Lunar Imaging Session - February 23, 2018

I got to test my old ATIK 16HR CCD camera to test image on the Quarter Moon mounted on Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS L lens. My purpose to use it is to rehearse myself once again on how to use it. Also, I want to test on the new heat pads that I mounted near the camera sensor to see if it helps eliminate the frosting problem on this CCD as there is no Temperature Set Point on this old camera. After running it more than 1.5 hours, no frost on the CCD sensor so far so I guess it might be working. Looking forward to finally again use it since 2016. I also found out that this sensitive camera is prone to light bleeding if used on a bright subject such as the Moon so I tried using a red filter but I still get some light bleeding a bit but is a bit better than without any filter installed to dim the Moon further. Anyway, the bleeding was further removed with some processing. The session run quite ok and I'm very happy on the result so Im looking forward to the next Caliraya session in March and hopefully get some deep sky images there.

Solar Imaging Session - February 16, 2018

The sky this afternoon is partly cloudy and seeing condition is poor. AR2699 Sunspot Group is about to exit the western limb in a day or two so solar activity is expected to lower down once again without a new sunspot group emerging from the eastern limb tentatively.

Solar Imaging Session - February 9, 2018

The sky this afternoon is clear but very hazy. Seeing condition is also very poor. AR2699 Sunspot Group continues to develop slowly. and flaring activity is starting to mellow down. No big prominences are visible on the disk as well :(

Solar Imaging Session - February 8, 2018

The sky this afternoon is partly cloudy and hazy. Seeing condition is fair. Finally some new moderate size sunspot is visible now and designated as AR2699 Sunspot Group. Some flaring activity inside its core structure while it is also nice to view in white light as well. Hope this group develop some more in its structure.

Solar Imaging Session - February 2, 2018

The sky this afternoon was partly cloudy but ALPer Mike Enage and I got to meet in the afternoon for a solar session as he wants to get into solar observation and imaging this year. Since the Sun is bare with no sunspots visible, we observe the Sun in Ha wavelength. There is a large eruptive prominence in the SE limb and aside from this prominence, the Sun is awfully very quiet :(

January 31, 2018 Total Lunar Eclipse Imaging Session

Last January 31, 2018, I, together with members of Astronomical League of the Philippines (ALP) went to SM By The Bay , SM Mall of Asia, Pasay City to do a free public viewing session as well as observe and image the Total Lunar Eclipse / Blue Moon / Super Perigee Moon / Blood Moon. I used a Canon EOS 400D DSLR with Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS L lens set at 400mm f/11 mounted on a Kenko Sky Memo-R star tracker to document the eclipse. More than 10 telescopes were set up by ALP members with more than 2500+ people got the witness the eclipse live through various telescopes.