Solar Imaging Session - May 1, 2017

The sky this morning is clear and seeing condition is fair. 2 sunspot groups are visible on the Sun's disk but both are relatively small with new AR2654 Sunspot Group only pore like structure. AR2653 Sunspot Group has a small compact core structure but is nice to look at in Ha wavelength. AR2654 Sunspot Group shows some minimal flaring activity inside its core.

Solar Imaging Session - April 29, 2017

I wake up late as very tired from my provincial trip and got wet as well coming home last night. I was only able to do Ha wavelength because of the situation. Anyway, AR2653 Sunspot Group is still very active while departing AR2651 Sunspot Group is silently departing towards the NW limb. There is also a nice huge eruptive prominence in the NE limb.

Solar Imaging Session - April 28, 2017

The sky this morning is clear and seeing condition is good. AR2651 Sunspot Group is nearing the NW limb and is starting to quiet down a bit while AR2653 Sunspot Group is still a bit active. In white light wavelength. Both groups are small but stable. Almost the same size and structure.

Solar Imaging Session - April 27, 2017

The sky this morning is partly cloudy but seeing condition is ok. AR2651 and AR2653 Sunspot Groups show a lot of flaring activity inside its cores in Ha wavelength but very quiet and small in white light wavelength. There is also a nice group of large eruptive prominences in the SW limb.

Solar Imaging Session - April 23, 2017

The sky this morning is clear and seeing condition is fair. AR2651 Sunspot Group in Ha wavelength is ejecting some flares from its main core while new AR2653 Sunspot Group is quiet. There is also a huge , wide dark filament in the NE limb. No big prominences visible except for a few small ones.

Solar Imaging Session - April 21, 2017

The sky this morning is very hazy and seeing condition is fair. I initially had a hard time focusing on the Sun as all are wobbly but after an hour, the seeing stabilizes a bit for me to image AR2651 Sunspot Group flaring up as well as 3 huge prominences visible both at NE and NW limb! The NE limb has 2 huge ones. one faint and the other bright while the best of the 3 is visible in the NW limb producing a beautiful loop prominence! The sky then clouded out again only for me to recapture AR2651 Sunspot Group in white light after lunch with fair seeing condition.

Heating Up My Old ATIK 16HR camera

Problem with the old but trusty ATK 16HR CCD camera is that it has a frost problem when it reaches maximum temperature of 25 deg C below ambient temperature. As the ccd front glass cover starts to frost, it will produce a small blur in the middle of the field of view thus hampering imaging session so one has to use a hair blower set at low setting to disperse the frost from the glass. But after another 30 mins or less, frost will return and one has to do again the dryer remedy and this is tedious. This wont occur if one is imaging in the city where temperature is high in our country. As long as the outside temperature doesnt fall below 25deg C, most of the time , one can get away with frost. But since one needs a dark sky to do serious deep sky imaging like in Caliraya, Laguna where average temp can go down to about 25 deg C in the summer and as low as 18 deg C during "Ber" months. This is trouble. But the modern CCD nowadays has a set temp mode which one can lessen the cold Peltier cooler. This is mostly remedied. But since I don't have resources to get a new one, I'm stuck with the use of dryer till I tested using a dew heater strip near the nosepiece of the camera and it does helps but problem is too many dangling cords around the camera and is prone to accidental snapping of wires thus when i hear ZWO made a cheap but reliable dew heater thin strip for their ASI cool camera. I tested one for my 16HR as their version is very thin but unfortunately, it doesn't fit into the back nosepiece of my 16HR as it is too thick and wide :( But i got to check that I can attach it directly to the T2 ring between the camera and the filter drawer or wheel and it is still close to the cover glass and the power is drawn together with the camera power by way of split wires with connector and after installing them last night. It looks like it is worth it and I hope to be able to test it on our upcoming Caliraya imaging session to see if it works under the condition there. Will give further updates after the test.

Solar Imaging Session - April 20, 2017

The sky this morning is very cloudy and I had a hard time doing any imaging as the clouds are very pesky this morning! But after lunch , I was able to get another attempt at the Sun and seeing condition is fair. AR2651 Sunspot Group continues to grow a little bigger as it comes out of Wilson Effect. AR2651 Sunspot Group in Ha wavelength is very active and I'm expecting it to be even more active as the days comes toward this weekend in time for the Global Astronomy Month's SUNDay Free Solar Public Viewing event on April 23, 2017 (Sunday) 3:00-6:30pm PST at SM Mall of Asia By The Bay (SMBY). When I'm going to image the Sun in white light wavelength , seeing deteriorates but I still proceeded to image it despite the poorer condition.

Solar Imaging Session - April 19, 2017

The sky this morning is partly cloudy and I had a hard time imaging. As i concentrated on AR2651 Sunspot Group development, there is a large hedgerow prominence just above the NE limb. As i was compositing, I saw a faint large ring just beside the limb where AR2651 is located and I turn up exposure and behold! A huge looped prominence with the shape of a half heart emerging from the limb! I had to readjust camera position so that I can squeeze both prominences as well as AR2651 Sunspot Group and a large dark filament in one frame as too many clouds for me to take the risk to individually image all. Aside from that, I was also able to image AR2650 Sunspot Group as well as the Long Dark Filament in the Southern limb before I got obstructed by our damn roof :( So no white light image of AR2651 Sunspot Group :(

Solar Imaging Session - April 18, 2017

The sky this morning is partly clear but seeing condition is good. Former AR2644 Sunspot Group has emerged out of the eastern limb and is now designated AR2651 Sunspot Group. There is also a possibility of a new sunspot group developing above AR2651 Sunspot Group as well. It looks like the coming week will be exciting to monitor as everyone is probably hoping that AR2651 Sunspot Group will be giving a good show on both white light and Ha wavelength. The southern long dark filament is still visible. Numerous prominences also perked up the past few days solar boredom. AR2650 Sunspot Group continues to decay further as it nears the western limb.

Solar Imaging Session - April 17, 2017

The sky this morning is hazy and seeing condition is fair. AR2650 Sunspot Group in Ha wavelength is almost calming down dramatically and the only prominent feature on the Sun right now is the long dark filament in tbe southern limb. No large prominences are also visible this morning. Very boring session :(

Solar Imaging Session - April 16, 2017

The sky this morning is partly cloudy but seeing condition is good. AR2650 Sunspot Group is gone but its remnant can still be seen in Ha wavelength. There is also a nice group of eruptive prominence in the NE limb. The huge long dark filament visible yesterday in the south limb has snapped already and its main filament component is still visible and still quite long till now. No new sunspot group has yet emerge out of the eastern limb.

Solar Imaging Session - April 15, 2017

I wake up late this morning as my back hurts after a 3.5 hour swim with my family at Ace Water Spa to cool off my hot body. The sky this morning is partly cloudy but seeing condition is poor as I had a hard time focusing on the Sun! AR2650 Sunspot Group is losing steam as even in Ha wavelength, the flaring activity inside its core is starting to die down. The huge long dark filament is extremely long that I need to reduce down my usual 400mm focal length to 300mm just to fit the entire filament in the field of view of my ZWO ASI120MM webcam at full 1280x960 image resolution. I wasn't able to image AR2650 Sunspot Group in white light wavelength as I got obstructed by the roof already.

Solar Imaging Session - April 14, 2017

The sky this morning is clear but seeing is fair. AR2648 Sunspot Group officially exits the western limb. AR2650 Sunspot Group looks like starting to decay yesterday has now sprung up a few more spots on its end thus lengthening its size a bit are are mostly pore like structures. No large prominences are also visible except for a huge long dark filament near the southern limb crossing the central meridian.