huge flat wide eruptive prominence on the SW limb.

Solar Imaging Session - March 31, 2017

The sky this morning is clear and seeing is fair. 2 beautiful large sunspot groups are visible on the Sun's disk namely AR2644 and 2645 Sunspot Groups. They are both nice to view either white light or in Ha wavelength. Both groups has active flaring activity inside their core. It's also been a while without a large sunspot group on the disk and these 2 groups are a welcome sight to solar observers and imagers. There is also a nice flat large prominence visible in the NW limb.

Deep Sky Imaging Session - March 25-26, 2017

I got to join some members of the Astronomical League of the Philippines to test a new site at Big Handys Ground Campsite in Tanay, Rizal. Its about 1.5 hours trip from Manila. Since the terrain is a bit hard to access without a 4x4 car, one would need to walk up about 200meters up a rough road and another 30-40 steps ladder to reach the camp site. The effort is worth it as one can get to see a beautiful 360 degree view of beautiful mountain range. With early knowledge of the terrain, I brought along my portable imaging setup which includes my Canon EOS1000D (M) and EOS 500D DSLRs mounted on top of a reliable Kenko Sky Memo-R star tracker. During the course of the night, I was bale to image NGC 3372 Eta Carina Nebula in Carina, NGC5139 Omega Centauri Globular Star Cluster in Centaurus, Comet 41/P Tuttle-Giacobini-Kreasak as well as the pair of M8 Lagoon and M20 Triffid Nebula in Sagittarius and last but not the least, the thin crescen Moon with Earthshine to conclude the session. I do hope to return back with my fellow ALPers in the months to come and we would like to thank the great hospitality of Mam May and Sir Ernie Serrano as well as fun time with their lovely dogs Ella, Tektite and my favorite Aria, Alaskan Malamute.

Solar Imaging Session - March 25, 2017

The sky this morning is clear and seeing if fair. There is a new AR2643 Sunspot Group in the Sun's surface right now but it is again a small group :( Several groups of prominences are visible but I concentrated only on the NW limb huge eruptive prominence as it is a joy to look at.

Solar Imaging Session - March 17, 2017

The sky this morning is clear but seeing condition is poor. Not much solar activity on the Sun except for a few moderate size prominences and a nice dark filament.

Solar Imaging Session - March 16, 2017

The sky this morning is clear and seeing condition is fair. No sunspot groups visible and all quiet except 3 nice group of eruptive prominence visible in the NW limb.

Solar Imaging Session - March 14, 2017

The sky this morning is clear but not much solar activity on the Sun except for a large dark filament on the center of he Sun's disk as well as some small prominences only. I capture only the dark filament before I got obstructed by the building.

Solar Imaging Session - March 12, 2017

I wake up late this morning due to tiredness last night. I just made a quickie shot of the 2 large Looped Prominences visible in the NW limb. Still a very quiet Sun with no sunspots visible on the Sun's surface :(

Lunar Imaging Session - March 10, 2017

The sky this evening is clear and seeing condition is good. I image the full disk Waxing Gibbous Moon as well as some close up shots of the lunar craters Tycho, Copernicus and Gassendi.

Solar Imaging Session - March 10. 2017

The sky this morning is clear and I was surprised that I can see sunrise now from my observing window but very low. I quickly setup my solar scope setup to quickly try to image the Sun before it gets blocked again by the building! From what I observed this morning, I have about less than 15mins worth of observing and imaging time for me to get it over it before the obstruction. The Sun is blank right now with no sunspot but in Ha wavelength, I got to see a large NW Hedgerow prominence. Seeing condition is also good despite its low altitude from the horizon when I image it.

After lunch, I double check the large hedgerow prominence I imaged this morning and kaboom! It has erupted and shows one faint tall eruption while other section of this prominence had started to collapse already but still a beauty to watched!!!

Lastly, Happy to see my morning shot of the large hedgerow prominence got selected by SolarActivity Image of the Day for March 10th! Yes!

Lunar Imaging Session - March 9. 2017

The sky this evening is very hazy and cloudy! I set up my portable imaging setup using ZWO ASI120MM webcam on Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS L lens set at 400mm f/5.6 with 2x barlow lens to image the Tycho crater region through passing clouds and small cloud opening before I totally got clouded out.

At around 8:30pm PST (Philippine Standard Time), the sky clear up a bit for me to image the Moon at full disk although the seeing condition and haziness is still present :(

Lunar Imaging Session - March 7, 2017

The sky this evening is partly cloudy but seeing condition is fair. I use my trusty ZWO ASI120MM webcam with Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5_5.6 IS L lens set at 400mm with either 2x Barlow or 5x Powermate to get some shots of the Tycho Clavius region as well as a full disk shot of the Waxing Gibbous Moon.

Lunar Imaging Session - March 6, 2017

The Quarter Moon tonight looks nice so I brought out my trusty old Canon EOS 500D DSLR with Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS L lens set at 400mm f/11 on tripod to image it as well as make a quick and dirty processing of the Moon.

Solar Imaging Session - March 5, 2017

The sky this morning is very cloudy and I had a hard time imaging the Sun. Seeing condition though is ok. But I was able to image AR2641/2642 Sunspot Group 2x times with a time span of about 20 minutes apart and one can see the dark filament and some some flare changes inside its core structure.