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Solar Imaging Session - February 11, 2012 (Large AR11416 Sunspot Group)

2012-02-11T08:21:00.000-08:00

The sky this morning is slightly hazy and seeing condition is not that good as well. The most prominence feature today is the big AR11416 Sunspot Group is nice to observe as well! 2 more small sunspot group namely AR11417 and AR11418 Sunspot Groups are very small. A large dark filament can also be seen in the NW quadrant as well as a nice large eruptive prominence in the SW quadrant.

I was also able to image AR11416 Sunspot Group in white light wavelength thru hazy sky but image is still ok a bit :0 Hope to get a better image of the group again tomorrow.

Solar Imaging Session - February 8, 2012 (Huge Prominence Galore !!!)

2012-02-08T16:44:00.001-08:00

The sky this morning was clear and seeing condition was fair. The NE large eruptive prominence has almost doubled in size this morning and what a sight to behold! One of the biggest that I had observe and image lately! There are lots of large eruptive prominences around the solar limb and I had to spend extra time to observe and image them all!

AR11410 is exiting the western limb while new AT11415 Sunspot Group is showing some small solar activity inside its core as it is also about to exit the western limb maybe in 2-3 days.

There are also several large dark filaments that can be seen in the NE and SE quadrant that add more excitement for this morning solar observing and imaging session!

Solar Imaging Session - February 7, 2012

2012-02-07T03:40:00.001-08:00

The sky this morning is clear and seeing condition is again fair. AR11410 and AR11413 Sunspot Group is near the edge of the western limb already and will exits the limb for sure today. There is a new possible new AR11415 Sunspot Group that is developing to the east of AR11410 Sunspot Group but I doubt it will get full develop before it exits the western limb.

There are also two nice large eruptive prominences tat are visible in the NE and NW quadrant to spice up the rather quiet Sun this morning.

Solar Imaging Session - February 6, 2012

2012-02-06T04:37:00.000-08:00

The sky this morning is partly hazy again but seeing was a bit better than the past few days. AR11410 still shows nice details amid its close proximity to the western limb. AR11413 Sunspot Group has decayed considerably but still has some small spots nevertheless.

Some moderate sized eruptive prominences can be seen in NW and Se quadrants. A nice large dark filament can also be seen in the NE quadrant. Overall, activity is quite low...... :( Hope the Sun will be active again a bit in the next few days to come!

Solar Imaging Session - February 5, 2012 (Nice Groups of Dark Filaments & Eruptive Prominences !!!)

2012-02-04T21:30:00.000-08:00

The sky this morning is partly hazy and seeing condition is fair. AR11410 and AR11413 Sunspot Groups are very quiet as it nears the western limb. But to add some spice in the supposed boring activity on the Sun are several groups of large dark filaments and eruptive prominences to give us some reason to still observe the Sun :)

Solar Imaging Session - February 2, 2012

2012-02-02T03:41:00.000-08:00

The sky this morning is again hazy and seeing condition is not good. AR11408 Sunspot Group is near the western limb and will be gone tomorrow. AR11410 Sunspot Group continues to maintain its size while AR11413 Sunspot Group continues to grow a bit. Not much solar activity today on the Sun :0

Solar Imaging Session - February 1, 2012

2012-01-31T17:05:00.000-08:00

The sky this morning is partly cloudy and hazy :( Seeing condition is also not that good. I was only able to grab 2 frames which centers on the AR11410 / AR11413 Sunspot Group as well as the active southern hemisphere solar activities before I got clouded out totally. Only small prominences are visible on the solar disk.

Solar Imaging Session - January 31, 2012

2012-01-31T03:08:00.000-08:00

The sky this morning is clear and seeing condition is also very good. AR11413 Sunspot Groups continues to grow in structure while AR11410 Sunspot Group continues to show good umbral structure inside its core. AR11408 Sunspot Group continues to decay as it nears the NW limb. The huge dark filament in the northern hemisphere is now starting to decay and lose its solid form. There are lots of small solar activities in the southern hemisphere. Small groups of eruptive prominences can be seen in the NE and NW limb.

Deep Sky Imaging Session - January 28-29, 2012

2012-01-30T04:06:00.000-08:00

Last Jan 28, I went with some members of the Astronomical League of the Philippines went to Caliraya, Laguna to do some observations as well as try to recover Comet Garrad & Asteroid 433 Eros.

We arrive at the site at around 7:00 pm. I brought along my usual portable setup with Canon EOS 500D DSLR on Canon EF100-400mm IS L lens on Kenko Sky Memo-R tracker.
As the sky started to open up late in the evening, I was finally able to polar align my mount and together with ALPer Christopher Louie Lu worked together to locate and image asteroid 433 Eros in the constellation of Sextan so that we can submit our images for parallax measurement to the Eros Parallax Project.

Before morning break, I was also able to image Comet 2009 P1 Garrad as well as M13 Hercules globular cluster in the constellation of Hercules before we head back home with a contended heart that we had a great time together!

Solar Imaging Session - January 30, 2012

2012-01-30T02:40:00.000-08:00

The sky this morning is clear and seeing condition was good. AR11410 Sunspot Group is the main group that is visible on the Sun's disk with a new AR11413 Sunspot Group emerging near AR11410 group while AR11408 continues to deteriorate in size as it nears the NW limb. Several small pores sunspot group are also visible on the Sun's disk namely AR11411 and AR11412 Sunspot Groups.

A Dark Filament in the Northern hemisphere is huge and looks like a straight wall. A jot to look at :) As for prominences, only small to moderate prominences are visible on the Sun's limb.

I also was able to image AR11410 and AR11413 Sunspot Group in white light wavelength. Overall, the Sun is very quiet.

Solar Imaging Session - January 27, 2012 (2 Large Eruptive Prominences & New AR11409 Sunspot Group!)

2012-01-26T20:23:00.000-08:00

I wake up late this morning as I was so tired last night. I quickly setup to observe the Sun and follow yesterday's NE large eruptive prominence. It has grown in size a bit and also starts to expand. A very nice prominence to observe indeed! There is also another beautiful eruptive prominence in the SW limb as well as several large dark filament in the NE and SE quadrant.

Another new sunspot group has emerged from the NE limb and this will probably be designated as AR11410. It also looks promising to grow a little bigger in the days to come.

After I image the Sun in Ha, clouds started to interfere with my white light imaging and seeing condition also drop significantly so images in white light are very poor today but I still proceeded to processed them to give an idea for solar viewers on what to expect when observing AR11408 and AR11410 Sunspot Groups :0

Solar Imaging Session - January 26, 2012 (Huge NE Eruptive Prominence!)

2012-01-25T19:49:00.000-08:00

The sky this morning is slightly hazy and seeing condition is again not good. I was still able to get an anti-climatic observation of the large AR11402 Sunspot Group which shows its high activity last Jan 23 which it was able to erupt a M9 flare. The group is already nearing the edge of the NW limb but it showed a farewell show for me with a nice arch flare from the group! Another nice sunspot group, AR11408 Sunspot Group is small and quiet but nice in structure.

What captures today's observation was a huge eruptive prominences as well as a huge dark filament in the NE limb! Quite beautiful pair :) The SE quadrant also shows a nice huge dark filament as well.

Solar Imaging Session - January 12, 2012 (Solar Caterpillar On The Loose !!!)

2012-01-11T22:46:00.000-08:00

The sky this morning is slightly hazy and seeing condition continues to be poor. AR11393 Sunspot Group is now on the edge of NW limb while AR11391 Sunspot Groups is behind it as well in the NW quadrant. AR11395 Sunspot Group is small but shows some small solar activity inside its core. Lots of Dark Filaments can be seen in the northern hemisphere. A faint large eruptive prominence can be seen in the SE limb. Lastly, the only eye catching solar event today is a very long eruptive prominence which looks like a caterpillar slowly moving along the NE limb :) LOL

Solar Imaging Session - January 10, 2012 (Huge NW Eruptive Prominence !)

2012-01-09T16:53:00.000-08:00

The Sun this morning is very cloudy and I got a small window of time to get a shot of the NW quadrant to image the huge eruptive prominence as well as large AR11391 and AR11393 Sunspot Groups. A nice bar prominence can also be seen in the SE limb.

Jupiter Imaging Session - January 7, 2012

2012-01-07T06:30:00.001-08:00

After I return home from work, I saw Jupiter quite high already and near zenith so I talked myself into doing some Jupiter imaging and observation. Seeing condition is not good in the early part of my session and after about an hour of cooling down the scope, seeing condition improves a little for me to image the giant planet.

Great Red Spot (GRS) is visible and quite easy to see even under 80x but employing a 2x barlow shows the GRS well. The GRS plume is still visible as well as 2 red barge visible on the North Equatorial Belt (NEB) region .

Solar Imaging Session - January 6, 2012 (Huge NE Eruptive Prominence Simmers Down !!!)

2012-01-06T06:45:00.000-08:00

The sky this morning is again very hazy and seeing condition again is very poor. The Huge NE eruptive prominence that was visible yesterday is still visible but had simmered down a bit in size so I guess very small remnant of this prominence is expected tomorrow morning IMHO. There is a new small AR11393 Sunspot Group that has emerge between AR11392 and AR11391 Sunspot Group. AR11386 Sunspot Group made one last farewell show in the SW limb with a bright flare in the limb. AR11389 and AR11388 Sunspot Group also gave a good solar activity view in the SW quadrant with a nice twirled dark filament.

In white light wavelength, I manage to image AR11391 , AR11389 and AR11388 Sunspot Groups as well as full disk shot amid bad seeing condition. Lastly, I want to bid my fellow solar imager friend Jan Timmermans good bye as I heard from fellow list members in PST Group of his death on January 4th :( With a sad heart, I will miss our friendship since 2007 when I joined the PST Group and we had been in constant communication and sharing notes of our regular solar observations and images. We both rely on each other's observation and images as we are almost +8 time zone difference and this give each other a head start on what to expect when we are setting up for our solar sessions. I would like to extend my sincere condolences to his wife and family. I'm sure Jan will still continue to look up to the sky in heaven with a perfect seeing condition than we here have. Good bye and rest in peace Jan. Will miss your solar images and communications...........

Solar Imaging Session - January 5, 2012 (Huge NE Eruptive Prominence !!!)

2012-01-05T02:20:00.000-08:00

The sky this morning is very hazy and seeing condition is also not very good. But I still proceeded to monitor the Sun nevertheless and got to see a huge eruptive prominence in the NE limb near AR11391 Sunspot Group! Amid the poor seeing, the prominence still stands out well than I expected. It surprised me this morning amid my expectation of a quiet Sun today. This just let us know that the Sun is a very dynamic object that can give us a lot of surprises when monitored on a regular basis! New AR11392 Sunspot Group contains small pores only while the quiet AR11390 eventually started to get active today as it nears the western limb. AR11389 continues to show some small solar activity inside its core while AR11388 Sunspot Group is quiet and low in solar activity.

An white light wavelength, AR11391 Sunspot Group now is the group to monitor as it grows a little larger now while AR11389 Sunspot Group continues to decay more and almost lost all its bigger umbral cores except for the main core which still shows nice structure. AR11388 Sunspot Group continues to be quiet in solar activity.

Solar Imaging Session - January 3, 2012

2012-01-03T04:57:00.000-08:00

The sky this morning is partly cloudy and hazy and seeing is also not that good but I still proceeded to observe and image the Sun in Ha wavelength. There is a new AR11391 Sunspot Group that is coming out from the NE limb. AR11389 and AR11388 Sunspot Groups continues to be very active in its core but large AR11389 Sunspot Group is now starting to decay and is losing some of its larger umbral core structures :( AR11390 and AR11386 Sunspot Groups shows very minimal solar activity inside their cores.

I wasn't able to do white light observation and imaging as clouds eventually covered the Sun thus ending my solar session this morning :(

Deep Sky Imaging Session - December 30, 2011

2011-12-31T20:55:00.000-08:00

Some ALPers went to Caliraya, Laguna last December 29-30, 2011 to do some deep sky observation and imaging before year ends. Although the early evening brought out some light rains and drizzles, it didn't discourage us to still do some observations and imaging around 11:00pm onwards. As for me, with constellation Orion already past meridian and going into western horizon, I tried to do some imaging on the IC2118 Witch Head Nebula in Eridanus was able to get some details despite some haze in the west as well as some thin clouds had hamper my imaging of the faint nebula. :( I will try again next imaging session in January.

I then proceeded to image NGC2244, a star cluster with Rosette Nebula in Monoceros. While it is also in the western sky already, I was still able to get a decent shot of the nebula amid limited sub exposure times. At around 4:00am, I together with fellow ALPer Arnel Campos tried to see if we can see a faint hint of the tail of Comet C/2011 W3 Lovejoy as well as Comet C/2009 P1 Garrad. Unfortunately, we couldn't see Comet Lovejoy but we already expected that as it is for Southern hemisphere view , just pushing our luck only :) LOL As for Comet Garrad, it was supposed to be easy to recover near the Hercules constellation but there is a pesky low horizon clouds covering the view from us until it is already too bright for us to see it even visually :( Well, better luck again for us in January imaging session.

Solar Imaging Session - January 1, 2012 (Large New Year SE Eruptive Prominence! )

2011-12-31T18:11:00.001-08:00

The sky this morning is very hazy due to last night's New Year's fireworks. Seeing condition is surprisingly good amid the pollution but I had to compensate on all exposures from what I normally use because of the condition this morning. In Ha wavelength, yesterday's SE large eruptive prominence is still visible as well as the NE long dark filament. AR11384 Sunspot Group has exited the eastern limb but some traces of the group can still be seen. Both AR11388 and 11389 Sunspot Groups shows high solar activity inside its cores/ AR11389 Sunspot Group continues to grow in size and will definitely be the group to monitor in the first week of 2012! AR11390 and AR11386 Sunspot Groups are very quiet in solar activities.

In white light wavelength, further exposure compensation was needed in both high res and full disk for me to get a good shot of them before I wrapped up my first 2012 solar observation and imaging session!

Solar Imaging Session - December 31, 2011 (Large SE Eruptive Prominence & NE Dark Filament !!!)

2011-12-30T19:34:00.000-08:00

The sky this morning is partly clear with numerous clouds hovering near the Sun. I quickly setup my solar rig and start to observe and image the Sun. In Ha wavelength, the SE quadrant is very active with a large group of eruptive prominence as well as very active AR11389 and AR11388 Sunspot Groups. There is also a long dark filament that is visible in the NE quadrant. AR11384 Sunspot Group is about to exit the eastern limb. A new AR11390 Sunspot Group can also be seen in the NE quadrant but contains small pores only amid its size in length. AR11386 Sunspot Group is quiet in its core.

In white light wavelength, AR11389 and AR11388 Sunspot Group is a very photogenic sunspot group in the SE quadrant while we are bidding farewell to AR11384 Sunspot Group which is about to exit the eastern limb.

Happy New and Prosperous Year to all of you! May we all have more clear skies and even more energetic solar activity this coming 2012 !!!

Solar Imaging Session - December 29, 2011 (New AR11389 Sunspot Group)

2011-12-30T04:16:00.000-08:00

The sky this morning was partly clear and seeing condition again is only fair. With AR11387 Sunspot Group about to exit the SW limb, a new AR11389 Sunspot Group is emerging in the SE limb :) The group is photogenic even if it is still in the limb thus showing Wilson Effect. Yesterday's Large NW eruptive prominence is still visible in the NW limb but has started to subside a bit in size although can still be considered large in size. AR11384 Sunspot Group continues to show nice umbral structure in its main core. I was also able to image AR11384, AR11386 , AR11388 and AR11389 Sunspot Groups in white light wavelength as well.

Solar Imaging Session - December 28, 2011 (Large NW Eruptive Prominence !!!))

2011-12-28T03:38:00.000-08:00

The sky this morning is very hazy and with thick clouds but nevertheless, I can still see the Sun a bit so I proceeded with setting up and imaging the Sun. There is a large eruptive prominence in the NW limb which is the showcase for this morning imaging session. A bright flare can be seen clearly near the eastern limb where a moderate size eruptive prominence and AR11388 Sunspot Group is visible. Both AR11387 and AR11386 Sunspot Groups shows a lot of solar activity inside its core today compare to yesterday.

I also tried imaging AR11384 Sunspot Group through thick haze and clouds, a desperation and futile imaging quality on the shot but nevertheless, it is still better than no imaging at all. Afterwards, the Sun gets clouded out thus I had to end the solar session as late for work already. Hope I will get a better session tomorrow morning.

Solar Imaging Session - December 27, 2011 (Huge Long Dark Filaments Remnants & New AR11388 Sunspot Group)

2011-12-27T04:02:00.000-08:00

The sky this morning is partly clear and seeing was fair at the start of my solar observation and imaging session. There is a new possible AR11388 Sunspot Group in the eastern limb and its size looks promising to monitor in the days to come. AR11384 Sunspot Group still has a big main umbral core structure. AR11387 Sunspot Group is very active in its core while exiting AR11382 Sunspot Group is near the SW limb already. AR11386 Sunspot Group is very quiet in its core and has almost the same size as AR11387 Sunspot Group.

As I was about to start imaging in white light wavelength, clouds suddenly start to cover the Sun and this caused a sudden drop on the seeing condition from fair to poor :( I still nevertheless proceeded to image AR11384, AR11387 and AR11386 Sunspot Group up close. Afterwards, the sky totally shut me down thus I wasn't able to image full disk :(

Solar Imaging Session - December 26, 2011

2011-12-25T17:16:00.000-08:00

The sky this morning is partly cloudy and seeing condition is also poor. Nevertheless, I proceeded to still observe and image the Sun in Ha wavelength though the Coronado PST-Ha. AR11384 Sunspot Group is still large but is starting to deteriorate on its smaller components while its main umbral component remains intact. AR11382 and AR11385 Sunspot Group which can be seen in the SW quadrant still shows some good solar activity inside its core. A new AR11386 sunspot group can be seen in the eastern limb and also show some good solar activity inside its core. The large long dark filament in the NW quadrant has snapped already but the remnants is still quite obvious. Several group of eruptive prominences can be seen in the SW limb as well as in the NW limb.

Solar Imaging Session - December 22, 2011 (Numerous Huge Long Dark Filaments & Large Prominences !!!)

2011-12-21T19:21:00.000-08:00

The sky this morning is clear and I was able to do some solar imaging both in Ha and white light. Seeing condition though is not good though :( In Ha wavelength, AR11377/76 Sunspot Group is nearing the NW limb and still very active in its core and is also close to a large group of eruptive prominences! AR11382/81 Sunspot Group, on the other hand, is also getting longer in length but show only some solar activity inside its core. AR11384 Sunspot Group is growing rapidly in structure as well as size so this will probably be the center of attention in the days to come. Small AR11383 Sunspot Group is very silent :(

In white light wavelength, AR11384 Sunspot Group is a joy to look at but the seeing condition prevented me from getting a very good shot of the sunspot groups at high resolution. AR11382/81 Sunspot Group is very long but has a nice main core as well as several small umbral core structures. Departing AR11377/76 Sunspot Group is also very nice to look at as well.

Solar Imaging Session - December 21, 2011 (Huge Long Dark Filament & Large Hedgerow Prominence !!!)

2011-12-20T18:13:00.000-08:00

The sky this morning is hazy and partly cloudy as I unload my luggage from my trip from Laoag and Baguio work trip. I saw a small window of sunlight peeping out from the clouds so I didn't waste any time to snap a few shots before I head back again to my Tarlac work trip again.

Both AR11382/81 & AR11377/76 Sunspot Group are very active in its core while AR11384 Sunspot Group in the NE limb is also starting to get active as well as small AR11383 Sunspot Group developing below it. There is also a huge long dark filament visible in the NE quadrant as well as numerous smaller dark filaments in the NW quadrant. A large hedgerow prominence dominate the NW limb :0

Total Lunar Eclipse Imaging Session - December 10-11, 2011

2011-12-11T04:12:00.000-08:00

The sky in the afternoon was raining and very cloudy, But we were fortunate later in the evening to be able to observe the eclipse almost on its entirely :) Since the Moon glides near the southernmost umbral shadow, the bright southern limb is visible and not quite red like that of last June 16th total lunar eclipse :0 Since the weather was slightly cloudy with haze, I opted to use the Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 set at 400mm f/5.6 instead of adding a EF 1.4x extender so I will have a faster f/ratio just in case weather gone cloudy during totality :0 I also use my portable mount for this session in Kenko Sky Memo-R tracker instead of the Vixen GP-DX mount which I used last June 16th total lunar eclipse session.

I was observing the eclipse with fellow members of the Astronomical League of the Philippines (ALP) at AstroCamp Observatory Services in SM Mall of Asia San Miguel by the Bay. It was a great astro event as we were also able to share the eclipse view to the crowd as well!

Solar Imaging Session - December 6, 2011 (Numerous Dark Filaments & Large Eruptive Prominences ! )

2011-12-05T16:32:00.001-08:00

The sky this morning is very cloudy thus another frustrating day for me to image the Sun :( Nevertheless, I was still able to get some short clips of how AR11363 Sunspot Group is doing and it indeed has grown in length compared to my last observation on December 3.

I was able to also able to scan the Sun's disk and see lots of dark filaments in the NW and NE quadrants as well as a nice group of large eruptive prominences in the NE quadrant and manage to shoot them between passing clouds :(

With unending clouds passing in front of the Sun's disk, I was able to image AR11363 Sunspot Group in white light as well as full disk shot of the Sun only this morning.

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Solar Imaging Session - December 3, 2011 (Large NW Wide Eruptive Prominence !)

2011-12-03T00:41:00.000-08:00

The sky this morning is partly hazy and seeing condition is fair though. The huge SW eruptive prominence is gone but the NW wide large eruptive prominence is still visible.There is a new AR11365 visible above AR11362 Sunspot Group and is growing fast. Another new sunspot group probably will be designated AR11366 is visible in the NE limb. Lots of dark filaments are visible in the NE quadrant.

In white light, AR11363 and AR11362 Sunspot Groups are the must see groups even in low or high power observations.

Solar Imaging Session - December 2, 2011 (Large SW Eruptive Prominence !!!)

2011-12-01T22:38:00.000-08:00

The sky this morning is clear and seeing condition is also very good. There is a huge eruptive prominence visible in the SW limb that spiced up a boring solar session yesterday. Numerous group of dark filaments are also present in the NE quadrant. AR11363 Sunspot Group looks active in its core and might show some actions in the days to come. The rest of the sunspot groups are quiet.

Solar Imaging Session - December 1, 2011

2011-12-01T00:39:00.000-08:00

The sky this morning is very hazy and seeing condition is poor. The huge eruptive prominences visible yesterday is already gone and the huge dark filaments in the NW quadrant is nearing the limb and probably will be halfway gone by tomorrow :( With this, the Sun again become calm and quiet again in solar activities. But there are still 6 sunspot groups that are visible on the Sun's disk and most remain stable and constant more or less in size. Hope to see some action on the Sun tomorrow.........

Solar Imaging Session - November 30, 2011 (AR11363 Bright Flare & Huge Eruptive Prominences !!!)

2011-11-30T04:15:00.000-08:00

The sky this morning is fair and seeing condition is also good. 2 huge eruptive prominences greeted me this morning together with a bright flare from the new AR11363 Sunspot Group in the SE limb . What a good way to spice up my day! I only managed to monitor the flare near its peak brightness and in less than 10 minutes, it started to fade till it is no longer visible :) A comparison flare development image is also included to show how it developed and fade from view. The huge dark filaments in the NW quadrant is still visible but is nearing the limb so more or less it will exit the NW in a day or two.

Solar Imaging Session - November 29, 2011 (Numerous Dark Filaments & Large Eruptive Prominences !!!)

2011-11-29T09:55:00.000-08:00

The sky this morning is clear and seeing condition is ok. In Ha wavelength, the most prominent feature on the solar disk are the numerous twisting huge dark filaments that are visible in the NW quadrant. 2 large eruptive prominences are also visible in the SE and SW limb. AR11361 Sunspot Group, although small, shows solar activity in its core. AR11362 Sunspot Group also shows a small flare in its main component.

I was also able to image the bigger groups in white light wavelength as well as full disk shot. A new not yet designated sunspot group (possibly will be classified as AR11363) is visible near the SE limb.

Jupiter Imaging Session - November 28, 2011

2011-11-28T06:57:00.000-08:00

The sky this evening is partly cloudy but Jupiter can be seen easily. Seeing condition is around 1 / 5 . This is the boring side of Jupiter but still image it as I'm practicing my planetary imaging skills. I can see the 2 barges as well as some some festoons on the NEB. Several small white spots can be seen in the STB region. Hope to do some more imaging tomorrow just in case.

Solar Imaging Session - November 28, 2011 (Numerous Dark Filaments & Large Eruptive Prominence !!!)

2011-11-27T16:57:00.000-08:00

The sky this morning is fair and seeing condition is ok. There are numerous huge dark filaments twisting and curling in the NW quadrant! A sight to behold! A large eruptive prominence can also be seen in the southern limb!

Rest of the sunspot groups are mostly quiet and with minimal solar activity inside their cores.

Solar Imaging Session - November 26, 2011 (Numerous Dark Filaments !!!)

2011-11-25T19:07:00.000-08:00

This is the first solar imaging session I had again after my return from Bicol work trip. The sky was partly cloudy and I had to wait till around 8:30am before I was able to get any images in Ha. I didn't image in white light this morning as lots of clouds :(

Lots of sunspot groups is visible on the solar disk but I'm more amazed at the beauties of the numerous dark filaments near the sunspot groups! Lots of twist and turns :) A mix of small and large dark filaments galore IMHO!

Several nice eruptive prominences are also visible in the NW and SW limb.

December 10-11, 2011 Total Lunar Eclipse Observation

2011-11-20T09:16:00.000-08:00

This coming December 10-11, 2011, a total lunar eclipse will be visible in its entirely from the Philippines as well as in Asia and Australia. A total lunar eclipse occurs when a full Moon is exactly on the line from the Sun to the Earth. The Moon is then in Earth's shadow, or the umbra, and takes on a reddish or orange color. This coloring comes from light refracted around the edge of Earth towards the Moon; it comes from all Earth's sunrises and sunsets. If Earth's atmosphere is especially opaque, as happens following a major volcanic eruption, the eclipse can be so dark that the Moon disappears, but this is very rare. Since this eclipse happens with the Moon submerged in the Earth's umbral shadow's southernmost edge , the totally eclipsed Moon is expected to be bright compared to last June 16's total lunar eclipse whereas the Moon almost passed through the center of the Earth umbral shadow thus showing a dark red color as seen from the above image taken by ALPer James Kevin Ty last June 16, 2011.

No two lunar eclipses are alike, since there is always some factor that causes variation in the phases, brightness or color; consequently is worthwhile observing each eclipse. One of the best ways to monitor the progress of a lunar eclipse is with binoculars. A telescope will give you a close-up view of the shadow moving slowly over the craters, but with their wide views and sharp optics, binoculars give you a striking perspective on the entire drama of totality.

For this eclipse, penumbral phase will start at around 7:33pm Philippine Standard Time (PST) with the penumbral shadow entering through the eastern portion of the Moon . But the interesting part of this event will happen when the main umbra phase (which is the darkest shadow) will start to casts its shadow at around 8:45pm PST and reach maximum totality at around 10:32pm PST wherein the entire eclipsed Moon will be bright red in color. During this time, the winter constellations will be well placed for viewing so a number of bright stars can be used for magnitude comparisons. Aldebaran (mv = +0.87) is 9° to the southwest of the eclipsed Moon, while Betelgeuse (mv = +0.45) is 19° to the southeast, Pollux (mv = +1.16) is 37° east, and Capella (mv = +0.08) is 24° north.

Afterwards, the Moon will start to exit totality phase little by little at around 10:57pm PST until it exits the umbral phase entirely at around 12:18 am of December 11, 2011. and finally, the Moon will exiting the penumbral phase from the western part of the Moon at around 1:30am PST.

The full detail of the eclipse circumstances as well as diagram ( http://www.astroleaguephils.org/111210tle_espenak.pdf ) courtesy of Fred Espenak are as follows:

Eclipse Phases Time (PST) Altitude Azimuth
Moon enters Penumbra 07:33:32 pm 30 deg 72 deg E
Moon enters Umbra 08:45:42 pm 47 deg 72 deg E
Moon enters Totality 10:06:16 pm 64 deg 67 deg E
Maximum Totality 10:31:48 pm 70 deg 63 deg NE
Moon exits Totality 10:57:24 pm 75 deg 55 deg NE
Moon exits Umbra 12:17:58 am 80 deg 325 deg NW
Moon exits Penumbra 01:30:00 am 65 deg 294 deg NW

Members of the Astronomical League of the Philippines will be observing and documenting this event at AstroCamp Observatory . For more inquiries on the eclipse as well as our setup times , kindly contact ALP President James Kevin Ty at 09178559863 or ALP PRO Armando Lee at 09177922053.

Solar Imaging Session - November 14, 2011 (Huge SE Hedgerow Prominence & Very Long Dark Filaments !!! )

2011-11-14T04:09:00.000-08:00

The Sun this morning is very hazy and I could only see the glow of the Sun through the clouds, but since I was monitoring the growth of the SE huge hedgerow prominence, I waited patiently and try to image it through super hazy sky! All I can manage to image are super soft surface detail and almost invisible prominence that I could barely see. But this didn't break my patience and spirit so I continue to wait for more than another hour of frustration before some clouds starting to disperse where the Sun is located and true enough amid still slightly hazy sky, I was finally able to see its actual size and imaged it! The huge prominence's length in the SE limb has narrowed today but increase in its height. First time to monitor a huge prominence for more than 4 days and how it grow! :)

The other huge prominence in NE limb has simmered down already and might disappear altogether tomorrow IMHO. But the NE quadrant's super mega long dark filament continues to get longer and I don;t know how long it will still stretch before it snaps :0

AR11339 Sunspot Group is also near the edge of western limb and will exit by tomorrow. The rest of the other sunspot groups are stable and not much activity on their structure.

Solar Imaging Session - November 13, 2011 (2 Huge Eruptive Prominences & Numerous Large Dark Filaments !!! )

2011-11-12T20:07:00.001-08:00

The sky this morning is again clear and seeing is fair. All the center of attraction now is in Ha wavelength now the huge eruptive hedgerow prominence in the SE continues to grow bigger than yesterday's image. Looks like this will still be possible to view tomorrow IMHO. Question will be if it will grow even bigger or smaller :) LOL The other huge eruptive prominence in the NE is still visible but has deteriorated a lot but still a joy to look at nevertheless.

The huge long dark filament in the NE quadrant continues to grow longer and is very nice to view like a big snake on the Sun :) AR11339 Sunspot Group is near the western limb and will continue to deteriorate in structure and size :(

There is not much action in white light right now with almost all groups being stable in size and structure. Aside from the not yet designated AR11346 group in the eastern limb and some small pores developing near AR11342 which I'm not sure is still related to this group or will be designated another new group.

Jupiter Imaging Session - November 12, 2011 ( Jupiter with Great Red Spot )

2011-11-12T10:43:00.000-08:00

After processing my solar images this evening, I still got some energy left inside me for me to go out and try imaging Jupiter again and learn to process it again. After 1 hour of scope cool down, I started to image Jupiter with the Great Red Spot near the Central Meridian. 2 red barges can be seen in the NEB.

Solar Imaging Session - November 12, 2011 (2 Huge Eruptive Prominences & Numerous Large Dark Filaments !!! )

2011-11-12T05:27:00.001-08:00

The sky this morning is again clear and seeing is also good as well. Since there are 2 huge eruptive prominences in the NE and SE limb, I was curious if it will still be visible or gone. When I pointed the PST-Ha on the Sun, Whoa! It has grown huge specially the one in the SE limb! Yesterday, it looks like a toppled Xmas tree and now it looks bigger and wider and has lots of curls in its structure! The one in the NE limb is now narrower in length but has grown taller! Both are a sight to behold!

Lots of large and long dark filaments can be seen in the NE quadrant as well as SE quadrant. AR11339 Sunspot Group show some small flare activity inside its core. AR11338, AR11344 and AR11345 Sunspot regions shows lots of activities specially AR11344 which has grown in size and structures as well!

In white light, AR11339 has shrunk considerably and undergoing Wilson Effect as well as nearing the eastern limb. Rest of the sunspot groups are stable and almost the same as before in size and structure except AR11344 Sunspot Group which shows a beautiful numerous pore structure is also very photogenic IMHO. There are 9 Sunspot Groups on the Sun and the latest one in the eastern limb which is still not yet designated but I presume it will be designated AR11346 maybe tomorrow.

Solar Imaging Session - November 11, 2011 (Shrinking AR11339 Sunspot Group , Large Dark Filaments & Large Eruptive Prominences ! )

2011-11-11T00:50:00.000-08:00

The sky this morning is clear and seeing condition is ok as well. AR11339 Sunspot Group has deteriorate further and almost loses its end part with small pores left on it :( Its front and central penumbral region is still intact though. AR11344 and AR11345 Sunspot Groups continues to grow fast while AR11342 also loses its end part thus making it almost a single symmetrical disk :0 AR11338 & AR11340 sunspot groups are still the same as before with not much changes in structure.

In Ha. this is where the action is right now with 2 huge eruptive prominences lording it over in the NE and SE limb! There are also walls of large dark filament in the NE quadrant as well! AR11339 Sunspot Group is quietly moving out of the Sun in a timid way :) LOL

Solar Imaging Session - November 10, 2011 (AR11339 Sunspot Group & Large Eruptive Prominences ! )

2011-11-10T00:51:00.000-08:00

The sky this morning is good and seeing is also not bad. AR11339 Sunspot Groups continues to be the darling of the crowd on the Sun's disk amid its deterioration. The end part of the group continues to decay and very small trace of small penumbra can now be seen in that area. The central part continues to maintain its size as well as the front part of the group.

AR11338 Sunspot Group is still stable but it seems AR11341 and AR11342 Sunspot Group are now starting to get some attention as its main core structure continues to grow in size. Newly designated small AR11344 and AR11345 Sunspot Groups are starting to grow as well although still mostly pore structure for now. There are a total of 8 sunspot groups visible on the Sun's disk today.

In Ha wavelength, small AR11345 Sunspot Groups shows a good sign of solar activity inside its core as well as AR11338 Sunspot Group. Giant AR11339 Sunspot Group is very silent past 2 days. There are 2 huge eruptive prominences both in NE and NW limb while moderate and small prominences are scattered around the solar limb.

Solar Imaging Session - November 9, 2011 (AR11339 Sunspot Group shrinks a bit in size & Large Eruptive Prominences ! )

2011-11-09T06:45:00.000-08:00

The sky this morning is slightly clear and I started to image at 7:30am. Seeing condition was ok as well. But at around 7:40am, clouds started to cover where the Sun is and I had to wait till almost 8:20am before I could resume my session. AR11339 has shrunk a bit in size today and the central penumbral region has started to converge into a big structure while the end part of this group has decayed considerably :(

As expected, AR11339 Sunspot Group didn't beat AR11302 in length :( Although the difference is that that big but clearly AR11302 still wins in length by a small margin still :) From my point of view, the size of AR11339 Sunspot Group was slightly over hyped but its width is definitely wider than AR11302 Group. I think maximum length of AR11339 was achieved yesterday. Nevertheless, seeing these types of big sunspot groups never fail to impress not only me but to everyone :) AR11338 Sunspot Group doesn't change that much in size but AR11341 and AR11342 Has decayed a lot and almost about to lose some of its small pore parts :(

In Ha wavelength, there is a large wide eruptive prominence in the NE limb as well as several beautiful dark filaments in the NE quadrant. In SE quadrant, a large dark filament as well as a nice large eruptive prominence can be seen near AR11340 Sunspot Group. AR11339 Sunspot Groups has only small solar activities inside its core. In the SW limb, a nice large eruptive prominence is still visible since yesterday.

Solar Imaging Session - November 8, 2011 (AR11339 Sunspot Group & Large Eruptive Prominence ! )

2011-11-08T06:03:00.000-08:00

The sky this morning was again initially cloudy and but at around 7:30am, sky partly clear again but seeing condition is not that good. I quickly image the Sun through Ha wavelength first and the NE quadrant is a beautiful area to observe as lot of activities and dark filaments near the AR11341, AR11342 and AR11343 region. Adding a large eruptive prominence and huge AR11339 sunspot group in the view was a sight to behold! AR11338 Sunspot Group is in the SW quadrant already and can be seen with a nice moderate sized eruptive prominence.

As I setup for white light wavelength, I started to image AR11339 Sunspot Group and I notice it has stretched in length as expected and the width of the group has also narrowed down a bit. So far, I can estimate that AR11339 Sunspot Group is just about the same length only as previous large AR11302 Sunspot Group. But I think the best time for me to estimate AR11339 Sunspot Group's maximum length and size is to compare today's image as well as tomorrow's image to get the average size of the group.

After I image the group, skies started to deteriorate and it affected most of the white light images I image afterwards. But I try to salvage and extract the most out of what I can squeezed out from the AVIs.

As I was trying to take full disk shot of the Sun, thick clouds rolled in before I can prepare and was only able to take a single frame which include small part of the Sun's disk getting clip off :(

Solar Imaging Session - November 7, 2011 (9 Sunspot Groups & Numerous Dark Filaments !)

2011-11-06T23:03:00.000-08:00

The sky this early morning was cloudy and I thought this will be another frustrating day for me to image huge AR11339 Sunspot Group in high res again! As I went back to bed to get more rest, I saw some sunlight finally coming through the window at around 8:00am and i quickly jump out of my bed and quickly setup the PST-Ha and start imaging the Sun. AR11339 Sunspot Group, although huge in size is not that super active in its core group in Ha light although one can see some small flares inside the group though. Overshadowed by AR11339 in attention is AR11338 Sunspot Group which shows more solar activity inside its core than AR11339. AR11337 is very silent and small AR11334 Sunspot Group is already departing near the western limb. 3 new sunspot groups namely AR11341,11342 and 11343 Sunspot Groups are coming out from the NNE limb and shows some promising activity in the region. Several beautiful small dark filaments surround the new groups in the NNE limb while another thick dark filament can be seen above AR11337 Sunspot Group. A long fainter dark filament can also be seen in the SE limb near AR11340 Sunspot Group. A moderate sized looped eruptive prominence can be seen near eastern limb near AR11340 as well.

In white light wavelength, of course the center of attraction is on huge AR11339 Sunspot groups which is more or less around 100,000kms end to end in length. I'm looking forward to observing this group the next 2-3 days so I can compare its length to recent big groups AR11302 and AR11330. IMHO, I think the only advantages of AR11339 compared to the 2 mentioned groups is its large penumbra; region. In length, I think it is not that far off from the 2 said groups but since it haven't yet cross the central meridian of the Sun yet, we can't still determine the full length of this group till the next 2 days. I know trying to compare it to the said groups this early is unfair :) LOL

Anyway, as for the rest of the other sunspot groups, there are 9 sunspot groups on the solar disk now! A small undesignated sunspot group east of AR11338 sunspot group will probably be designated AR11344 if it continues to develop IMHO. New AR11341 and AR11342 Sunspot Groups are also big in size and I feel it will be at least as big as AR11338 Sunspot Groups in the days to come as it comes out of the NNE limb :0

Overall, I'm happy today with the results of my solar imaging session as I was able to get both white light and Ha wavelength images :)

Solar Imaging Session - November 5, 2011

2011-11-05T04:32:00.000-07:00

The sky this morning is once again super cloudy and I was again frustrated not being able to image AR11339 and AR11338 for the 3rd day! But at around 11:15am, some breaks in the clouds give me an opportunity to try to image them so I setup my white light system . There are 5 sunspot group still visible on the Sun disk with newcomer possible AR11440 coming in from the SE limb. AR11339 Sunspot Group obviously dominate the show today.

But since the Sun is almost again near my main roof obstruction again, I was only able to buy time to just being able to image full disk shot only. Afterwards, clouds started to roll in hard and even rain hard! :(I hope to be able to image it tomorrow so that I can make a comparison size between my other high res solar shots to determine how it fares against them but this is a very good and photogenic group indeed!

Solar Imaging Session - November 3, 2011 (Desperately Seeking Sunspots!)

2011-11-02T23:01:00.000-07:00

The sky this morning was super cloudy but since I was expecting to get even a small glimpse of the 2 new large sunspot groups namely AR11339 in NE limb and AR11338 in the SE limb, I desperately setup my scope and waited whole morning to try my luck :0

At around 8:30am, some small thinning of the clouds on the Sun had me desperately trying to capture it through fast passing clouds that will surely test one's patience and while i was able to get a very short AVI shot, rain started to drizzle and shut the sky down again.

I was able to get a short video clip for processing and at least it show the 2 big groups as well as 2 smaller groups AR11336 and AR11337 plus some nice groups of eruptive prominence through cloudy sky! Not good but still OK IMHO.

Solar Imaging Session - November 1, 2011 (Large SE Eruptive Prominence)

2011-10-31T19:58:00.000-07:00

The sky this morning was not good as lots of passing clouds and seeing condition is also not that good as well. AR11330 Sunspot Group is decaying a lot and is also near the eastern limb :(n AR11334 Sunspot Group's high solar activity seems to mellow down today even from Ha wavelength. There is also a large eruptive prominence in the SE limb together with the huge dark filament that I was able to see yesterday. Lots of small prominences are also visible around the solar limb.

Rest of the small groups are very quiet as well. I was only also able to image AR11330 Sunspot Group in white light through passing clouds thus image not that good but I still image it to show how much it has decayed :( Thick clouds then covered the sky so I had to end my short solar imaging session this morning and I also need to go to my dad's tomb to give some offerings as today is All Soul's Day. I miss you Dad very much!

Jupiter Imaging Session - October 31, 2011 ( Jupiter with Great Red Spot )

2011-10-31T11:17:00.000-07:00

The sky tonight was partly clear with fair seeing condition. I setup the scope and try to observe and image Jupiter with Great Red Spot near Central Meridian. The GRS plume is still visible as well as 2 red barge visible on the North Equatorial Belt (NEB) region .

I took several AVIs and select the best of tonight's batch which can be viewed below:

Solar Imaging Session - October 31, 2011 (Growing AR11334 & Lots of Large Dark Filaments !))

2011-10-31T02:22:00.000-07:00

The sky this morning is clear but seeing condition is not good. AR11330 Sunspot Group continues to decay but is still the biggest group on the Sun. AR11334 Sunspot Group is growing fast and needs to be observe for more activity in the days to come. 2 new not yet designated sunspot groups are visible on the Sun's disk with the one above AR11334 I think will probably be designated as AR11335 while the one on the eastern limb might be designated AR11336 :)

There are lots of large dark filaments on the Sun with the biggest is a faint huge one on the SE quadrant while another one that is big and prominent is the one on the NE quadrant.

Solar prominences are not that big today but one very interesting group of eruptive prominence can be seen near the north limb :)

There are a total of 7 sunspot groups that is visible on the Sun today :)

Deep Sky Imaging Session - October 29-30, 2011

2011-10-30T06:17:00.000-07:00

With a long weekend vacation ahead of us, I together with fellow ALPer VP Dr. Jett Aguilar went to Caliraya, Laguna in the late afternoon to try to observe and image some deep sky objects there as it has still good dark skies in our setup area.

We arrived at around 7:00pm and setup our mount while Polaris is still visible. I brought a portable setup consisting of Canon EOS 500D DSLR on Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS L lens mounted on top of my portable Kenko Sky Memo-R tracker to follow the stars. Jett , on the other hand brought along his Takahashi TSA-102 refractor with Canon EOS 50D DSLR mounted on top of Vixen GP-DX mount.

After we polar aligned our mount, there was a slight drizzle that lasted only a few minutes but the sky was very beautiful afterwards! We then had our dinner first as both of us are quite hungry already from the long travel. Afterwards, we started to image the night sky.

Andromeda Galaxy was positioned high so I took the chance to image our Milky Way's closest galaxy, M31 Andromeda Galaxy together with its 2 galaxy companion M32 and M110. I was able to exposed more than 1 hour of total exposure for the said object. I then prepare to image my next object , Helix Nebula and California Nebula but since it is near the zenith already, I had a hard time composing the said objects, thus I then proceeded to my next object on my list which is the B33 Horsehead Nebula and NGC2024 Flame Nebula in Orion. But as I was starting to image it after midnight, clouds started to roll in partially so I was only able to exposed for half of my planned total exposure for the said object. Since then, I had to play cat and mouse with the clouds to expose in between breaks in the clouds till around 2:40am when thick clouds started to cover the sky thus shortened my imaging session :( I was planning to still wait but I started to feel sleepy already and tired thus I sleep on the car while Jett still manage to wait for a few more shot before calling it a night as well. Jett was also able to tame his mount and in the latter half of the night was able to run the mount a bit smoothly. So he was bale to image Orion Nebula and Horsehead Nebula as well.

At around 9:00am after we had a short coffee and some light breakfast, we head back t Manila with a good feeling from our imaging session at Caliraya as the moments of observing and imaging under a dark sky was a privilege that I will always cherish on our numerous observing session s there. We are looking forward to going back in the next New Moon weekend to continue to image the other objects in our list :)

Solar Imaging Session - October 29, 2011 (Quiet Sun)

2011-10-28T20:17:00.000-07:00

The sky this morning was partly clear and seeing condition is also not good. Add to that is the fact the Sun quiets down a bit specially now that big group AR11330 Sunspot Group is starting to decay on one of its 2 main umbral core structure :( In Ha wavelength , the area between AR11330 to AR11324 Sunspot Groups still shows some small signs of solar activity only. Solar prominences are also very small and only the one in the western limb shows a slight bigger size than the rest :0

Jupiter Imaging Session - October 28, 2011 (Jupiter at Opposition)

2011-10-28T11:46:00.000-07:00

Jupiter tonight is almost near opposition and that had me wanting to document the event amid a dull face in the Jovian planet except for a few small white festoons and a nice barge in the NEB region.

I rechecked the collimation of the SCT at high magnification and it is still dead center so I guess it is the poor seeing condition tonight that hampers on the quality of the image. Nevertheless, I was observing the event together with fellow ALPer Dennis Llante and both of us had bad seeing condition as well.

Also, I had a poor polar alignment tonight thus like Dennis, I had to constantly pressing both RA and Dec buttons every 5 seconds to make sure it is near the center of the field as I exposed on Jupiter. I also found that that I need to also cut down on the imaging duration next time so as to lessen rotational blur that is visible on the limb :( Nevertheless, I'm ok with the result of the final image.

Solar Imaging Session - October 26, 2011

2011-10-26T12:36:00.000-07:00

The sky this morning is clear so I setup my solar scopes to observe and image the Sun as usual. For this morning session, aside from imaging in Ha wavelength, I only concentrated on AR11330 Sunspot Group in white light wavelength as I also played around with going back to my old eyepiece projection imaging format with my Canon EOS 500D DSLR. I wanted to see if I can get better image with this format compared to using the webcam. Since the eyepiece projection method gives a bigger image scale, the solar granulation is easier to see compared to the webcam shot as it has about half of the image scale taken with the eyepiece projection shot which is more or less in the 15,500mm focal length. I think if given a good seeing of at least 3-4/5, one can see the granulation even better :) So I guess I will add this routine back to image the bigger sunspots only as it is very tedious to manually select from hundred of images taken just to get the best shot of the set. I will also try to learn how to stack high res single still frames in the days to come.

AR11330 Sunspot Group continues to grow in core structure and is so far the most developed group that is visible on the solar disk. The hook shaped dark filament is still visible above decaying AR11324. Only small to medium sized prominences are visible on the solar limb :( Only 5 groups are now visible on the Sun right now.

Below are the images that I took this morning.

Solar Imaging Session - October 25, 2011 (Huge Eruptive Prominence & Hook Shaped Dark Filament !!! )

2011-10-25T05:03:00.000-07:00

The sky this morning is clear so I started observing and imaging the Sun as I wake up. There is a huge spike like eruptive prominence that is visible in the eastern limb! One of the the biggest in the past months :) Together with AR11330 Sunspot Group, they form a beautiful pair in the eastern limb :) There are 2 new sunspot groups on the Sun today but they are very small with AR11331 near the edge of NW limb while AR11332 Sunspot Group can be seen in the NE limb above AR11330 Sunspot Group.

AR11324 Sunspot Group continues to decay fast but is still very big in terms of area. AR11330 Sunspot Group has a beautiful dual umbral & penumbral core structure that is worth imaging and observing. Since the sky in the early morning was good at around 3/5 , I can see some solar granulation on the Sun's surface.

AR11324 and AR11327 Sunspot Groups are also starting to decay and becoming dull to view :( There is also a very beautiful hook shaped dark filament above AR11324 group. It was almost straight line the past few days ago. Also another nice big dark filament can be seen soaring near the new AR11332 sunspot group.

Seeing started to deteriorate a bit at the end of the Ha imaging session and deteriorated further after I imaged AR11330 Sunspot Group :(

Overall, it was a very good solar imaging session and I'm looking forward to another fruitful session tomorrow and hope the eastern huge eruptive prominence will grow further :)

Jupiter Imaging Session - October 24, 2011 ( GRS w / Plumes , 2 Barges , Io and Ganymede Double Transit & Shadow !!! )

2011-10-24T11:42:00.000-07:00

As I was on the bus home from Tarlac work trip, I checked on my Sky Safari Iphone app and see how Jupiter will look like tonight. I was surprised to see that there will be 2Jovian satellites Io and Ganymede both undergoing Transit and shadow event tonight at around 11:00pm!

I quickly setup the being collimated Meade 8" SCT which I was performing yesterday as well as cleaning the optics off some molds and fungus on the corrector plate. I thought to myself that testing the unit on an actual session will let me determine how well i have collimated the scope. I tested the scope at low power and Jupiter snaps into focus and then I inserted a 2x barlow lens and I can see the Great Red Spot as well as its plumes in the SEB. Io was also visible trailing behind the GRS on the SEB region while Ganymede can be seen transiting and casting its shadow on the South Polar Region. Also visible are 2 barges that are visible in the NEB region as well.

I tested the webcam on the scope and at 2x barlow, the image easily snaps into focus but it is obvious the seeing condition that time was not that good at around 2/5 and I can see some turbulence on the planet disk. Testing further with double stacked 2 x barlow render the image very soft so I had to use only one barlow for the night to at least document and share the view with fellow members. My planetary imaging skill is a far cry from what I want but as they say practice and practice!!! :)

Solar Imaging Session - October 24, 2011 (Nice AR11330 Sunspot Group)

2011-10-24T09:45:00.000-07:00

The sky this morning was initially cloudy and I thought it is another frustrating day for me to do solar imaging again but at around 8:00am. sky then suddenly starts to clear for a moment and I didn't waste any moment and start imaging the Sun.

AR11330 Sunspot Group is the highlight on the Sun today and it has beautiful dual umbral structure which is a good thing to monitor in the days to come. AR11324 Sunspot Group is starting to decay but is still quite big in size. AR11327 Sunspot Group also possessed a nice umbral structure while AR11325 Sunspot Group is a nice group but is dull compared to the other groups that is visible on the Sun.

The large dark filament near AR11324 is still quite long and together with another nice dark filament that is visible in the SE limb is a joy to look at.

As I was starting to image in white light, here goes again stubborn clouds that cover the Sun again and I wasted about 30 minutes of imaging time thus when the Sun emerges again from the clouds, I had to scamper to tyr to image all the big groups on the Sun but unfortunately on my final 2 images on AR11327 and AR11325 groups, I had light cut off already due to roof obstruction thus producing a slightly soft image :( Nevertheless, important is to be able to document them all :)

Solar Imaging Session - October 23, 2011

2011-10-22T19:14:00.000-07:00

The sky this morning was really bad and I had to fight with thick clouds and haze covering most of the sky :( Nevertheless trying hard to squeeze out some shots on Ha wavelength. I wasn't able to get white light images again! :( Sigh!

AR11324 Sunspot Group is still the biggest group on the disk but the new comer on the eastern limb (probably be designated AR11329) looks promising and big as well. One good interesting thing on this group is that it has 2 nice umbral structures on this group and might eclipse AR11324 in beauty in the days to come.

I was only able to get 2 ha images only through the bad weather condition this morning.

Jupiter Imaging Session - October 22, 2011 (GRS Plumes & Red Barge)

2011-10-22T07:54:00.000-07:00

After taking my son to dinner and window shopping at SM San Lazaro, I went back home to try to image Jupiter at around 9:00pm with Great Red Spot in Central Meridian. I was quite surprised tonight to see Jupiter already nearing my roof obstruction by that time! I realized tonight that I can start imaging Jupiter at around 8:00pm more or less in the days to come. :)

I was only able to get a single AVI frame tonight because of the time constrain. As I process the image, I was quite dumb found to see 2 white streaks on both sides of the GRS! I initially thought it was some artifacts or dust that might have made the streak! Also wondered why there is a shadow in the NEB thinking it might been cast by either of the 4 main Jovian moons :0 Double checking my Iphone app Sky Safari if there is any shadow event, there is none, so best way is to check out fellow ALPer John Nassr's October 20th image which I recall had GRS visibility more or less and was able to conclude the white streaks are white plumes from the Great Red Spot and the shadow question is a red barge :) Resizing my small image concluded I did get to image both features amid a fair seeing condition. Being a casual planetary imager unlike fellow ALPers Christopher Go and John Nassr, this is what I called a learning curve for me to test out the planetary imaging field aside from my usual solar, lunar and DSO imaging fields :)

Solar Imaging Session - October 22, 2011

2011-10-21T22:38:00.000-07:00

I arrived from Baguio early morning and the sky was not that clear. I had to fight through clouds to get some Ha images. Sigh! Couldn't image through high res white light as clouds keeps on passing in front of the main groups :( AR11324 is another huge sunspot group that may follow AR11319 in the days to come!

In Ha, several nice large eruptive prominences can be seen on the NE ,SE and SW limbs. Was also able to bid AR11314 and AR11319 farewell before they totally exit NW limb. A huge dark filament can also be seen between AR11324 and AR11328 sunspot groups.

For me, the next concentration of observation and imaging will center on the NE limb particularly AR11324 and AR11325 which show some promises of good things to come. 2 new incoming sunspot groups can also be seen in the NE limb which I think will be designated AR11329 and AR11330 respectively tomorrow I guess so more or less about 11 sunspot groups now on the disk! :) AR11327 sunspot group is also a group worth monitoring as well.

Solar Imaging Session - October 17, 2011 (10 Sunspot Groups & Nice Dark Filaments )

2011-10-16T22:56:00.000-07:00

The sky this morning is initially clear with good seeing condition. I quickly use the opportunity to image as fast as possible as I know the good condition wont last long based from my weeks of observation. I started out with imaging the Sun in Ha wavelength and capture the interesting areas between AR11314 and AR11317 Sunspot Groups. AR11319 Sunspot Group is now the center of attraction now as it has grown in size and area and now eclipses AR11314 Sunspot Group both in Ha and in white light wavelength! AR11312 Sunspot Group is now in the NW limb and probable will exit the Sun tomorrow. Lots of suddenly appearing small sunspot groups pops out beside AR11313 Sunspot Groups near the SW limb and there are AR11320 & AR11322 :)There are some small eruptive prominences only this morning but lots of dark filaments though :)

After I image in Ha wavelength, I started to notice clouds developing near the Sun so I didn't waste any dilly dally time and image the bigger groups in white light wavelength and ended the session with a full disk white light Sun showing a total of 10 sunspot groups! :) Wow!

Solar Imaging Session - October 16, 2011 (Very Hazy Morning! )

2011-10-15T19:45:00.000-07:00

The sky this morning was surprisingly bad and very hazy due to thick white clouds covering the sky :( Nevertheless, I proceeded to image the Sun amid expectations that the image would come out not well :( But for record purposes, I still try to image as much as I can before I gave up when I can't see any more details coming out of the sun surface anymore:( It is one of the hardest image processing session I have today due to the softness of the image brought about by the thick clouds and haze! :(

A new possible AR11321 Sunspot Group is visible in the NE limb while AR11312 Sunspot Group is now about to exit the NW limb. AR11314 Sunspot Group continues to be the sunspot to monitor because of its nice solar activity inside its core and surroundings. The huge large dark filament is still visible beside AR11314 :)
As for prominences, only a few small prominences are visible on the Sun's limb.

Solar Imaging Session - October 15, 2011

2011-10-15T04:40:00.000-07:00

The sky this morning was partly clear but seeing is poor. The sky partly cleared up past 8:15am already and I had to scramble to get the most time out to image the Sun before I go to work. AR11314 Sunspot Group stills show a lot of solar activity inside its core and the large dark filament is still present beside it. AR11319 Sunspot Group also shows some small activity in its core. AR11312 Sunspot Group is nearing the NW limb and would probably exit the limb in 2-3 days.

I also got to image AR11312 and AR11314 Sunspot Groups in white light before I had to pack up and report for work. Hopefully, I will get some good breaks early morning so that I can get a good sets of Ha and white light images of all the sunspot groups.

Jupiter Imaging Session - October 14, 2011

2011-10-14T08:16:00.000-07:00

The sky tonight was partly cloudy and at around 9:00pm, I saw Jupiter cleared the building obstruction and can't resist myself to image it. As I setup my scope, clouds started to cover the sky again to my frustration! But since I still got around 20 minutes before my roof will obstruct my view again so I patiently waited and after 15 minutes, clouds started to break up again and I use the small window time left to image the Jovian planet. As I observe the planet, I was also able to see Europa casting a shadow. Seeing condition though is not that good at 1/5.

Solar Imaging Session - October 14, 2011 ( Nice Dark Filaments ! )

2011-10-13T22:38:00.000-07:00

The sky this morning was very hazy! Nevertheless, I still proceeded to try to observe the NW limb to check on any remnants left of the huge eruptive prominence last October 12th. As expected, the once huge prominence is almost gone with still a small remnant prominence is left of it :( Center of attraction on the Sun now is on AR11314 region and AR11316 Sunspot Groups.

AR11314 Sunspot Group shows a lot of solar activity in its region with 2 large dark filaments surrounding the group :) The large NE eruptive prominence I saw last October 12th is still there but has started to subside already.

Unfortunately, thicker haze and clouds started to cover up the sky when I'm taking my second set of Ha image centered on AR11312 Sunspot Group and I couldn't image the AR11316 Sunspot Group anymore as I had to end my session as I'm already a bit late for work already. :(

Solar Imaging Session - October 12, 2011 ( 8 Sunspot Groups and Large Eruptive Prominences ! )

2011-10-12T07:53:00.001-07:00

The sky this morning was partly clear and seeing condition was good at the start of my solar observation and imaging session. The huge eruptive prominence gets even bigger to my surprise! Wow! I was expecting the huge prom to have subsided already on its 3rd day :) There are 8 sunspot groups right now on the solar disk with the latest small AR11318 sunspot group which I'm expecting to be officially designated. Aside from the huge prom in the NW limb. Another large prominence can also be seen in the NE limb as well :) AR11314 sunspot group is very active as it shows small flare inside its core. Large dark filaments are also visible beside the AR11312 and AR11314 sunspot groups.

After I image AR11312 and AR11313 sunspot groups in white light, seeing condition starts to deteriorate as it tends to soften the image a bit and some clouds also passed in front of the Sun even in whole disk white light image.

Solar Imaging Session - October 11, 2011 (Huge Eruptive Prominence gets bigger ! )

2011-10-10T18:08:00.000-07:00

The sky this morning is very hazy but I still manage to salvage some shots of Ha only and the huge eruptive prominence in the NW gets even bigger today :) Still a consolation for me amid the very hazy sky. No white light image today as too dim to image :(

Solar Imaging Session - October 10, 2011 ( 5 Sunspot Groups and Large Eruptive Prominence ! )

2011-10-10T03:58:00.000-07:00

After 4 days of cloudy and rainy skies, the sky this morning opens up a bit for me to get a chance to observe and image the Sun. There are now 5 sunspot groups visible on the solar disk with AR11312 Sunspot Group the biggest circular group and AR11314 Sunspot Group as the new kid on the block :) Although not as flashy and photogenic as AR11302 , it is nevertheless beautiful :) There is also a large eruptive prominence that is visible in the NW limb that is nice to look at as well :)

Clouds then suddenly started to interfere with my observation and imaging in white light that I had to give up after 8:50am as I need to go to work already. Unfortunately, the sky clears up after I left the house :) LOL Nevertheless, I'm hoping I would be able to image the Sun again both in Ha and white light wavelength tomorrow.

Solar Imaging Session - October 5, 2011 (8 Sunspot Groups & Numerous Eruptive Prominences & Dark Filaments !)

2011-10-05T06:06:00.000-07:00

The sky this morning is partly cloudy and seeing condition is bad! Amid the circumstances, I still proceeded to observe and image the Sun. With AR11302 Sunspot Group almost exiting the western limb, only AR11305, AR11309 and AR11312 are the bigger groups that is visible on the Sun's surface today. A total of 8 sunspot groups are visible. Newcomer AR11312 Sunspot Group is entering from the NE limb and looks promising so I'm guessing this week won't be boring after all with the exit of AR11302 :)

In Ha wavelength the major sunspot groups are showing signs of solar activities inside their cores. Numerous dark filaments are scattered along the solar disk while several large eruptive prominences are visible in the NE and SE limb.

Solar Imaging Session - October 3, 2011 (Bright Flare at AR11302 & Dark Filaments !)

2011-10-02T18:04:00.000-07:00

The sky this morning is really cloudy and bad! I had a very hard time even than yesterday session to get another single frame shot of the Sun in Ha :( Nevertheless, what led me to wait for a single shot of the Sun is the AR11302 sunspot group which shows a bright flare inside its core structure! Very beautiful and adds up numerous dark filaments in the NW quadrant is a sight not to missed at!

Solar Imaging Session - October 2, 2011

2011-10-01T18:08:00.000-07:00

The sky this morning is very cloudy but nevertheless I still setup to try t see if I can get away with some shots of the Sun in Ha and white light wavelength. I waited the whole morning from 7:00am to 9:00am before calling it quits when the Sun got obstructed already by our roof :(

Amid the wait, I manage to get a short video clip of the Sun in Ha through Coronado PST-Ha and can see AR11302 Sunspot Group starting to undergo Wilson Effect as it nears the western limb. 2 nice sine wave shaped dark filaments continues to surround the group and adds some spice to the group's photogenic appearance. AR11305 Sunspot Group can also be seen with some mild solar activity inside its core. Some moderate sized eruptive prominences are visible on the NW limb but I wasn't able to image it. I can also discern a small sunspot group growing in the center of SW quadrant but cant exactly confirm it clearly but I think this will probably get a designation AR11308 if it holds out a little more time I guess........ It is close to the large dark filament in this quadrant as well.

Hope to get a decent imaging session tomorrow if weather clears :0

My AR11302 sunspot image is featured at astronomy.com blog page !

2011-09-30T17:09:00.000-07:00

My AR11302 white light sunspot image taken yesterday was featured at astronomy.com under Dave's Universe Blog Page today! Thanks David J. Eicher for the feature! Direct link to the post can be accessed at http://cs.astronomy.com/asycs/blogs/daves-universe/archive/2011/09/30/james-kevin-ty-nails-the-great-sunspot-group.aspx

Solar Imaging Session - September 30, 2011 (Nice AR11302 Sunspot Group)

2011-09-29T23:45:00.001-07:00

The sky this morning initially was not that good and I thought the sky wont be clear for any solar observation and imaging session :( But at around 7:20am, clouds suddenly started to break up and I can see the Sun so I quickly setup and image the Sun as I was very eager to see how AR11302 Sunspot Group now looks like after 1 day.

Seeing condition was good this morning and I was able to get a good shot of AR11302 both in Ha and white light wavelength. AR11302 Group is also very photogenic in Ha wavelength as one can see 2 dark filaments spewing out from its core !

Solar Imaging Session - September 29, 2011 ( 6 Sunspot Groups and Nice Eruptive Prominence! )

2011-09-28T22:56:00.002-07:00

I return to Manila this morning from Legaspi City and was greeted with a partially clear morning sky! Since I was very excited to see how AR11302 Sunspot Group is undergoing the past days, I didn't waste time to start to observe and image the Sun as soon as I was able to see the Sun clear our neighbor's building.

As expected, AR11302 Sunspot Group was a real beauty in terms of structure. Seeing was also very good when I observe the Sun in early stage of my session but started to deteriorate right after I image the group in white light image.

There are 6 Sunspot Groups that are visible on the Sun's disk but one of the group doesn't have yet an official designation yet but I'm pretty sure it will be designated as AR11307 Sunspot Group which can be seen in the NE limb.

AR11305 and AR11306 Sunspot Group are not very interesting in both Ha and white light but the small insconspicious AR11304 and AR11301 Sunspot Groups are showing very nice solar activities in its core in Ha light but boring in white light wavelength.

Other interesting features on the Sun is a nice large eruptive prominence that is visible in the NW limb. 2 smaller eruptive prominences can also be viewed in the SW and SE limb.

Solar Imaging Session - September 20, 2011

2011-09-19T19:11:00.002-07:00

The sky this morning is partly clear clear but lots of small patches of clouds hovering near the Sun. I managed to get only good Ha images of the Sun as clouds later totally obscure me from doing any white light anymore. Nevertheless, I was able to grab an image of AR11295 /11298 through thick passing clouds! But of course image not good because of it :( Very frustrating indeed!

AR11295 and AR11296 Sunspot continues to show lots of solar activities inside their cores with AR11296 unleashing a small bright flare as seen in my image on the region. New kid on the block AR11301 Sunspot Group looks promising but wont be able to monitor it anymore as I'm already on my provincial work trip.

A moderate size eruptive prominence can also be seen in the SW limb.

Solar Imaging Session - September 20, 2011

2011-09-19T19:11:00.001-07:00

The sky this morning is partly clear clear but lots of small patches of clouds hovering near the Sun. I managed to get only Ha images of the Sun as clouds later totally obscure me from doing any white light anymore. Very frustrating indeed!

AR11295 and AR11296 Sunspot continues to show lots of solar activities inside their cores with AR11296 unleashing a small bright flare as seen in my image on the region. New kid on the block AR11301 Sunspot Group looks promising but wont be able to monitor it anymore as I'm already on my provincial work trip.

A moderate size eruptive prominence can also be seen in the SW limb.

Solar Imaging Session - September 20, 2011

2011-09-19T19:11:00.000-07:00

The sky this morning is partly clear clear but lots of small patches of clouds hovering near the Sun. I managed to get only Ha images of the Sun as clouds later totally obscure me from doing any white light anymore. Very frustrating indeed!

AR11295and AR11296 Sunspot continues to show lots of solar activities inside their cores with AR11296 unleashing a small bright flare as seen in my image on the region. New kid on the block AR11301 Sunspot Group looks promising but wont be able to monitor it anymore as I'm already on my provincial work trip.

A moderate size eruptive prominence can also be seen in the SW limb.

Solar Imaging Session - September 17, 2011 (11 Sunspot Groups and Huge Eruptive Prominence !!!)

2011-09-17T08:20:00.000-07:00

The sky this morning is slightly clear and seeing condition is better than yesterday's awful condition. Whoa! There are 11 sunspot groups today! One of the most that I had ever viewed in many years of my solar observation and imaging sessions!

AR11289 Sunspot Group is still big and is now starting to undergo Wilson effect near the NW limb together with AR11291 & AR11293 Sunspot Groups.

AR11290 and AR11297 Sunspot Groups are also near the SW limb's edge and probably be gone tomorrow or the next. But my attention is concentrated on the AR11295/11296/11298 Sunspot Group in the NE quadrant as it displays a good amount of solar activities both in Ha and white light!!! Adding spice to the NE limb area is a huge looped eruptive prominence and another large eruptive prominence!

Solar Imaging Session - September 16, 2011 (Darn Clouds !!!)

2011-09-15T23:11:00.000-07:00

The sky this morning was very cloudy and is almost clouded out. I was hoping to image the Sun to check out the size and structure of both AR11289 and active AR11295/96 Sunspot Groups but unfortunately, the Sun is playing hide and seek with me the whole imaging session to the point I had to quit as I'm running late for work!

Amid very bad seeing condition where I had a hard time even trying to focus on AR11289 as the image wobbles in and out of focus that will frustrate anyone in my position this morning. Nevertheless, I still try to hold on and try to get the best out of the very bad images and can manage to show AR11289 Sunspot Group's image below:

Better luck again tomorrow I guess, Not happy with the final image but still feel ok at least I could still share AR11289 Sunspot Group for others to view amid bad seeing condition.

Solar Imaging Session - September 15, 2011 (7 Sunspot Groups!)

2011-09-15T06:24:00.001-07:00

The sky this morning was cloudy and I have given up hope to image the Sun . But as I was about to go to office, I suddenly saw the Sun peering out from the hazy sky. Even though the seeing condition was terrible, I still can't resist myself to still try to image the Sun even only in Ha wavelength. AR11289 Sunspot Group continues to grow a bit in size, solar activity inside its core is very small. AR11295 and 11296 Sunspot Group was surprisingly very active amid its relative small sizes! There are a total of 7 sunspot groups on the Sun although only AR11289 Sunspot is big. Rest are small pecks group IMHO.

When I was trying to image the Sun in white light, I got clouded out again and since I'm already running late fro work. I had to quit and fight another day :(

Solar Imaging Session - September 15, 2011 (7 Sunspot Groups!)

2011-09-15T06:24:00.000-07:00

Solar Imaging Session - September 13, 2011 (6 Sunspot Groups)

2011-09-13T06:18:00.002-07:00

The sky this morning is clear and seeing condition is better than the past weeks. AR11289 Sunspot Group is the main attraction on the solar disk with 5 more sunspot groups more or less evenly distributed on both east and western areas of the Sun.

AR11289 Sunspot Group shoes also a nice light bridge as seen clearly in white light wavelength as well as in Ha light with smaller AR11290 and AR11292 Sunspot also showing smaller light bridges as well.

There is also a nice group of eruptive prominences that is located in the Northern limb of the Sun.

This is one of the few times that I can view more than 5-6 sunspot group in a given day for the past several years already. Although they are not that big in size, it tends to excite one's appetite to look for more solar activity in the days to come.

Solar Imaging Session - September 13, 2011 (6 Sunspot Groups)

2011-09-13T06:18:00.001-07:00

The sky this morning is clear and seeing condition is better than the past weeks. AR11289 Sunspot Group is the main attraction on the solar disk with 5 more sunspot groups more or less evenly distributed on both east and western areas of the Sun.

AR11289 Sunspot Group shoes also a nice light bridge as seen clearly in white light wavelength as well as in Ha light with smaller AR11290 and AR11295 Sunspot also showing smaller light bridges as well.

There is also a nice group of eruptive prominences that is located in the Northern limb of the Sun.

This is one of the few times that I can view more than 5-6 sunspot group in a given day for the past several years already. Although they are not that big in size, it tends to excite one's appetite to look for more solar activity in the days to come.

Solar Imaging Session - September 13, 2011 (6 Sunspot Groups)

2011-09-13T06:18:00.000-07:00

The sky this morning is clear and seeing condition is better than the past weeks. AR11289 Sunspot Group is the main attraction on the solar disk with 5 more sunspot groups more or less evenly distributed on both east and western areas of the Sun.

AR11289 Sunspot Group shoes also a nice light bridge as seen clearly in white light wavelength as well as in Ha light with smaller AR11290 and AR11295 Sunspot also showing smaller light bridges as well.

There is also a nice group of eruptive prominences that is located in the Northern limb of the Sun.

This is one of the few times that I can view more than 5-6 sunspot group in a given day for the past several years already. Although they are not that big in size, it tends to excite one's appetite to look for more solar activity in the days to come.

Solar Imaging Session - September 10, 2011 (Huge Eruptive Looped Prominence & 5 Sunspot Groups)

2011-09-10T06:09:00.001-07:00

The sky this morning was clear but seeing conditions is fair to poor. There is a huge eruptive looped prominence that is visible near the NW limb near AR11283 Sunspot Group! A beauty indeed to spiced up the Sun a bit! :) There are 5 sunspot group now visible on the Sun with AR11290 (right of AR11289) and AR11291 (left of AR11287) Sunspot Groups being the new kids on the block. Although not that active yet, who knows? They might become one in the days to come :) AR11289 Sunspot Group continues to grow bit by bit while departing AR11283 Sunspot Group is near the western limb already.

Solar Imaging Session - September 10, 2011 (Huge Eruptive Looped Prominence & 5 Sunspot Groups)

2011-09-10T06:09:00.000-07:00

Solar Imaging Session - September 9, 2011

2011-09-09T04:35:00.000-07:00

The sky this morning is hazy but I was still able to observe and image the Sun. The huge dark filaments are almost gone but some traces of it can still be faintly seen. AR11289 Sunspot Group continues to grow in size as it moves toward the center of the Sun's disk. AR11283 Sunspot Group, on the other hand, continues to show some amount of activeness in its core structure. Lastly, AR11287 Sunspot Group continues to be low in solar activity.

Solar Imaging Session - September 8, 2011 (Huge Dark Filaments & Numerous Sunspot Groups)

2011-09-08T00:37:00.001-07:00

The sky this morning is clear but seeing is again not that good. There are several huge dark filaments that can be seen on the Sun. AR11283 is starting to deteriorate in size but is still highly active when viewed at Ha wavelength. New AR11289 Sunspot Group which is near the NE limb is big and since it is still undergoing Wilson Effect near the limb, I'm expecting this group to be very interesting in the coming days. AR11281 Sunspot Group is already decayed and remnants of the group can still be faintly seen in both white light and Ha wavelength. Lastly, small, cute AR11287 Sunspot Group is already nice to look at despite its small size :)

One thing though that bothers me is that I forgot to tilt the Sun's orientation correctly as I was imaging the Sun at high resolution. Bummer me :( Anyway, I will be more careful in my next imaging session :)

Solar Imaging Session - September 6, 2011 (Huge Dark Filaments , Sunspot Groups & Eruptive Prominences)

2011-09-06T04:56:00.002-07:00

The sky this morning is partly cloudy but the Sun is visible through slight haze. The center of attraction today is of course the big AR11283 Sunspot Group as it shows its activeness beside 2 huge dark filaments! It was a beauty! Numerous moderate and large eruptive prominences are also visible in the NW and SW limb. Departing AR11286 Sunspot Group can still be seen faintly near the NW limb. AR11281 also shows some sign of activity in its core.

Solar Imaging Session - September 4, 2011 (Large Eruptive Prominence)

2011-09-03T19:01:00.000-07:00

The sky this morning was partly cloudy so I decided it is again another sol solar imaging morning............... :( Then after an hour, the Sun suddenly peeked out through my window again thus prompting me to jump out of the bed and quickly check the Sun out and saw a nice eruptive prominence in the NE limb!

I also notice the sky was not completely clear after all but only a small cloud opening instead and I try to image all the solar features that I could image in that small timw window but was only able to get a fair shot of the eruptive prominence together with 2 nice dark filaments and AR11283 Sunspot Group only :(

Several small sunspot groups were also visible going to the western limb as well as 2 moderate size prominences but didn't get more time for me to image them as clouds and roof obstruction started to cover the Sun :(

Solar Imaging Session - August 30, 2011 (Large Looped Eruptive Prominence)

2011-08-29T23:38:00.001-07:00

The sky this morning was almost cloudy but I could see the Sun lurking out a bit from the clouds but as I try to image it this morning. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to because of the thick clouds and hazy sky! But I could see a large looped eruptive prominence in the NW limb though. Looks like my regular solar imaging session is now about to get started now instead of my previously estimated September 15 timeline for the Sun to pass through our roof obstructions. :)

But at around lunchtime as I was preparing to go out with my family for malling, I saw again the Sun popping out of the hazy sky so I quickly brought my solar setup down to the laundry area to try to image the Sun. As I observe the Sun, the large looped prominence is still present but has lose some part of the loop already but I was still able to image the remains of the large prominence. I was able to image the Sun through heavy haze thus the need to push the processing a bit hard to get details out thus the poor image quality I got today :( Nevertheless, I'm still happy as I got to finally start my solar imaging sessions again :)

Aside from the large prominence, I could also see a newly forming AR11282 Sunspot Group near the western limb as well the the other sunspot groups but I could not image them anymore because the sky got too hazy and cloudy again!!! Grrr..... Better luck again tomorrow.

Solar Imaging Session - August 30, 2011 (Large Looped Eruptive Prominence)

2011-08-29T23:38:00.000-07:00

The sky this morning was almost cloudy but I could see the Sun lurking out a bit from the clouds but as I try to image it this morning. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to because of the thick clouds and hazy sky! But I could see a large looped eruptive prominence in the NW limb though. Looks like my regular solar imaging session is now about to get started now instead of my previously estimated September 15 timeline for the Sun to pass through our roof obstructions. :)

But at around lunchtime as I was preparing to go out with my family for malling, I saw again the Sun popping out of the hazy sky so I quickly brought my solar setup down to the laundry area to try to image the Sun. As I observe the Sun, the large looped prominence is still present but has lose some part of the loop already but I was still able to image the remains of the large prominence. Aside from the large prominence, I could also see a newly forming AR11282 Sunspot Group near the western limb as well the the other sunspot groups but I could not image them anymore because the sky got too hazy and cloudy again!!! Grrr..... Better luck again tomorrow.